OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2007. At the Moscow November international industrial exhibition “Metal-Expo” the staff of the JSC KZ OTsM, the JSC Shadrinsk Plant of Automobile Units and the JSC “Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Institute” was awarded with the exhibition laureate golden medal for having developed and employed the bands for copper-and-brass heat exchangers production technology, the company's press service reported.

As noted by the head of the technology development Oleg Avd’ushkin this award is a mark for the results of the KZ OTsM and the Shadrinsk Plant of Automobile Units (the UMMC affiliates) scientists and experts’ cooperation. In February 2003, the Shadrinsk Plant of Automobile Units started producing copper-and-brass automobile heat exchangers including cooldown radiators for gasoline engines, and air boost charging coolers for diesel engines produced according to the “Cuprobraze” technology. The Cuprobraze heat exchangers are more solid, have extra longevity and heat emission comparing to the heat exchangers produced according to the traditional technology.

Moreover, the Cuprobraze technology is environmentally friendly as framework of heat exchangers is brazed with copper-based self-fluxing solder instead of lead-based soft solder. The temperature of hard solder braze is approximately 350 grade higher than that of soft solder braze. The new technology, however, requires new materials (brass bands and copper foil) that are able to preserve their strength characteristics after braze” says Oleg Avd’ushkin.

As noted by Oleg Avd’ushkin, before the above technology was introduced in order to produce substrates, cooling tubes and plates of heat exchangers the plant had been using imported materials. Integrated researches enabled us to scientifically prove and determine the appropriate chemical composition for the alloy (LH64-3), rationalized technological scheme of production, and processing modes for bands 0,8-1,0mm thickness for substrates of heat exchangers at the different stages of production, and to make the requirements for the bands’ structure and mechanical features more precise.

The KZ OTsM adopted the production technology of these bands using modern foundry equipment and rolling-mill machinery as well as reconstructed in-and-out furnace used for annealing coils of these bands in protective atmosphere. The bands do not yield to foreign materials in respect of physical and mechanical features meeting the Cuprobraze heat exchangers production requirements. The bands produced in Russia allow to significantly increase the production rate. Since 2004 as we started adopting the production technology of bands for substrates the plant’s output increased 3,5 fold.