For millennia, a sword was a warrior’s weapon of choice. Forged by a blacksmith heating metal or a combination of metals and working it into shape, the best swords for winning battles were not the sharpest or the longest, they were the strongest, most hard-wearing ones.

Allegheny Technologies Inc. announced that its board of directors approved an investment to expand its isothermal forging and heat-treating capacities to satisfy growing demand from the aerospace market. This self-funded, multiyear expansion of approximately $95 million represents ATI’s fourth isothermal press, which will be located at the company’s forging center of excellence in Cudahy, Wis. The associated heat-treating expansion will also be in Cudahy.

Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) and Pratt & Whitney (P&W), a United Technologies Corporation company, entered into a long-term purchase agreement (LTPA) in which ATI will supply isothermal forgings and nickel-based powder alloys for P&W's next-generation jet engines.