Hardenability – the influence of tramp elements
Hardenability is the property of a material to deeply harden, and not the ability to get hard . This basic concept has driven much...
Developing a superalloy with superior heat resistance
Demand for superior machinery that can operate effectively under extreme conditions is driving the development of newer alloys. One significant example is the preparation...
Thermal triplets: PM, sintering, and case hardening
From my experience, powder metals (PM), sintering, and case hardening are three processes that could be said to be joined at the hip. More...
How did we get where we are today?
Having worked in the heat-treating industry for 58 years, I agreed in January 2011 to write a monthly column about all things heat-treating for...
Process control is vital to heat-treating
The definition of process control can only be defined by the experience of the per-son to whom the query is presented. Everyone involved in...
The big gamble: Electric vehicles or bust
There’s a big gamble going on in Detroit, and I don’t mean at Greektown Casino; it’s at the big three automakers. All have, in...
Carburizing today: The secrets to predicting success
Predicting the outcome for today’s various carburizing processes requires different procedures and processes.
Carburizing today is performed by two primary processes, at or above atmospheric...
Allocating space for case hardening furnaces
When selecting neutral or case hardening furnaces that require pits and have vertically mounted radiant tubes, facility managers must make sure that the equipment...
Let’s hear it for welding
Heat-treating and metallurgy are topics that attract the overwhelming interest of attendees of technical conferences and are written about in numerous articles. However, a...
The metallurgical R&D laboratory
Remembering old-school lab work is a blast from the past
Heat treating is not for the faint of heart
Why heat-treating furnaces look the way they do, Part 2
Some things old can be new again
Why heat-treating furnaces look the way they do
Carbon: Essential element or too much of a good thing
52100: Simple, yet it embraces carbon’s two-way benefit to steel
Find the right equipment
Vacuum carburizing or LPC, neutral hardening, oil or HPGQ (high pressure gas quench), vacuum pumps, graphite insulation, radiation shields or ceramic insulation, graphite or...
Anatomy of a Heat-Treating System
Ninety-eight 600-pound trays are in continuous process, 13 are in the pre-process queue, nine preheating, 14 in the boost carb, eight in the diffusion...
Meeting Automotive Efficiency Standards
For automobiles where competing hardening processes and materials are involved, automotive designers and heat treaters have choices when deciding how to meet efficiency standards.
There...
Heat Treating, Furnaces, and Unintended Consequences
A few decades ago, my involvement with depleted uranium (DU) began in the metallurgical R&D department, developing program logic to heat treat DU in...
Furnace Types
Heat treating furnaces consist of several subassemblies: insulation (fiber and brick), heating systems (electric and gas), material handling, quenching, atmosphere system, process and control...
Furnace Doors
No matter the configuration, single or multi-chamber vacuum, batch integral quench, continuous, or even pits — an item that all furnaces have in common...
Stainless Steels
Kitchen sinks, refrigerator or oven doors, and tableware are what many people think of when they are asked what’s made from stainless steel (SS)....
