Q&A with Geoffrey Somary
Ipsen is expanding its TITAN assembly line at its Vacuum Technology Excellence Center in Illinois. What was the reason for the expansion?
As our customers...
Compelling reasons normalizing produces high quality gears
In this day and age, adding steps to the gear manufacturing process is not highly desirable unless the benefits far outweigh the costs incurred....
IHEA launches sustainability and decarbonization initiatives
IHEA has been developing a variety of initiatives over the past six months relating to sustainability and decarbonization in the industrial heating equipment industry.
“We...
IHEA’s 2020 fall combustion and safety seminars go virtual
Each fall, the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) brings industrial process heating professionals together to provide combustion and safety education for the industry. This...
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...
Honeywell Thermal Solutions offers a range of thermal solution technologies
Honeywell has an extensive history in combustion processes and controls, including solutions for industrial combustion industries. Honeywell Thermal Solutions united the combustion industry’s leading...
Mark your calendars for these important conferences scheduled for 2026
7th Asian Conference on Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering
September 10-12, 2026
Chengdu, China
The 7th Asian Conference on Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering of Materials (7ACHTSE2026)...
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,...
Heat transfer: Convection’s reach
Many years ago, as a mechanical engineering undergraduate student, an analogy was offered to help explain the interplay between convection and conduction in heat...
Tempered martensite embrittlement
In this column, I will discuss tempered martensite embrittlement and its primary causes.
Introduction
Once a part has been quenched, it must be tempered. This accomplishes...
Intensive Quenching
Heat treating is similar to art in many ways, but not for the reasons you might think. Art, it’s said, is in the eye...
IHEA announces 2023-2024 board of directors and officers
The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) recently announced its 2023-2024 board of directors and executive officers. Taking over as president is Brian Kelly of...
Spotlight on IHEA member WS Thermal Process Technology Inc.
WS Thermal Process Technology is the U.S. subsidiary of WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH, which was founded in 1982 in Renningen, Germany. The company manufactures self-recuperative...
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...
Conference updates – plan accordingly
27th IFHTSE-Congress and the European Conference on Heat Treatment 2022
The detailed program of events, including more than 100 papers in 16 sessions with five...
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...
A brief history of the non-ferrous alloy aluminum
Non-ferrous alloys have caught my interest throughout my career, particularly aluminum. From its resistance to corrosion to its sensitivity at elevated temperatures, it is...
HeatTreat 2023 is heating up!
HeatTreat 2023 is October 17-19 in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-located with IMAT 2023 and the Motion+Power Technology Expo and is expected to cover...
Q&A with Jason Cillo
Some of Thermal Product Solutions’ ovens are used in semiconductor manufacturing. What types of oven configurations work best in this sector?
Thermal Product Solutions (TPS)...
Q&A with Michael Zulauf
What is heavy mill scale, and what problems can it cause?
Mill scale is a thin, flaky layer of bluish iron oxides that forms on...
Sampling of quench oil for proactive maintenance
In this column, I will discuss the sampling of quench oil for quarterly checks as required by many internal and external auditing agencies (CQI-9,...
More World Congress details available
The ASM Heat Treating Society (HTS) and the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE) proudly present the highly anticipated 29th IFHTSE...
Industrial automation and labor in heat treating
There is a changing landscape on two fronts in the thermal processing market. Without a doubt, there are technological opportunities that companies can take...
Distortion during heating
Minimizing distortion involves more than just optimizing cooling
Learning from failure in bending stress
A couple of years ago, as I was finishing my graduate studies, I was lucky enough to participate in the Strong Bar competition put on...
Reflections after a Nadcap audit
We recently finished up a Nadcap heat-treat audit at the facility where I work, and no matter how many times I think they are...
Handling temperature variations
Four essential maintenance steps for preserving temperature uniformity in your atmosphere furnace
Quenching from molten salt into polymer quenchants
In this column, I will discuss quenching aluminum from molten salt into a polymer quenchant.
A molten salt bath is a common method of heating...
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 Brian Kelly
What do you do at Honeywell?
I’m part of Honeywell Thermal Solutions. We’re a group of companies that Honeywell has acquired over the last couple...
Gas turbine coating’s life cycle
Gas turbines on land, air, and at sea experience some extreme environments, such as high airflow, pressure, and temperature. Engines intake air from outside...
Furnace Maintenance
When a heat treat manager or anyone responsible for purchasing heat treating equipment makes a buy decision, they must first consider the process required,...
93 years of helping heat treaters worldwide
It’s hard to believe that an industry organization has been around for 93 years, but that’s how long the Industrial Heating Equipment Association has...
Combatting undesirable NMTP formations
Whether formed during a conventional quench and tempering process, carburizing, or induction hardening, non-martensitic transformation products (NMTP) are widely considered undesirable microstructural features. However,...
Achieving results through cold treatment
Cold treatment is a sub-zero thermal treatment process primarily used to reduce the retained austenite content of alloy and high carbon steels. Cold treatment...
Cleaning for heat treatment – Part IV
Fourth in a series » Among the many specifications applied to finished heat-treated goods, the cleanliness of those goods is increasingly important in appearance, performance, and...
Dr. Scott MacKenzie appointed IFHTSE honorary president
The Executive Committee has awarded Dr. Scott MacKenzie the honorary presidency “In recognition of his exceptional and enduring service to IFHTSE, far exceeding duties...
Stress evolution during quench hardening of steel
Quench hardening of steel components involves complex, nonintuitive phenomena, particularly as it relates to the dimensional changes and stresses induced. Figure 1 shows a...
The 2021 PRI Top 10 NRCs in heat treating
As the pandemic adjusted our lives and systems, we have still had to maintain Nadcap accreditation in heat treat and other commodities. While the...
Cleaning for heat treatment – Part V
Fifth in a series » Among the many specifications applied to finished heat-treated goods, the cleanliness of those goods is increasingly important in appearance, performance, and...
