Hamilton Precision Metals growth into the Asian market

Hamilton Precision Metals, one of six businesses within AMETEK Specialty Metal Products, is a producer of rolled strip and foil. Hamilton re-rolls a wide range of alloys and specialty metals to some of the tightest tolerances and thinnest gages in the industry – from 1.5mm (.060”) to 1.5 microns (.000060”) in thickness. 

At the InterWeighing 2018 trade show in China earlier this year, Hamilton promoted its particular expertise in rolling precision resistor alloy foil used to manufacture strain gages for load cells and other strain-sensing devices. Hamilton sees a growing demand for its specialty product range in Asia, generally, and in China, specifically.

The diversity of that product range reflects the wide range of materials with which Hamilton works, such as:

• Stainless and heat-resisting steels

• Nickel and high-nickel alloys

• Nickel-based superalloys

• Cobalt-based superalloys

• Precision-resistant and strain-gage alloys

• Copper and copper alloys

• Titanium

• Controlled-expansion alloys

At the InterWeighing Conference, Hamilton Precision Metals promoted its Evanohm® R product, a unique nickel-based alloy. Evanohm® R contains chromium (20.0%), aluminum (2.8%), copper (2.0%), silicon (1.0%), manganese (.90%) and zirconium (.08%). Characterized by its high electrical resistivity and very low temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR), Evanohm® R is ideally suited for strain gages for the pharmaceutical market, one of Hamilton’s biggest markets in China.

Evanohm® R is available from Hamilton as foil and strip product in thicknesses from .0005” to .010” and in widths up to 12.0” maximum. It is available in foil as thin as .000080” in widths of 4.0” maximum.

Constantan, another of Hamilton’s specialty metal alloys is used extensively for foil resistors and strain gages. Constantan, a copper-nickel alloy, contains specific minor amounts of additional elements to achieve precise values for its TCR. Careful control of melting and conversion practices results in a very low level of pinholes at ultra-thin thicknesses, and its TCR can be adjusted from the furnished cold rolled values by using a low-temperature heat treatment to achieve compensation for all types of spring elements.

For the aerospace sector, in which Hamilton has some 20 years of experience, it rolls .0001″ to .0004″ (.0025mm to .01mm) thick precision brazing foil used in the production of jet engine fan blades and housings. Placed between the inner and outer skins on both sides of a metal honeycomb, the brazing foil joins critical parts of the engine. Using heat and pressure, the skin and honeycomb are sandwiched into strong, structural components.