Friday, December 8, 2023

Furnace atmospheres and temperature

Getting the Right Protective and Carburizing Atmosphere The makeup of a furnace’s atmosphere in the heat treating process varies based upon the application. For carburizing,...

An overview of insulating firebricks

Ceramic refractory materials are useful for the following functions: 1. Serving as a thermal barrier between a hot medium and the wall of a...

Troubleshooting induction hardening problems – Part III

In previous columns, I have provided some detail on the sources of problems with induction hardening.  While I have tried to be inclusive, there...

Q&A with Matthias Pascher

What is your role at Buehler? I am the product manager for our hardness testing equipment within Buehler. Buehler is a global supplier of apparatus for...

Register for IHEA’s Combustion and Safety Standards and Codes Seminars 

The IHEA fall seminars will be October 31 and November 1. This year, IHEA will offer the Combustion Seminar and the Safety Standards and...

Carbon Diffusion and Carburizing Parameter Selection

Although carburizing is a complicated process, it can be broken down into two main steps: carbon generation in the furnace and carbon diffusion into...

Using water as a quenchant

In this short column, we will discuss quenching with water. As a quenching medium, plain water approaches the maximum cooling rate attainable in a...

Q&A with Bill St. Thomas

Please tell us a little about your background. I started in the heat treating industry back in the late 1960s working for one of my...

IHEA conducts technical seminars in conjunction with Furnaces North America

IHEA conducts technical seminars in conjunction with Furnaces North America

Mark your calendars for these important 2022 conferences

European Conference on Heat Treatment/IFHTSE 27th Congress September 5-8, 2022 | Salzburg, Austria At the present time, more than 90 authors from 22 countries have provided...

Site Safety

We live and work around fire all day. It’s pretty much taken for granted. We cook with it, and use it to heat our...

Check out IHEA webinars, online education

IHEA strives to provide a base of industry knowledge for our members and users in the industrial process heating industry. Many valuable resources can...

Q&A with Niall Sweeney

In which particular product area has Super Systems observed an increase in demand over the past couple of years? One particular area we have experienced...

Simulation tools to effectively calculate process

One common goal for a wide range of industries has been to increase power density in shaft and gear components. The steel producing industry...

Determining heat-treat operator training

With the fast pace of change in the heat-treat industry, it is understandable that more automation is in demand. This automation inevitably improves repeatability...

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...

Lighter Weight and Increased Fatigue Strength with Adi

Have you ever hit a rock or other hard projectile while cutting your lawn? Have you noticed that the blade is dented, not broken...

Understanding the technology is key to proper use

I teach pyrometry courses throughout the year and, when I do, I include a thermocouple tutorial video from YouTube. In this video the function...

Gap analysis can guide procedure changes

Well-designed procedures are crucial to any business operation, whether it’s a simple task of following a procedure to construct a cardboard box, or something...

Why is modeling the immersion process so important?

Liquid quenching of long steel components can introduce significant distortion if the component is not lowered into the liquid quench bath properly. Whether the...

Furnace Atmospheres

The makeup of a furnace’s atmosphere in the heat treating process varies depending upon the application. Sensor technology allows for the in-situ monitoring of...

Q&A with David Hamling

What’s a typical week like for you at ZIRCAR Ceramics? I drive the company’s sales and marketing efforts and usually begin my day with a...

Q&A with Mike Paponetti

You were recently promoted to Southeast Sales Manager. How does this new position differ from your previous one? In the last position, I was a...

Heat-treating workhorse – integral quench furnace

In this column, we will discuss the workhorse of the steel heat-treating industry – the integral quench furnace. The integral quench furnace, or sealed quench...

Q&A with Shlok Sundaresh

What is your role at TS USA? I joined TS USA, HEF Group, in 2014 as a process engineer for its Springfield, Ohio, facility. As...

Maximize downtime for large repairs

When your furnace is down for large repairs, use the opportunity to catch up on overdue or extensive maintenance

Heat treatment of aluminum – Part II

In my article last month, I discussed the alloying elements used in aluminum alloys. In this article, I will be discussing the solution heat...

Quality Counts: Producing Endothermic Gas Efficiently

One of the critical elements in the carburizing process is the ability to create a base atmosphere suitable for the parts placed inside a...

Learn from the best with educational offerings from IHEA

Process Heating Education Online IHEA’s Fundamentals of Industrial Process Heating Online Learning Course continues to provide an excellent overview of the essential areas used...

True Carbon Potential

The relationship between a carbon-rich atmosphere and its effects on low-carbon steel are well known. The evolution of carburizing led to in-situ monitoring of...

Cruise into 2022: IHEA’s annual meeting sets sail in March

IHEA is in full preparation mode for the 2022 Annual Meeting aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas. This will be the third time...

Heat treatment process modeling development for age-hardenable alloys 

Age-hardenable alloys, such as some aluminum alloys, maraging steel, and nickel-based alloys, get their strength not from quenching but from the precipitation that occurs...

Low pressure carburization simulation of steel alloys with strong carbide forming elements

Low pressure carburizing (LPC) is quickly gaining popularity across many industries due to LPC’s reduced cycle time, lack of oxidation/decarburization at and near surface,...

Determining Grossman H-value from cooling curve data

In the last article, I described how the Jominy end quench test could be used to predict hardness for a series of different round...

A technical guide to quenching

From a quality perspective, verification of the conformance of quench requirements can be accomplished by examining a furnace chart that shows the quench trend....

IHEA member Alabama Power (Southern Company) provides support during pandemic

The team at Alabama Power’s Technology Applications Center (TAC) recently turned their focus from keeping the lights on to helping save lives. Through a...

Q&A with Greg Jennings

What’s a typical day like for you at Wisconsin Oven? My typical day is quite a bit of fun. I’ve got three kids, and it’s...

Q&A with John Niggle

What’s a typical week like for you at Pelican Wire? Pelican is a custom wire manufacturer, and for that reason, it is a little difficult...

IHEA welcomes a new member: RoMan Manufacturing, Inc.

By Jim Gibson  |  Director of Global Sales & Marketing 717-395-3066  |  jgibson@romanmfg.com RoMan Manufacturing was founded in 1980 with a singular corporate commitment to manufacture...

Ambrell has been all about induction heating since 1986

Established in 1986, the Rochester, New York-based IHEA member manufactures a range of induction heating solutions. The company has steadily grown from a small...