Microstructural evolution, its effect on Ti6Al4V alloy
Titanium alloys are extensively used in aerospace, petrochemical, marine, and medical applications, thanks to their superior strength-to-weight ratio at elevated temperature, corrosion resistance, and...
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...
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...
Using welding simulation tools to model WAAM
In its simplest form, additive manufacturing has been used since before the common era where low temperature melting materials such as tin, silver, copper,...
Important to consider carbide formation during simulation
Low pressure carburizing (LPC) processes are a popular choice in industry due to LPC’s reduced cycle time, lack of oxidation/decarburization at and near surface,...
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,...
Induction Hardening Choices for Gears
Of the various types of applied energy processing, induction hardening is the most common. Induction heating is a process that uses an alternating electrical...
Linear-elastic fracture toughness testing
Materials fracture occurs in all sectors of the economy — aerospace, nuclear, medical, transportation, oil and gas, petrochemical, commercial and residential buildings, etc. The...
Residual stress evaluation in bearings
Lingering stress is not easily identified during production, but has a direct impact on wear performance and fatigue life
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...
Predicting strains key to evaluating heat-treat response
Quench hardening of steel components requires the components to be heated to a temperature such that the solid-state crystal structure of the material changes...
Accounting for carbon rejection can head off trouble
The heat treatment of steel alloys is required in almost every industry to acquire the necessary properties for a material given a particular application....
Heat-treatment of modified 9CrMo steel
The modified 9CrMo steels, such as Grade 91, Grade 92, and HT9, are materials of choice for fossil-fuel-fired power plants and Next Generation Nuclear...
Metal plasticity in manufacturing
Understanding the plastic behavior of steel plays a crucial role in manufacturing. From raw billet to parts in service, some form of plastic deformation...
Creep deformation mechanisms in 9CrMo steel
The Generation-IV reactors in nuclear power plants are expected to address the growing energy demand by producing electricity and, at the same time, mitigating...
Different Scales Are Used For Rockwell Hardness Testing
Production Bench Rockwell Hardness Testing of Small Work Pieces
As induction hardened workpieces get smaller in size, attention to the proper abrasive cutting of the...
Improving temperature uniformity during tempering
The final step in any steel heat-treatment quenching process which produces a martensitic microstructure is tempering. Martensite is a metastable phase and is extremely...
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....
Heat treatment techniques overview
Editor’s note » This is the third in a five-part series.
In this third segment of my series on heat-treating techniques, I will discuss the pros and...
Process comparison to improve fatigue performance
Bending fatigue and contact fatigue performance can be improved by the presence of residual compressive surface stresses . Many processes can induce these compressive...
Variation in steel hardenability
Many heat-treating processes cannot tolerate appreciable variations in steel hardenability. For an established in-control process, deviations in chemical composition and starting microstructure may result...
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...
Nonlinear distortion response during gas quenching
High-pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) is touted as a way to reduce distortion of difficult-to-quench geometries. Quench pressures and quench gas flow velocities are chosen...
Modeling can improve press quenching process
A combination of carburization and quench hardening is often used to increase the strength and improve fatigue performance of steel parts. During quenching, stresses...
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...
How to keep decarburization in check
The performance of heat-treated steel components is largely dependent on the condition of their surface. Wear and fatigue resistance are examples of design criteria...
Cold expansion an efficient strengthening solution
In flight, aerospace components are in a state of constant cyclic stress. The term “flying fatigue machines” is commonly used by those in the...
Determining Austenite Grain Size
Grain size is a critical metallurgical characteristic, significantly influencing design parameters such as strength and toughness. Austenite grain size (often referenced to as prior-austenite...
Hardness scale conversion
The use of hardness testing as a quality control method to check the outcome of a thermal treatment process is a common application of...
Characterizing equipment using simple modeling tools
Often, the terms “digital twins” or ICME (Integrated Computer Materials Engineering) are used when talking about computer modeling of actual parts or the behavior...
Microstructural effect of Alloy 718 on fatigue strength
Gas turbine engines are widely used in aviation, power generation, and oil and gas industries. They are used in land, air, and marine. The...
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...
Carbon potential verification
Choose from several verification methods for best fit, then develop a plan to correct for out-of-spec test results
Coupling Alloy and Process Selection
Combining both alloying and processing into a single strategy to achieve a desired level of performance sounds like a simple concept, but can be...
Enhanced properties of metal matrix nanocomposites
Application of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced metal matrix nanocomposite (MMNC) has been increasing rapidly since the discovery of CNT in the 1990s. These novel...
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,...
Carburizing
While some heat treatments are used to soften the material or improve its machinability, most are processed to obtain strengthened or hardened properties. The...
Materials Selection for Induction Hardening Processes
Induction hardening is the most common technique of the various types of applied energy processing. It uses alternating current that induces a magnetic field...
Hardening and tempering in the same cell
Tempering hardened steels is one of the most important heat treating processes used in part manufacturing. Induction tempering produces hardness and mechanical properties similar...
Some workpieces are too large and expensive to fit into conventional benchtop hardness testers
Portable Rockwell Hardness Testing of Large Induction Hardened Work Pieces
The previous article identified many factors related to benchtop Rockwell hardness testing practices. This article...
