Heat treatment and brazing specialist, Kepston Limited has re-equipped part of its factory at Wednesbury in the West Midlands to cater exclusively for the demand for continuous brazing of engineering components made from stainless steel.

The dedicated stainless steel brazing facility has been completed with the installation of a newly designed continuous hydrogen furnace, to operate in place of similar but much older plant that was installed some time ago. Completion of the new facility brings total capital investment to just over GPB 1/4 million.

Brazing facility for stainless upgraded

The stainless steel market for general engineering is currently growing by some 4% per annum. An increasing number of components currently made from mild and alloy steels are expected to be replaced with stainless steel, with all the associated benefits in terms of increased life expectancy and reliability.

This figure excludes the automotive industry which itself is predicted to exhibit a more substantial growth in demand for stainless steel. This sector has been a prime market for Kepston's Wednesbury factory and in recent years a tendency has emerged for components such as hydraulic fittings to be made from stainless steel that might traditionally have been produced from mild steel or brass. The new choice of material provides automotive designers with the opportunity to extend the fatigue and corrosion resistance, thus increasing the real working life of components in safety critical areas of vehicle systems.

Further information can be obtained from:

Kepston Ltd.
- Addr: Coppice Lane, Aldridge, WS9 9AA, UK
- Tel: 0121 502 2972 ext.136
- Fax: 0121 556 5300
- WWW: http://www.kepston.co.uk
- Contact: Alan McCracken
- Email.