When Giffin Sheet Metals Ltd. needed a large quantity of aluminized steel for an automotive project in Alliston, Ontario, the Toronto contractor reached out to a U.S. supplier in southeastern Michigan. Aluminized steel is harder to come by in Canada and the company required several hundred thousand pounds. It was a transaction the 70-year-old company had done many times before, and with the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, such cross-border purchases were virtually hassle-free. This time, however, tight supplies since the U.S. instituted tariffs on almost all foreign steel turned a routine order into an international pain, said Bill…

With the recent political whirlwind that has permeated the HVAC industry, many suppliers, manufacturers and contractors are in a state of flux. We are all waiting to see how things play out in the metals market after Trump administration’s March 8 announcement of new import tariffs on steel and aluminum. Whether you’re a buyer of foreign or domestic steel, it’s pretty clear that everyone is seeing higher prices as well as allocation threats from mills. Unfortunately, all the particulars are out of our control. However, the decision of how we strategically react and proceed is solely up to our own…

A new report from Navigant Research examines the global market for energy efficient HVAC technologies in commercial buildings, providing market forecasts segmented by technology and region through 2027. To support the global shift towards the electrification of the grid, innovative energy efficient technologies are hitting the market to connec.t Trailing the trends of Internet of Things, demand response, and grid connectivity, new energy platforms offer increased energy and demand savings to commercial buildings through optimization. Click to tweet: according to a new report from @ Navigant RSRCH, global revenue for energy efficient commercial technologies is expected to increase to $61.2…

Last week, we hosted CUI Test Results: Understanding the Corrosive Mechanism, a live webinar detailing the latest test results from the most recent long-term corrosion under insulation (CUI) testing. Our webinar covered the various types of corrosion, the science behind the thermodynamics of corrosion, and the latest findings from long-term corrosion research on Thermo-1200™ calcium silicate, and Sproule WR-1200® expanded perlite, and a silica aerogel blanket specimen. If you missed the webinar, don’t worry. Below, we’ve outlined 5 takeaways from the webinar, and you can watch a recording of it here on the Webinars tab. There is a growing trend in…

Galvanic corrosion (also called bimetallic corrosion) is a deteriorative electrochemical process that occurs when two dissimilar metals are in contact with each other in the presence of an electrolyte. This type of corrosion is characterized by the accelerated corrosion of one metal, while the other remains mostly unaffected. In other words, one metal becomes the anode and corrodes preferentially, thus sacrificing itself while protecting the other metal, the cathode. Galvanic corrosion is relatively aggressive and causes millions of dollars in damage annually. Countermeasures to prevent its formation must be taken into consideration at the conceptual or early stages of the…

When it comes to corrosion under insulation (CUI), I tend to call it a "minefield," and for more than one reason. It’s not only a hidden phenomenon, but it's also one that can really come back to bite companies who don’t invest in a good CUI mitigation strategy, because sooner or later, those companies are going to get their names in the papers due to unwanted accidents, production loss and environmental damages.  But when the proverbial horse has bolted, a lot of asset owners want to close the stable doors by implementing rigorous measures. The problem is that they often…