Harald Schartau, Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has inaugurated a new vacuum induction melting furnace (VIM) in Unna together with Dr Helmut G. Hadrys, Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp Stainless and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp VDM GmbH. ThyssenKrupp VDM will use the facility to produce high-purity nickel-containing superalloys for the aerospace industry and special applications in electronics and electrical engineering. The inauguration of the furnace, which cost about EUR 15 million, concludes an investment programme aimed at broadening ThyssenKrupp VDM GmbH’s product spectrum. The company already operates ESR and VAR remelting units in which the alloys produced in the VIM furnace can be processed. The new furnace is the largest facility of its kind in Europe.
