Heat treatment techniques overview
Editor’s note » This is the fourth in a five-part series.
In this fourth installment of my series on heat-treating techniques, I will discuss the pros...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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....
Distortion during heating
Minimizing distortion involves more than just optimizing cooling
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....
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,...
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...
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...
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...
