Carburizing, quenching PM gears
Powder metallurgy has been around for hundreds of years, but has only been used for commercialized applications within the last 50 years. And like...
A look at controlled rotation systems
Driverless technology, in its fundamental form, already exists in academia and private consortiums. The basic components are here: GPS can track and sense a...
Proper cooling is paramount
In higher-alloy material, such as precipitation hardening steels (PH), hardening requires a two-step application—one of removing heat by quenching followed by adding heat to...
The evolution of carburizing and quenching
Let’s talk about evolution. I don’t mean Darwin’s escapades on the HMS Beagle, but the evolution that has influenced the development of the OEM...
Dealing with material handling
One of the many things I ask when evaluating a company’s heat treating requirements is how they plan on dealing with material handling. As...
Hardenability and high pressure gas quenching
What do Max the stone-age entrepreneur, Ben Franklin, and your daughter’s hamster have in common? All have contributed indirectly to the latest development in...
A discussion of the 3D heat-treatment process called Direct Metal Laser Sintering
Selling the Wheel, a book by Jeff Cox, tells the story of Max, a stone-age entrepreneur who creates the wheel and is looking to...
Machining – more specifically, the tools that make removing metal possible
Decades ago there was only one option: High-speed tool steels such as molybdenum types M2, M4, M50, and the tungsten series T15 for example....
Finding the perfect heat treat
Three on the tree; four-on-the-floor; four speed automatic; five speed manual; six speed automatic; six speed manual; seven, eight, and nine speed automatic…where will...
Getting the right training
If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times: Close the door — and don’t slam it! That command, albeit in a...
Gas vs. electricity
Do you have gas? Every year we encounter at least one OEM or new heat treater looking at heat treating in-house, and we ask...
Common methods and processes for heat-treating equipment
Over the course of months, I’ve discussed furnace equipment mostly related to the carburizing, hardening, and quenching of gears and other drivetrain components, but...
Nitriding continues to gain market share as a case hardening process
By the time you read this column, the 6th International Quenching and Control of Distortion Conference will have been concluded four weeks prior. Dozens...
Orders increase for pusher furnaces for those planning to employ oil press quenching to...
Several columns ago I said we were receiving indications that there was a renewed interest in pusher furnaces for carburizing … well that sure...
Before bringing heat-treating in-house, study existing outsource processes so transition is seamless
Your company anticipates increased competition in your market so bringing heat treating in-house is one of your cost control strategies.
First, you identify per part...
91 percent of survey respondents dunk quench in oil. So, why does LPC continue...
Twelve years ago I commissioned a study to identify trends in the heat treating industry where part of that survey involved three processes: traditional...
Shallow case hardening in mesh belt, cast link belt furnaces acceptable when fixturing is...
Images of pushers are the likely style that comes to mind when people first think of continuous furnaces. When deep case and fixtured quenching...
Debate: Generator manufactured endothermic gas vs. nitrogen-methanol as a carburizing atmosphere
Recently in my world the topic of nitrogen-methanol as a carburizing atmosphere has emerged as an item of interest by an existing user seeking...
With proper design, pusher furnaces have many advantages
When anyone familiar with the high production carburizing of gears is asked to offer an opinion about pusher furnaces, they inevitability say “what else...
For carburizing, quenching gears, pusher furnaces outpace drivetrain carburizing when compared to other furnace...
In the heyday of high-volume carburizing during the sixties and seventies, all of the automotive OEM’s maintained their own in-house heat treats; commercial job...
