Global Fastener News

March 4, 1980 FIN – Two California manufacturers of aircraft fasteners who have been faced with a shortage of titanium wire have done something about it. They’ve gone into the titanium wire business themselves.
The two fastener companies are VCI Corporation and Paul R. Briles Inc.
Details of the development were spelled out in a recent issue of American Metal Market.
In a few months, the D-M-E Division of VSI will begin production scale shipments of titanium wire from Lewiston, PA., to the Voi-Shan Division of VSI whose main manufacturing plant is in Redondo Beach, Calif. The Lewiston facility was formerly owned by D-M-E, a manufacturer of tooling for plastics injection molding machinery which is headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan. The plant will produce titanium wire (3/32 thru 1/2″) as well as wire and rod from high temperature and die steels used by both Voi-Shan and D-M-E. Output is expected to reach about 30,000 pounds within a year.
PB Fasteners, the Gardena, California, division of Paul R. Briles, Inc. will be producing its own titanium wire at a wire finishing mill, which it purchased from Teledyne Alvac, the Monroe, S.C. division of Teledyne, Inc.
Vern Benson, vice president of PB Fasteners, estimates that the ultimate capacity of the former Teledyne Alvac mill (assuming that billet can be found to support the operation) will be from 20,000 to 40,000 pounds per month.
As part of the purchase arrangement, Teledyne has agreed to supply PB Fasteners with enough billet to last about eight months. Latrobe Steel will convert the billet to hot coil.
At present there are three major producers of titanium fastener wire in the U.S.  Dynamet Inc., Washington, Pa.; Crucible Specialty Metals Division., Syracuse, N.Y., a unit of Colt Industries; and Astro Metallurgical Corp., Wooster, Ohio.

Currently industry-wide titanium fastener wire production, which is curtailed by lack of available metal, is reckoned at about 200,000 pounds per month. Fasteners account for about 5% of the 58 to 60 million pounds of titanium produced each year.
If you’re in the market for some titanium wire you probably won’t have much luck contacting the new producers from some. Neither will be making enough to supply it own needs. ©1990/2011 Fastener Industry News
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