Efficient Gas Heating of Industrial Furnaces

There are various types of high-efficiency gas burners and radiant tubes currently on the market, and economic tools can be used to assess investments...

Selection of Oil Quenchants for Heat-Treating Processes

Modern quenching oils offer a wide range of capability and performance. The selection of the proper quench oil is critical for proper heat-treating operations....

Typical Heat Treatment Defects of Gears and Solutions Using FEA Modeling

Steel gears are heat treated to obtain enhanced properties and improved service performance. Quench hardening is one of the most important heat treatment processes...

Variety of Furnaces Can Be Used for Heat Treatment of Gears

Gear heat treatment can be done in a wide variety of different types of industrial furnaces, each with its own unique characteristics. This article...

Understanding the Cooling Curve Test

When a hot component comes in contact with the liquid quenchant, there are normally three stages of quenching. There are exceptions to this, which...

Troubleshooting and Prevention of Cracking in Induction Hardening of Steels: Lessons Learned –...

One of the most common applications of induction heat treatment is the hardening of steels, cast irons, and powder-metallurgy materials, developing an attractive blend...

Induction hardening of cast irons

The success in induction hardening of cast irons and repeatability of obtained results are greatly affected by a potential variation of matrix carbon content.

Enhanced Properties of 17-7 PH Stainless Steel

Background Precipitation-hardening (PH) stainless steel grade 17-7 PH is classified as a semiaustenitic stainless steel used extensively in aerospace and finding new applications in the...

High-efficiency gas burners make good economic sense

Even though the price of natural gas is currently low, the investment in high-efficiency gas burners makes sense economically. This article discusses different types...

Computerized Design of Straight Bevel Gears with Optimized Profiles for Forging, Molding, or 3D...

Straight-tooth bevel gears are the simplest type of bevel gears that can be used for power transmission between intersecting shafts. They are commonly referred...

An In-Depth Look at Polymer Quenchants

Quenching of various alloys to achieve mechanical properties has been an area of scientific research for many years. Using polymer quenchants has proven to...

Controlling Distortion in Heat Treatment Through Press Quenching

Introduction Press quenching is a specialized quenching technique that may be utilized to minimize the distortion of complex geometrical components during heat treatment1. Distortion is...

The versatility of the pit furnace

Top-loading furnaces, commonly referred to as pit furnaces, have played a major role in the heating treating landscape for the last century or longer....

Reducing measurement error when making thermocouple transmitter connections

The thermocouple (TC) is a thermo-electric device used to measure temperature and nearly two-thirds of U.S. temperature measurement makes use of thermocouples. Most industrial...

Carburized steel mechanical properties: Case tensile strength

Editor’s note  »  This is part one of a three-part series on carburized steel mechanical properties. Carburizing is a mature heat-treating process commonly used for...

Gas carburization techniques

A comparison of conventional and accelerated methods for surface hardening

The PLC-based industrial temperature control system: Design and implementation

Targeting the problem of slow response and low accuracy of the automatic temperature control system for material processing and boiler heating, a new design...

Using the correct thermocouple

The principles behind how and why a thermocouple functions were beginning to be understood in the early 1800s with most significant developments taking place...

Advantages of wire-arc additive manufacturing

The concept of additive manufacturing has been around for a century, but with the advent of sophisticated software and robotics, the process is fast...

Mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of lightweight and high-strength carbon-graphite thermal insulation materials

Thermal insulation composites are widely used in civil and military applications; however, it is difficult to achieve the synergy of multiple technical objectives such...

Selecting the correct industrial ovens for finishing applications

Finishing is defined as “completing the manufacture or decoration of a material or product by giving it an attractive surface appearance.” In industrial applications,...

Improving the mechanical properties of medium carbon steel

Quenching is one of the major processes of heat treatment of medium carbon steel that aims at improving its mechanical properties. However, the effectiveness...

Stress Generation in an Axle Shaft during Induction Hardening

Introduction Induction hardening of steel components offers a fast heating rate, high efficiency, and the ability to heat locally. Induction hardening is a highly nonlinear...

Infrared Temperature Measurement Theory and Application

An infrared thermometer measures temperature by detecting the infrared energy emitted by all materials at temperatures above absolute zero, (zero degrees Kelvin). The most...

Heat Treatment of Large Components

Large gear components can be offered in many applications such as marine, wind power, steel rolling mills, power plants, transportation, railroad, aircraft, cement crushers,...

Gas vs. Liquid Quenching: A Direct Comparison in Hardenability to Reduce Distortion

Introduction Hardenability is the ability of steel to partially or completely transform from austenite to some fraction of martensite at a given depth below the...

How Gears Fail

Heat treatment plays an important — some would say critical — role in gear manufacturing. Therefore, there is a need to better understand, from...

Temperature sensor selection: The basics of temperature measurement using thermocouples

You are probably somewhat familiar with the thermocouple, or you wouldn’t be reading this article. But there are important points about thermocouples that must...

Filament-Wound Composites Have Specialized Curing Requirements

Filament winding is a manufacturing method for making tubular and cylindrical shapes of extreme strength and light weight. The technology involves wrapping a mandrel...

Hardening of Powder Metallurgy Parts 101

Powder metallurgy (PM) is unique in that one has the ability to create a process system (alloy, process steps, and secondary operations) specific to...

10 tips to ensure accurate thermocouple measurement

Careful selection and installation of temperature sensors can ensure accurate sensor performance, which in turn improves product quality and production efficiency. 1: Select the Correct...

A study of temperature effect on properties of nitride layers on X37CrMoV51 tool steel...

The paper concerns the effect of annealing time and temperature on the properties of the nitride layer on X37CrMoV51 tool steel used in the...

Case Hardening Basics: Nitrocarburizing vs. Carbonitriding

Confusion surrounding the case-hardening techniques of nitrocarburizing and carbonitriding prove the point that it's easy to get lost in the nomenclature behind heat-treating processes. That...

Heat treatment of steel measurement of hardness and tensile strength

The heat treatment of steel changes its microstructure, its hardness, and its tensile strength. These issues are of utmost importance as they are closely...

Gas Nitriding of Titanium

Interest in solution gas nitriding and diffusion of nitrogen into the surface of titanium alloys as a means to inhibit adhesive wear (galling) while...

The Advantages of an All-Metal Vacuum Furnace Hot Zone

For more than 70 years, the vacuum furnace has been available for metal processing requirements, and is widely accepted as the ideal equipment for...

Tooth-by-Tooth Induction Hardening of Gears (and How To Avoid Some Common Problems)

Tooth-by-tooth induction hardening of gears is a complex process. Variations of any of kind may be sufficient to cause the process to run out...

Maintenance Procedures for Vacuum Furnaces

More gear manufacturers need to add vacuum furnace machines to the shop floor and include this procedure in the overall manufacturing process. As vacuum...

Heat Treat Process For Gears

Heat treatment is a critical and complex element in the manufacturing of gears that greatly impacts how each will perform in transmitting power or...

Case Study: Laser Hardening

To increase the hardness of a steel material, there are basically three required steps in the hardening process. Step one is to heat the...