Kanthal APMT for nuclear-energy application
The major earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in 2011 did serious damage to boiling water reactors of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant....
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...
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...
Press quenching tooling design using simulation
Steel powertrain gears are commonly carburized and quench hardened to improve strength and wear characteristics. However, solid-state phase changes occurring within the steel during...
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...
Carbon potential verification
Choose from several verification methods for best fit, then develop a plan to correct for out-of-spec test results
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...
Variation in 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...
Testing of Induction Hardened Work Pieces
Hardness testing is a simple and universally accepted practice for checking induction hardened parts and is performed in literally thousands of manufacturing facilities. There...
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...
Stress modeling of the WAAM process
A thermal model was previously developed and executed to simulate the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) process, using the Goldak Flux Distribution to model...
Distortion during heating
Minimizing distortion involves more than just optimizing cooling
Case Depth Determination
Methodology to ensure design intent is satisfied
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...
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,...
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....
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...
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...
Gear inspection methods from heat-treat simulation
Gear design is a complex process, involving dozens of parameters, tolerances, and relationships to mating components. Generally, professional standards guide the gear designer to...
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...
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...
