ATC is a small minority owned company specializing in coatings that offer a wide variety of solutions for difficult wear and corrosion problems. ATC's Heat Treating services offer heat treatment covering a range of materials, specializing in advanced engineering alloys, like Grade 91, that require very precise control of temperature. ATC offers a broad range of engineering services that include industry experts in metallurgy, failure analysis, and advanced materials Metallurgical lab testing and research (Grade 91 material development with ORNL). We are experts in Boiler and HRSG design, retrofit, and material supply Project Management. With over 300 years of experience in the industry, ATC is certified to the current ISO 9001 Standard. ATC strives to support the commercial success of our clients by providing superior technical services and problem-solving capabilities covering all materials-related issues in as timely and cost-effective manner as possible.
What We Do
- Failure Analysis
- Condition Assessments
- Material Characterization
- Welding Metallurgy
- Fitness for Service
- Pressure Parts & Piping (Engineering - Design)
- Structural Steel (Engineering - Design)
- Ducts (Engineering - Design)
- Construction (Engineering - Design)
- Heat Treatment
- Flame Hardening
- Diffusion Coatings
- Thermal Spray
Current Projects
Elimination of Steam Side Scaling on Grade 91 Material
Elimination of Steam Side Scaling on Grade 91 Material
Elimination of Steam Side Scaling on Grade 91 Material
The overall objective of the project is to significantly improve the reliability and efficiency of existing coal-fired power plants under flexible operating conditions by deploying a technology to modify the surface chemistry of creep-strength-enhanced steel tubing to substantially improve its steam-side oxidation resistance at a cost and scale that enables its ready acceptance for use by the power generation industry.
Chromizing Seamless Tubing
Elimination of Steam Side Scaling on Grade 91 Material
Elimination of Steam Side Scaling on Grade 91 Material
All tubing being supplied will be chromized by the diffusion process and will maintain thickness of chromium enriched layer of .010". There will be a minimum chromium content of 25% of the outer surface of the tube.
Exhaust Pipe Weld Analysis
HRSG Superheater P91 Lower Header
HRSG Superheater P91 Lower Header
A section of exhaust piping removed from a power facility for metallurgical analysis. According to the background information furnished with the sample, the cracking in the exhaust pipe for was detected at the pipe-to-flange weld joint after only a short time in service. It was believed that the exhaust pipe had been fabricated from an austenitic stainless steel, but the specific grade of stainless steel was not identified by the supplier. The purpose of the examination is to determine why the exhaust pipe had cracked after such a short time in service.
HRSG Superheater P91 Lower Header
HRSG Superheater P91 Lower Header
HRSG Superheater P91 Lower Header
A section of header piping removed from a power facility for metallurgical analysis. According to the background information furnished with the header, one of the superheater tubes ruptured and during follow up inspection it was found that numerous nipple to the header welds cracked on the P91 side of the welds.
Who We Are
Engineering - Materials
Engineering - Materials
Engineering - Materials
With more than 300 years accumulated experience in energy-related industries, the materials and welding engineers at ATC can provide assistance with or overall management of a broad array of projects, from root cause investigations to explain failures of critical components to the development and implementation of risk-based inspection p
With more than 300 years accumulated experience in energy-related industries, the materials and welding engineers at ATC can provide assistance with or overall management of a broad array of projects, from root cause investigations to explain failures of critical components to the development and implementation of risk-based inspection programs for high energy piping systems to the planning and execution of weld repairs on major CSEF pressure parts (e.g., Grade 91).
Engineering - Design
Engineering - Materials
Engineering - Materials
Providing professional Boiler and HRSG Engineering Solutions and Material for the Utiity, Pulp and Paper Market with Integrity, Customer Focus, and Speed with a Goal to keep Steam Generation Safe, Reliable, and Competitive
Codes & Standards
Engineering - Materials
Codes & Standards
Metallurgical Consulting, Litigation Support, Training (Metallurgy, Welding Engineering, NDE, Heat Treatment), Engineering Project Management, Assistance with Codes and Standards
Thermal Spray
Diffusion Coatings
Thermal Spray
Extendalloy - Nickel Based Tungsten Carbide and Nickel Based Chromium Carbide Alloys applied by thermal spray. Thermal spray is a process whereby harder, more corrosion resistant, or tougher materal is applied as a coating to a base metal. We can spray any commonly specified engineering material. ATC can provide traditional powder spray, spray-and-fuse, HVOF, plasma spray, and twin-arc.
Heat Treating
Diffusion Coatings
Thermal Spray
Specializing in heat treatment of advanced pressure part alloys with over 175 years of experience. Offering all types of services including, qeunch and tempering, normalizing, annealing, solution annealing, stabilization annealing, stress-relieving, post-weld heat treatment, precipitation hardening, and flame hardening. ATC has received the necessary permits to clean polymer-infused components.
Diffusion Coatings
Diffusion Coatings
Diffusion Coatings
Chromized boiler components that provide similar properties of 310 SS with minimal increase in cost of Carbon Steel. Most effective in high heat and corrosive areas of the power plant.
Jeff Henry - Co-Owner / President / COO
Mr. Henry's professional experience has been concentrated on the service performance of power plant materials, with particular focus on high temperature behavior, welding, manufacturing, and the Creep Strength-Enhanced Ferritic Steels, such as Grade 91. He has authored over 60 technical papers, is an ASME Fellow and is active on a number of the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code technical committees. He is the former chair of BPV II, the Materials Standards Committee, and he currently chairs the Working Group on Creep Strength-Enhanced Ferritic Steel. He also is a member of BPV I (Power Boilers), the Management Oversight Technical Committee (TOMC) and the Board of Pressure Vessel Technology.
Dr. Gang (Joe) Zhou - Chief Metallurgical Engineer
Dr. Zhou is a graduate of University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a doctorate in welding metallurgy. He has 30+ years of diverse experience in failure analysis and condition assessment of power-generating equipment, including boilers, piping, HRSG's, steam turbines, generators, and industrial equipment.
Dr. Zhou's areas of expertise include welding metallurgy and technology, welding repair, weldability testing and design, creep testing and design, corrosion testing and design. Also, he is an expert in metallography and fractorgraphy, microstructural interpretation, phase transformation and aging behavior of heat-resistant materials.
He has conducted extensive research on creep rupture of long-seam welded piping, such as Mohave, Monroe, Mt. Storm and Nine Miles. His recent researches have been focusing on CSEF steels, including effect of manufacture practice on creep behavior of Grade 91, Grade 91 DMW's failure behavior, Grade 91 SCC behavior and low creep ductility issues of CSEF steels.
Prior to joining ATC, Dr. Zhou served as principle metallurgical engineer at Alstom Power, Inc. He is also a member of ASM International and AWS.
Josh Melhorn, P.E. - VP Engineering Operations
Josh is a licensed Mechanical Engineer with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
With over 19 years in the power generation industry, Josh has demonstrated expertise in component design for fossil fuel steam generators, biomass steam generators, heat recovery steam generators, boiler pressure vessel components, critical piping systems and heat exchangers. In addition, he also has construction and project management experience in both the fossil fuel and renewable energy sectors.
At ATC, Josh bridges the gap between fitness-for-service, failure analysis & engineering solutions while also focusing on operations, project management, & business development. The result helps makes ATC a one-stop-shop for technical solutions.
Blake Glenn, VP Field Operations
Blake has 15 years of experience working in the industrial, energy, and electric utility industries with primary focus in NDT technologies. Blake brings his knowledge of outage management, outage support, and expertise in NDT to ATC.
David Nesbitt - Senior Consulting Engineer
Experienced Mechanical Engineering consultant with a demonstrated history of work on boilers (coal, gas, & biomass), heat recovery steam generators, pressure vessels, and heat exchangers specializing in root cause / failure analysis and determination of corrective actions. Strong professional skills in project management, program management, new system commissioning, operating and maintenance standards, litigation support, component assessments, material science and metallurgy, codes and standards, material coatings, reverse engineering, and training.
As a Senior Consultant consultant at ATC he is responsible for activities involving metallurgy & materials, plant operation & controls, ASME code requirements, component life assessment, and power plant component failure analysis for power plant & biomass boilers and auxiliary plant components. Recent services to the industry include: condition assessment and recommendation for boiler lower slope replacement on a large coal fired unit, failure analysis of expansion joint liner at a combined cycle plant, solution to boiler failure to pass hydrostatic test, repair scope and root cause of boiler deflagration event, litigation support to tubular air-pre-heater repair services company, repair scope and root cause analysis of plant deaerator vessel, repair scope for biomass boiler steam drum, development of documents for boiler component replacement & fabrication specification, and design support for EPRI Cooling Water & Heat Transfer test facility.
Dave Melvin - Senior Consulting Engineer
Over 40 years of experience in the area of power boilers, in both the Utility and Industrial markets, as a Construction and Technical Services Field Engineer, Manager, and Business Developer
Harley Grant - Co-Owner / CEO
Mr. Grant's professional focus has been on the development and applications of coatings used for both corrosion and erosion protection in various industries, but with a particular emphasis on coatings for the power, pulp, and paper industries. Mr. Grant has operated ATC for the last 28 years and is known industry wide for the equality and innovativeness of his product. He has been awarded two patents related to diffusion coating, one for the localized diffusion of chromium into a component and one for diffusion of metals using microwaves as the source of heat.
In addition to his professional activities, he has been very active in the support of issues critical to Native Americans, and he has been appointed to a number of both state and federal commissions tasked with addressing specific social and economic issues of vital interest to the Indian peoples.