UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 15, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ) launched a new hydrogen-hardening line for steel friction discs, the ompany press service reports.

‘We used to have to take the discs to Yekaterinburg nearly every day to get this done there. Now the discs can be treated thermally right on the site, and our technological chain is now much more flexible and convenient. Once the discs have been hardened, they need to get their mechanical properties stabilized within the next twelve hours. Now that we have our own thermal treatment facilities, it’s much easier to fit into this time slot. The new line covers 100% of the plant’s needs and can be used to produce even more goods if necessary,’ says the plant’s Director-General Vyacheslav Rusakov.

KULZ friction discs are used in special-purpose vehicles. The set-up of the production facility is part of the plant’s import substitution program aimed at replacing foreign spare parts with their Russian counterparts. Until very recently, these had to be purchased by the special-purpose vehicle manufacturers in Ukraine.