Navigate the heat treat events upcoming in the months ahead with Heat Treat Today’s Industry Calendar. This hidden gem is located in the “Events” tab on www.heattreattoday.com, and it is always updating with the latest industry events. As you make your vacation plans, be sure you aren’t missing any key events; in mid-February, three industry events are happening on the same day! Check out a couple of upcoming event descriptions in today’s original content piece below!
If you have an event to add — or want to give us a heads up on an event that you and others are going to attend — feel free to reach out to the editors at editor@heattreattoday.com.
Jump over to the “Events” tab on www.heattreattoday.com, and you’ll find the Industry Calendar located third down. This calendar allows you to search by month or day in list or calendar view format so that you can visualize upcoming heat treat events with ease.
A Couple Tips To Navigate The Calendar:
Select view options from “list,” “month,” or “day” (see image 1).
In the “month” view, if you want to learn more about an item in the calendar, hover over the name of the event to see the image (see Image 2).
Search for events in the industry using the search bar at the top of the page.
Image 1Image 2
A Quick Look at Upcoming Winter Events
The end of January and February are busy months in the heat treat world. Stay informed and be sure not to miss any important dates!
“Looking to stay ahead of the curve? We attract the top minds in the industry to keep you current on everything HVACR. In addition to the latest products and technology, we’ll explore trending topics in all sectors of the industry including AI & controls, decarbonization, plumbing & hydronics, heat pumps, refrigerants, workforce development, business & professional growth, and much more.”
MDSM is the world’s leading conference & expo focused on the latest technical advancements in motor, drive systems, motion control, magnetic applications, technology, and rare earth materials.
“This is a once-a-year opportunity for professionals to hear world-class content in design, efficiency, and application advancements in automation, robotics, manufacturing, utilities, automotive, medical, consumer, aerospace & defense industries.”
“Held this year in Brisbane, Australia, SIM-PAC brings together in one location the four of the key components that will deliver a sustainable future for industrial manufacturing: technology, machinery, environmental design, and process engineering.
‘Not only will it be a window into the future, but it will also have a critical focus on what is ready for deployment today,’ says Geoff Matthews, SIM-PAC Event Director and Partner.”
“Each of IHEA’s Sustainability Webinars covers a different topic. This time, the topic will be carbon capture.
With the popularity and success of this summer’s Sustainability & Decarbonization Webinar Series, the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) announces an expansion of the series with eleven new sustainability webinars in 2023 through 2024. ‘With interest very high regarding sustainability and reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases,’ notes IHEA Executive Vice President Anne Goyer, ‘the IHEA Board of Directors feels there is a strong need to continue providing valuable information that will assist our industry in navigating sustainability issues.’ The series will continue to be offered on the third Thursday of every month with an occasional exception for holidays.”
This is only the beginning of what the Industry Calendar can do for you! Explore more here.
Sludge, scale, and dirt are all undesirables in quench oils that can cause detrimental effects during quenching. Bag filtration and centrifuge filtration are put to the test in this investigation. Compare the results before you make your next purchase.
This Technical Tuesday article, written by Greg Steiger, senior account manager, and Michelle Bennett, quality assurance specialist, at Idemitsu Lubricants America, was originally published in November 2023’s Vacuum Heat Treatmagazine.
Introduction
The primary role of a quench oil is to dissipate the heat from a quenched load safely, quickly, and uniformly. Both sludge and heat scale have a higher heat transfer coefficient than quench oil and dissipate heat more than this quench medium. This can affect the performance of a quench oil.
To obtain the desired metallurgical results, the operation of a quench system must be both consistent and uniform. The presence of sludge from quench oil oxidation and scale within the quench oil, pump, and heat exchangers can lead to variability in key parameters such as grain size, hardness, case depth and surface finish. The best way to minimize the detrimental effects of sludge and scale is to remove these contaminants by filtration. This article will compare the two most popular types of commercial filtration available for oil quench systems: bag filters vs. centrifuge filtrations.
This article will compare the two most popular types of commercial filtration available for oil quench systems: bag filters vs. centrifuge filtrations.
Test Methods
To simulate a two-stage bag filter, the following lab procedure was followed.
A 300-mL sample of used quench oil was passed through a 75-micron filter paper. The filtrate from the 75-micron filter was then filtered through a 25-micron filter paper. To simulate the pressure typically found in an industrial bag filter, the filtration in both the 75-micron and 25-micron papers was aided by a vacuum pump that pulled used quench oil through the filter paper.
To simulate the effects of centrifugal separation, a benchtop centrifuge was used. A 300-mL sample of used quench oil was placed in a centrifuge tube and centrifuged for 25 minutes at a speed of 3,500 RPM. An additional 300-mL sample was placed in an identical centrifuge tube and centrifuged for 180 minutes at 3,500 RPM as well.
In addition to the lab testing of dirty quench oil samples, we monitored the particle count and pentane insolubles in samples from an in-use heat treating furnace. This study began with charging the furnace with clean quench oil that was filtered using a single stage 25-micron filter and collected after each filtration. At the conclusion of each timed centrifuge session, the filtrate and the centrifuged sample were tested across five tests, see Table 1.
Table 1. Tested parameters after simulated bag or centrifuge filtration (Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America) Note on Table 1: Pentane insolubles measure sludge and scale present in the quench oil after the filtration through the barrier filter or after the centrifuge. Millipore testing is a measure of the overall cleanliness of the quench oil after either filtration or centrifuging. Carbon residue testing measures the Conradson carbon in the filtered or centrifuged quench oil and is designed to determine if any of the quench speed improver additive in the quench oil has been removed via filtration or centrifuging. By measuring the total acid number (TAN) of the quench oil, it is possible to determine if the quench oil is becoming oxidized and beginning to create unwanted sludge. The ISO Particle Count tests for solids contamination, providing a quantitative value for the number of particles that are larger than 4 μm, 6 μm, and 14 μm.
Filtration Results
Because industrial quench oil filters are under a slight pressure, it would be very difficult to replicate this in a laboratory setting. To simulate the slight pressure found in industrial oil filters, we used a Buchner funnel connected to a vacuum pump to simulate the industrial pressure vessel. A similar setup is depicted in Figure 1.
The results post-filtration are depicted in Table 2 and Table 3.
Table 2. Tested parameters after filtering 300 mL of quench oil through 75-micron filter (Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America)Table 3. Tested parameters after filtering 300 mL of quench oil through 25-micron filter (Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America)
Another popular method of filtration in a heat treating facility is through a centrifuge. While it is impractical to use a full-size industrial centrifuge in a lab, the same results can be achieved through the use of a smaller sample size and a benchtop centrifuge. A benchtop centrifuge similar to the one seen in Figure 2 was used to produce the results in Tables 4 and 5 (below).
Understanding the Test Methods: Bag/Barrier Filtration
Figure 3. Polyethylene felt filter bag and filter canister (Source: SBS Corporation)
Bag (or barrier) filtration is the most common type of filtration used in quench oil filtration. For the heat treater, there are many different size filters available, as well as different configurations varying in the number of canisters and filters. The filter creates a barrier that particles greater than the pore size in the barrier cannot pass. The primary reasons for its popularity are economics, simple operation, and design. A typical polyethylene bag filter and filter cannister can be seen in Figure 3.
The most common filter sizes are 50-micron and 25-microns. Both 5-micron and 25-micron filters were used in this investigation because the test sample contained a high level of pentane insoluble. Additionally, since it is commonly thought that using a 50-micron filter will cause blinding and clogging, we chose a 75-micorn filter and a subsequent filtration step of using a 25-micron filter to simulate a common two-stage quench oil filter.
Understanding the Test Methods: Centrifuge Filtration
Using a centrifuge to filter out sludge and scale is also commonly used in many heat treating operations. The difference between centrifugal filtration and barrier filtration is centrifugal filtration relies on gravity, friction, and centrifugal force to separate the particles from a quench oil instead of a physical barrier (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Horizontal centrifugal filtration (Source: SBS Corporation)
In the horizontal centrifugal filtration diagram, the dirty oil enters the tangential opening (section #1) and is forced into a spinning motion. A centrifugal force (occurring in section #2) is based on the spinning pentane insolubles, scale, and any other solids contained in the dirty oil.
In section #3, the friction created by the flow of the solids, scale, and other undesirables encountering the steel body of the centrifugal separator creates a low viscosity shear layer. In section 4, the clean liquid travels through a vortex and leaves through a side discharge. The slowing velocity of the undesirables allows gravity to pull them into the debris collection area in section #5. The now cleaned oil regains its velocity and continues through the vortex created by the centrifugal forces acting on the solids to a center discharge and back to the quench tank. As the debris fills section 6, a light will illuminate, indicating the receptacle is full and needs to be emptied.
Once the undesirables fill the debris collection area, an indicator light signals the receptacle is full and a gate knife control valve (section #7), is manually closed so the debris collector can be opened via the closure (section #8).
Discussion
Table 4. Tested parameters after centrifuging 300 mL of quench oil sample @ 3,500 RPM for 25 minutes
(Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America)Table 5. Tested parameters after centrifuging 300 mL of quench oil sample @ 3,500 RPM for 3 hours
(Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America)
As seen in Tables 2 and 3, filtration does improve the overall cleanliness of the dirty quench oil. The weight percent of the pentane insolubles showed a significant improvement when filtered through the 25-micron fi lter. However, the level of pentane insolubles was still outside of the suggested limits for the quench oil.
This was not seen when the quench oil was filtered through a 75-micron filter. The 75-micron filter had little or no effect on the Millipore results. The Millipore results increased when filtered through a 75-micron filter. This leads us to believe some of the particles within the dirty oil were forced through the 75-micron filter and not through the 25-micron filter, as the 25-micron filter showed an improvement in Millipore results.
An ISO particle count was not possible on the original used samples or the filtered samples because the filter clogged on all three test samples.
The largest difference in results lies in the carbon residue testing. The level of carbon residue is essentially the same after both the 75-micron and 25-micron filter samples. Both of the carbon residue levels are within the normal suggested limits. However, the high level of sludge in the original dirty sample is likely removing some of the quench speed improver from the quench oil. The removal of the quench speed improver changes the performance of the quench oil over time.
In examining the results of the centrifuge testing in Tables 4 and 5, it is clear centrifuging for 25 minutes has better effect on the cleanliness of the oil sample than filtering through a 25-micron filter. The level of pentane insolubles after centrifuging for 25 minutes at 3,500 RPM is still outside of the suggested limit. However, running the centrifuge for three hours under the same conditions not only brings the pentane insolubles within the suggested limits, the Millipore and particle counts also see an improvement over the virgin oil sample results. The carbon residue levels behave much the same as they do in the filtration tests.
What is significant is the year-long study we conducted using actual customer data. In this study, a furnace was dumped, cleaned, and then filled with clean virgin oil. The authors then tested the ISO particle counts and pentane insolubles for one year after the furnace was charged with clean oil. These results are seen in Table 6. These data show essentially no change in the particle counts and a slight improvement in the level of pentane insolubles over the one-year period.
Table 6. Particle count and pentane insolubles on a clean quench oil (Source: Idemitsu Lubricants America)
Conclusion
From the testing conducted, it is clear the filtration through a 75-micron filter has little to no effect upon the tested parameters and the performance of the quench oil. The high levels of pentane insolubles will likely clog heat exchangers, pumps, and valves within the quench system. The dirty oil will also likely cause metallurgical issues such as isolated soft spots due to the slower heat transfer of the dirty oil. The results of filtering a dirty oil through a 25-micron filter show some improvement in the pentane insoluble levels. However, the result is still outside of the recommended limits for the oil. Additionally, the ISO particle counts were not able to be tested due to the overall dirty condition of the filtered sample.
In contrast to the bag filter samples, the centrifuge samples showed a marked improvement over the dirty sample. While the pentane insoluble level was slightly out of the recommended limit for the 25-minute centrifuge sample, all results were within the recommended specifications for the three-hour centrifuge sample. In some cases, such as the particle count, the centrifuge sample had better results than the virgin sample.
While the centrifuge and filter results both show how hard it is to effectively clean a dirty quench oil, the results from the year-long study show very little difference in particle counts and a slight decrease in pentane insolubles, which can be explained through the normal addition of virgin make up oil to the quench system.
It is clear both centrifuge separation and bag filtration can improve the overall condition of a dirty quench oil. However, if your level of dirt, sludge, and scale reaches near the levels of the tested sample, a centrifuge is better at removing these than filtration. Overall, the data show the most important and efficient method is to begin filtering a clean quench oil as soon as the quench tank is charged.
About The Authors
Greg Steiger is the senior account manager at Idemitsu Lubricants America. Previous to this position, Steiger served in a variety of technical service, research and development, and sales and marketing roles for Chemtool Incorporated, Witco Chemical Company, Inc., D.A. Stuart Company, and Safety-Kleen, Inc. He obtained a BS in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago and recently earned a master’s degree in Materials Engineering at Auburn University. He is also a member of ASM International.
Michelle Bennett is the quality assurance specialist at Idemitsu Lubricants America, supervising the company’s I-LAS used oil analysis program. Over the past 12 years, she has worked in the quality control lab and the research and development department. Her bachelor’s degree is in Chemistry from Indiana University. Michelle is a recipient of Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2023 award.
The search for sustainable solutions in the heat treat industry is at the forefront of research for industry experts. Michael Stowe, PR, senior energy engineer at Advanced Energy, one such expert, offers some fuel for thought on the subject of how heat treaters can reduce their carbon emissions.
This Sustainability Insights article was first published in Heat Treat Today’sDecember 2023 Heat Treat Medical and Energy print magazine.
Michael Stowe PE, Senior Energy Engineer Advanced Energy
The question in the article title is becoming increasingly popular with industrial organizations. Understanding the carbon content of products is becoming more of a “have to” item, especially for organizations that are in the supply chain for industrial assembly plants such as in the automotive industry. Many heat treaters are key steps in the supply chain process, and their carbon footprints will be of more interest to upstream users of heat treated parts in the future. I know I am overstating the obvious here, but I am going to do it anyway for emphasis:
Heat treating requires HEAT.
HEAT requires ENERGY consumption.
ENERGY consumption creates a carbon footprint: a. Fossil fuels heating — direct carbon emissions (Scope 1) b. Electric heating — indirect carbon emissions (Scope 2)
Therefore, by definition and by process, if you are heat treating, then you are producing carbon emissions. Again, the question is, “How can we work to get the carbon out of heating?” Let us explore this.
Once more, heat treating requires energy input. The energy sources for heat treating most frequently include the combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels such as natural gas (methane), propane, fuel oil, diesel, or coal. Also, most combustion processes have a component of electricity to operate combustion air supply blowers, exhaust blowers, circulation fans, conveyors, and other items.
Figure 1 shows the chemical process for the combustion of methane (i.e., natural gas). Figure 1 demonstrates that during combustion, methane (CH4) combines with oxygen (O₂) to form carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O). This same process is true for any carbon-based fuel. If you try to imagine all the combustion in progress across the globe at any given time, and knowing that all this combustion is releasing CO₂, then it is easy to see the problem and the need for CO₂ emission reductions.
In the most basic terms, if you have a combustion-based heat treating process on your site, then you are emitting CO₂. The electricity consumed to support the combustion processes also has a carbon component, and the consumption of this electricity contributes to a site’s carbon footprint.
Figure 2. The 4 Rs of carbon footprint (Source: Advanced Energy)
So, combustion and electricity consumption on your site contributes to your carbon footprint. Knowing this, organizations may want to consider the level of their carbon footprint and explore ways to reduce it. There are many methods and resources available to help organizations understand and work to improve their carbon footprint. For this article, we will focus on the 4 Rs of carbon footprint reduction (see Figure 2).
We will discuss each of these approaches individually in priority order in the next installment of the Sustainability Insights.
For more information: Connect with IHEA Sustainability & Decarbonization Initiatives www.ihea.org/page/Sustainability Article provided by IHEA Sustainability
Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com
ECOACERO, an ESTRELLA Group company, has placed an order for a new rebar mill with a heat treater with North American locations. It will be located nearby Santo Domingo, in Dominican Republic, for serving the growing local and regional construction industry.
The upcoming ECOACERO facility with a rebar mill from SMS group will introduce a versatile range of rebar to the market, tailored to meet the demands of different construction industry segments, manufactured with state-of-the-art technology from SMS, and adhering to rigorous international quality standards.
The complete project, conceptualized with a sustainability philosophy, consists of two phases, with the forthcoming integration of a steel production, involving a melt shop with a continuous casting machine, from the scrap processing.
The scope of delivery of the SMS includes a reheating furnace for billets, feeding a continuous single-strand rolling mill. Products are finished on a MEERdrive® finishing block, a machine that reduces CO₂ emissions and boots plant efficiency. Water boxes in the production process enable steel with improved mechanical properties through quenching and self-tempering of the bars, minimizing the use of expensive alloying elements in the melt shop.
From left to right: Pedro Estrella, Director of ECOACERO; Giuseppe Maniscalco, CEO of industrial division Grupo Estrella; Filippo Verlezza, SMS group and Nicola Redolfi, SMS group (Source: SMS group)
The second phase involves a modern electric arc furnace (EAF), high electrical efficient and designed with burner and oxygen injector technology to reduce CO₂ emissions and operating costs.
The scrap charging-based electric arc furnace will be equipped with the latest SMS technologies for safe and automatic operation aimed at reducing the carbon footprint. The entire melting-refining-casting process line is monitored by X-Pact® Level 2 system.
The plant commissioning is scheduled for the beginning of 2025, pointing to ECOACERO as the one of the largest and modern steel companies in the Caribbean and Central America.
This SMS group press release can be found in its original form here.
Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com
An Ultra Low NOx HPH®-flameless bell-type annealing plant at thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg has achieved CO2-neutral heat treatment of precision strip.
Tenova LOI Thermprocess, a company which is part of Tenova, continues to prove that CO2-neutral heat treatment can go together with low nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in a cooperation project with thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg GmbH. Tenova LOI Thermprocess is part of Tenova and is one of the leading companies supplying industrial furnace systems for the heat treatment of metals. Tenova, a Techint Group company, is as a worldwide partner for sustainable, innovative, and reliable solutions in the metals and the mining industries.
In bell-type annealing plants, which have so far been mainly operated with natural gas, precipitation and spheroidizing annealing of steel coils is carried out to specifically adjust the mechanical properties for subsequent rolling processes or the required product properties at the end customer.
At thyssenkrupp’s Hagen-Hohenlimburg site, Tenova LOI Thermprocess’s heating hoods with LOI’s patented Ultra low NOx HPH®-flameless concept has been used for around 12 years. By increasing air preheating temperatures to 1112°F (600°C), this technology has led to energy and therefore CO2 savings of up to 12%.
Dr. Gökhan Gula Project Manager and Process Engineer Tenova LOI Thermprocess.
In a campaign involving several annealing cycles, a further step has been taken towards decarbonizing steel production as part of the joint project. In production trials, the fuel gas supply for the heat treatment of hot-rolled narrow strip was gradually converted from natural gas to up to 100% hydrogen. Tenova indicates that, for the first time in the world, 70 t of steel strip were heat treated in a bell-type annealing plant in a locally CO2‑neutral process. The flameless concept demonstrates its advantages here because despite the higher combustion temperature compared to natural gas and thus a tendency towards higher nitrogen oxide emissions, it results in remarkably low NOx emissions.
Using the bell-type annealing plant, up to 2600 kg of CO2 can be saved per annealing cycle by using regenerative produced hydrogen, while maintaining productivity and product properties.
“The combustion of hydrogen is technically more complex than the direct use of electricity or the combustion of natural gas. This project has provided us with further insights into the decarbonization of the bell-type annealing process and is helping us on our joint path towards the transformation to climate-neutral steel production,” says Dr. Gökhan Gula, project manager and process engineer at Tenova LOI Thermprocess.
The appeal of additive manufacturing (AM) for producing orthopedic implants lies in the “ability to design and manufacture complex and customized structures for surgical patients in a short amount of time.” To complement speed of production, learn how an innovative hot isostatic pressing (HIP) application is confronting the challenges of post-processing heat treatments when creating high quality AM medical parts.
Today’s Technical Tuesday article, written by Andrew Cassese, applications engineer; Anders Magnusson, manager of Business Development; and Chad Beamer, senior applications engineer, all from Quintus Technologies, was originally published in Heat Treat Today’sDecember 2023’s Medical and Energy Heat Treat magazine.
AM is playing a significant role in the medical industry. It gives manufacturers the ability to create customized and complex structures for surgical implants and medical devices. Additionally, medical device manufacturers have different material factors to consider – such as biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, strength, and fatigue – when selecting a material for a given application. Each of these factors plays a significant role. It’s no wonder that the most common metallic biomaterials in today’s industry are stainless steels, cobalt-chrome alloys, and titanium alloys (Trevisan et al., 2018).
In this article, learn about the application of Ti6Al4V in the medical industry, as well as ways to address some of the challenges when producing AM medical components.
The Future Demands Orthopedic Implants
Figure 1. Example of AM trabecular structure on a Ti6Al4V
acetabular cup (Source: Quintus Technologies)
The medical market for orthopedic implants is predicted to grow annually by approximately 4% where joint replacement, spine, and trauma sectors are reported to account for more than two-thirds of the market. The largest portion is joint replacement with over a third of global turnover, reaching in excess of 20 million U.S. dollars in 2022 (ORTHOWORLD® Inc., 2023). This confirms an earlier study by Allied Market Research where spine, knee, and hip implants made up over 66% of the entire market, with knee implants leading the way at 26% (Allied Market Research Study, 2022). This fact, combined with the expectation that the global population aged 60+ is predicted to double between 2020 and 2050, adds to the increasing demand on manufacturers to produce better quality and longer lasting orthopedic implants (Koju et al., 2022).
These factors have increased the predicted medical implant market for Ti6Al4V and other common orthopedic materials. Using AM processes such as electron beam melting (EBM) and laser powder beam fusion (L-PBF), manufacturers can produce thin-walled trabecular structures that are fabricated to promote bone ingrowth in a growing market that is in competition with traditional production methods.
Titanium-based alloys have been increasingly used in orthopedic applications due to their high corrosion resistance and a Young’s modulus similar to that of human cortical bone (Kelly et al., 2021). The high strength-to-weight ratio and bioinert-ness of Ti6Al4V has proven it to be an ideal candidate for orthopedic and dental implants. It is a titanium alloy with 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium that has low density, high weldability, and is heat treatable. Ti6Al4V demonstrates good osteointegration properties, which is defined as the structural and functional connection between living bone and the surface of a load carrying medical implant.
Many manufacturers are using L-PBF to create thin-walled complex structures on the surface of the implant. This makes use of the osteointegration properties as the implant integrates itself into the body over time without the need for bone cement (Kelly et al., 2021). Introducing a large metallic foreign body leads to challenges such as promotion of chronic inflammation, infection, and biofilm formation. Instead, porous AM Ti6Al4V implants have a biomimetic design attempt towards natural bone morphology (Koju et al., 2022).
AM Yields Production Solutions for Medical Alloys
The medical industry has been increasing the use of AM over traditional processing methods. AM facilitates weight reduction, material savings, and shortened lead-time due to reduced machining, but these are only a few of the benefits. Improved functionality and patient satisfaction are also key aspects through tailoring of designs to take advantage of AM over traditional forging and casting techniques. Additionally, the costs of machining a strong alloy like Ti6Al4V can be expensive, and any wasted material and time in turn lead to higher cost.
One of the main reasons for the interest in AM is the ability to design and manufacture complex and customized structures for surgical patients in a short amount of time. For example, if a patient needs an implant for surgery, an MRI scan can help reverse engineer a customized implant. Engineers prepare a design of a patient-specific implant according to the patient’s anatomy that is then printed, HIPed, and finished for surgery with a reduced lead time. This is especially important for trauma victims, where the speed of repair can mean the difference between losing a limb or returning to a fully functional life. Cancer victims and those requiring aesthetic surgery to the skull, nose, jaw, etc., can also benefit from this (Benady et al., 2023).
Some of the current challenges with AM titanium in the medical industry are related to the post-processing heat treatments that are required. These treatments can leave an oxide layer on thin-walled structures that is hard to remove by machining or chemical milling. Quintus Purus®, a unique clean-HIP solution, has proven to overcome this challenge and provide clients with a robust solution that both densifies and maintains a clean surface.
When HIP Meets AM
Figure 2. AM Ti6Al4V components HIPed without getter using conventional HIP (left) and Quintus Purus® (right) (Source: Zeda)
HIP is important in the AM world as a post-process that closes porosity and increases fatigue life. For medical implants, high and low cycle fatigue life properties are key as they affect the longevity of the repair. The mechanical strength and integrity are improved significantly by HIPing the implants, reducing the need for further surgery on the same patient. Modern HIP cycles have been developed to further increase this performance. When combined with Quintus Purus®, modern HIP cycles can minimize the thin, oxygen-affected layer that can result from thermal processing on surfaces of high oxygen-affinitive materials, such as titanium.
For Ti6Al4V, this layer is often referred to as alpha-case. The brittle nature of the alpha-case negatively impacts material properties resulting in medical manufacturers requesting their AM parts in the “alpha-case free” state. Alpha-case can be formed during heat treatment. As surfaces of the payload and process equipment are exposed to oxygen at elevated temperatures, they may be oxidized or reduced, depending on the oxide to oxygen partial pressure equilibrium. During heat treatment, evaporating compounds become part of the process atmosphere, and solids are deposited or formed on other surfaces, either as particles or as surface oxides.
For titanium alloys, surface oxides are formed at logarithmic or linear rates, depending on temperature and oxygen partial pressure. At the same time, oxygen can diffuse into the surface to form the brittle alpha-case, which is detrimental to the part’s fatigue performance. Changes of the surface color can often be seen as an indication that surface reactions have occurred during processing when using traditional thermal processes (Magnusson et al., 2023).
The HIP furnace atmosphere contaminants that cause this oxidation can originate from various sources including the process gas, equipment, furnace interior, and, most importantly, the parts to be processed. The payload itself often absorbs moisture from the surrounding atmosphere before being loaded into the furnace, which is subsequently released into the HIP atmosphere during processing. Industrial practice today attempts to solve the issue by wrapping parts in a material such as stainless steel foil or a “getter” that has a high affinity to oxygen protecting the Ti6Al4V component from exposure to large volumes of process gas, thus helping minimize the pickup of the contaminates.
This method adds material, time, and labor to wrap and unwrap parts before and after each HIP cycle. Also, wrapping in getter cannot guarantee cleanliness and may result in some uneven oxidation. This is where the tools of Quintus Purus® are of assistance; these tools allow the user to define a maximum water vapor content that can be accepted in the HIP system before the process starts. The tool utilizes the Quintus HIP hardware together with a newly developed software routine, ensuring that the target water vapor level is met in the shortest time possible. The result is a cleaner payload, without the need to directly wrap components with getter (Magnusson et al., 2023).
Table 2. Results from case study productivity analysis
(Source: Quintus Technologies)Table 1. Input to case study (Source: Quintus Technologies)
Alpha-Case Avoided: Comparing Conventional HIP and Optimized HIP Technologies
Quintus Technologies performed a study with Zeda, Inc. to evaluate Quintus Purus® on L-PBF Ti6Al4V medical implant parts. The study was performed in the Application Center in Västerås, Sweden in a QIH 21 HIP. A conventional HIP cycle was performed as well as an optimized Quintus Purus® HIP cycle, both without the use of getter. No presence of alpha-case was found on the part processed with the Quintus Purus® cycle as shown in Figure 2 below (Magnusson et al., 2023).
Quintus Purus® can be further enhanced with the use of a Quintus custom-made getter cassette supplied as part of the installation, which consumes or competes for the remainder of contaminant gaseous compounds still present in the system after all other measures such as best practice handling, adjustment of gas quality, etc., have been implemented.
Titanium is considered the getter of choice for Quintus Purus® and is included as an optional compact getter cassette placed at the optimum position in the hot zone of the HIP furnace. Although the custom-made getter cassette occupies a small space, its use can significantly increase loading efficiency. The traditional way of individually wrapping components with stainless steel or titanium foil will consume more furnace volume, through reduced packing efficiency, leading to less components per cycle when compared to the Quintus Purus® titanium getter cassette strategy. Using an average spinal implant size of 2 in3 (32 cm3), one can calculate the packing density in a standard HIP vessel assuming two shifts per day and a 90% machine uptime. For example, a Quintus Technologies QIH 60 URC with a hot zone diameter of 16 in (410 mm) and a height of 40 in (1,000 mm) can pack up to 1,280 implants per cycle, with clearances for proper spacing and load plates.
Figure 3. Quintus Technologies QIH 60 URC outfitted with
Quintus Purus® technology (Source: Quintus Technologies)
The typical Ti6Al4V HIP parameters include a soak time of two hours at 1688°F with 14.5 ksi argon pressure (920°C with 100 MPa). Accounting for heat up and cool down time, this HIP cycle can take less than eight hours, allowing two cycles per day on a two-shift work schedule. A typical case of wrapping each component in getter material adds time, cost, resources, and uses up to an estimated 50% of the load capacity. With the increased efficiency enabled by Quintus Purus®, clients have the opportunity to HIP 552,960 spinal implants per year (Tables 2 and Figure 3).
In conclusion, the growing Ti6Al4V market in the medical industry demands innovative developments to keep up with ever-increasing production volumes, whilst quality demands in lean production are becoming more significant. Solutions like the Quintus Purus® will allow manufacturers to have control over the quality of their titanium parts during a HIP cycle. It can be applied to produce alpha-case free components ensuring the optimal performance of orthopedic implants with increased service life.
References Ahlfors, Magnus, Chad Beamer. “Hot Isostatic Pressing for Orthopedic Implants.” (2020): https://quintustechnologies.com/knowledge-center/hiporthopedic-implants/. Allied Market Research Study performed for Quintus Technologies, 2022. Benady, Amit, Sam J. Meyer, Eran Golden, Solomon Dadia, Galit Katarivas Levy. “Patient-specific Ti-6Al-4V lattice implants for critical-sized load-bearing bone defects reconstruction.” Materials & Design 226 (Feb. 2023): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127523000205?via%3Dihub. Kelly, Cambre N., Tian Wang, James Crowley, Dan Wills, Matthew H. Pelletier, Edward R. Westrick, Samuel B. Adams, Ken Gall, William R. Walsh, “High-strength, porous additively manufactured implants with optimized mechanical osseointegration.” Biomaterials (Dec.2021): 279, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/.
About the Authors
Andrew Cassese is an applications engineer at Quintus Technologies. He has a bachelor’s degree in welding engineering from The Ohio State University.
Anders Magnusson is the business development manager at Quintus Technologies with an MSc in engineering materials from Chalmers University of Technology.
Chad Beamer
Applications Engineer
Quintus Technologies
Chad Beamer is a senior applications engineer at Quintus Technologies, and one of Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2023 award winners. He has an MS from The Ohio State University in Materials Science and has worked as a material application engineer with GE Aviation for years and as a technical services manager with Bodycote. As an applications engineer, he manages the HIP Application Center located in Columbus, Ohio, educates on the advancements of HIP technologies, and is involved in collaborative development efforts both within academia and industry.
Artificial intelligence remains a hot topic for every industry, not least heat treating. Understanding the how and why of AI’s potential impacts on the industry, however, is not so easily apparent.
Today’s article, written by Joe Coleman, cybersecurity officer at Bluestreak Consulting, breaks down the pros and cons of implementing AI, to help you decide if artificial intelligence might be a beneficial addition to your heat treat operations.
Joe Coleman, cyber security officer, Bluestreak Consulting
As all of you are aware, artificial intelligence (AI) is getting more and more attention, and companies are beginning to use AI to help with many aspects of running their businesses. I’m sure you’ve heard of ChatGPT and other intelligent user interfaces (IUI). You may be one of those businesses considering the idea or experimenting with it to access its potential benefits for your business.
Like any industry, there are quite a few pros and cons associated with using AI to improve the heat treating processes. This article will outline some of these advantages and disadvantages. Always make sure you do your own research before jumping into the AI world because it’s not always what it seems.
What Is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. It includes a wide range of techniques and approaches, including machine learning, allowing computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, solving problems, and making decisions. AI systems are designed to learn from data, improving their performance over time without direct programming. These technologies find applications in many areas, from virtual assistants and language translation services to autonomous vehicles and industrial diagnostics, revolutionizing industries and helping to shape the future of technology
Pros of AI in Heat Treating
Quality Improvement:
AI systems can monitor and help control the heat treatment process in real time, ensuring you have consistent quality and to minimize defects.
Predictive analytics in AI can anticipate potential defects, allowing for corrective actions before they occur.
Increased Efficiency:
AI algorithms can optimize processing parameters and reduce bottlenecks, leading to faster and more efficient heat treating processes.
AI-driven automation can improve employee labor throughput and increase overall production speed.
Cost Reduction:
By optimizing utilities usage and resources, AI can help reduce the plethora of operational costs within heat treating facilities.
Predictive maintenance generated by AI can prevent costly equipment breakdowns and production downtime.
Customization and Personalization:
AI algorithms can analyze customer requirements and tailor heat treating processes to their specific needs.
Improved data analysis can lead to the development of new and specialized heat treatments for different metals and alloys.
Data Analysis and Information:
AI systems can process enormous amounts of data generated during heat treatment, collecting valuable information that can be used for process improvements and better-quality management.
Pattern recognition and statistical process control (SPC) analysis by AI can identify trends and correlations that could normally be overlooked.
Click image to download a list of cybersecurity acronyms and definitions.
Cons of AI in Heat Treating
Initial Investment:
Implementing an AI system requires a significant initial investment in the technology, training, and infrastructure, which may be a showstopper for smaller businesses.
Dependency on Technology:
Dependencies on AI systems can be a problem if there are technical glitches or breakdowns, disrupting the entire heat treating process.
Data Security and Privacy:
AI systems rely heavily on data. Ensuring the security and privacy of sensitive data is critical, especially when dealing with Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), your proprietary heat treating processes, and sensitive customer information.
Ethical Concerns:
AI decision-making processes raise ethical questions, especially if the technology is used in critical applications, ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI decision-making is essential.
Skilled Workers Replaced:
Automation using AI might reduce the need for certain manual tasks, potentially leading to skilled workers losing their jobs without the necessary skills to operate or maintain AI systems.
Here’s the bottom line: You should always do your own research to see if AI is a good fit for your business. AI is not always better. There are upsides of using it, and there are definitely downsides to using it. You can’t always trust AI to give you the best information, so always make sure you confirm the information it is giving you through V&V (verification and validation).
At the Metal Treating Institute’s (MTI) national fall meeting, held October 9–11 in Tucson, AZ, Jay Owen gave an excellent presentation entitled, “Artificial Intelligence: Be Afraid or Be Excited.” Contact MTI by visiting www.heattreat.net.
Sometimes our editors find items that are not exactly “heat treat” but do deal with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing.
To celebrate getting to the “fringe” of the weekend, Heat Treat Today presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday: an exciting development for 5G’s applications in the metallurgical industry, allowing for the development of new materials and the reduction of energy consumption and emissions.
Jens Petri Head of Technologies and Partnerships SMS digital Source: LinkedIn
SMSGroup, a metallurgical company with North American locations, is building its own “private 5G Campus network” for research and development at its Hilchenbach location in the Siegerland. Together with Mugler and Ericsson, a private 5G infrastructure was set up here that enables not only the testing of the highest mobile communications standard currently available, but also the advancement of new developments for the metallurgical industry.
The use of a private 5G network offers a whole array of approaches to solutions, which SMS is now testing for the first time on an industrial scale and developing for customers in the metallurgical industry around the world.
The private 5G standalone Campus network used at SMS provides the basis for an initial test environment for the implementation of various 5G use cases. The network based on Ericsson Private 5G Technology (EP5G) was implemented by Mugler. Thanks to the efficient collaboration of all project partners, the system went live just four weeks after the project was launched.
Tests are carried out on applications from the fields of mobility and automated guided vehicles (AGV), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and lone worker applications. These are integrated and comprehensively tested at SMS’s Hilchenbach site, with the aim of optimizing their practical implementation. Moreover, the new private 5G network location serves as a platform for putting into practice the findings gained within the framework of the 5G-Furios research projects being run and funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project Zero-SWARM, and the CLOUD56 research project of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).
The SMS test environment offers a unique opportunity to test use cases internally and to present them to potential customers in a clear and illustrative way. The 5G Campus network represents an important step in the evaluation of advanced digitalization technologies and their applications in the steel industry.
Says Jens Petri, head of Technologies and Partnerships at SMS digital, “We serve the market with a sensor solution for production companies that is scalable and easy to integrate. Thanks to the 5G connectivity, it enables the transmission and processing of data to gain insights into the process that were jointly developed and tested at SMS group in Hilchenbach. SMS group is closing the gap between physics, sensor technology, OT, and IT.”
Heat Treat Today is partnering with two international publications:heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbH publication that serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, and Furnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication that primarily serves the English-speaking globe. Through these partnerships, we are sharing the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat.
In this installment, explore important company partnerships with wide-spread industry effects as well as innovative new technologies from abroad.
TECHMO CAR Welcomes Anthony Tropeano as New Senior Advisor
Founded in 1961, TECHMO CAR drives innovation in the engineering and manufacturing of mobile and stationary equipment for the aluminum and metal production sector. (Source: Furnaces International)
"Anthony Tropeano of TT CONSULTING INC. has joined TECHMO CAR as a Senior Advisor for the US and Mexico market. Mr. Tropeano has spent over 40 years in the primary, secondary and downstream aluminum and metals worldwide market.”
New Tin Plate Complex from Partnership Between Danieli and Habaş Group
Caption: Situated in Aliağa near Izmir, the new facility will serve the needs of the packaging industry and the increasing need for cold-rolled and annealed thin sheets. (Source: heat processing)
"The facility, with a capacity of 900,000 tons per year, will produce a diverse range of steel grades, including T1 to T4 and DR7 to DR10. Among its offerings are 250,000 tons of tinplate, 150,000 tons of thin, continuous annealed cold-rolled coil, and 500,000 tons of semi-finished products. The complex comprises four crucial process areas: electrolytic cleaning, cold rolling and tempering, electrolytic tinning, and continuous annealing.”
SMS Group Partners with Turkish Plant Operator Kardemir to Digitize Blast Furnace 5
Using BFXpert solution from Paul Wurth, SMS Group has digitized a blast furnace belonging to Kardemir, Türkiye’s oldest blast furnace operator. (Source: Furnaces International)
"The Paul Wurth BFXpert system is a comprehensive package of systems for the chemical and thermal control of blast furnaces. It is an integrated level-2 process control and operator guidance system for superior blast furnace operation, utilizing the benefits of artificial intelligence to take process optimization to the next level and towards a fully autonomous blast furnace."
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Develops New Process for Sustainable Pig Iron Production
“By integrating the blast furnace and coking plant as well as the consistent recycling of process gases and heat, CO₂ emissions in steel production can be reduced.” (Source: heat processing.com)
"Around eight percent of global CO₂ emissions are caused by the steel industry. Professor Olaf Deutschmann from the Institute for Technical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry (ITCP) at KIT is of the opinion that this must change quickly. In the long term, thanks to new hydrogen technologies, there is a climate-neutral perspective, but it will still be a few years before sufficient green hydrogen is available worldwide and newly built plants go into operation.”
Effective November 30, 2023, Joe A. Powell has sold his remaining shares in Akron Steel Treating Company, his family’s commercial heat treating business for over 80 years in Akron, Ohio, USA, to a fourth generation of new “family” ownership.
The team at AST will continue to deliver ISO and Nadcap aerospace heat treating and related metallurgical services to part making customers.
Joe A. Powell, AST’s Chairman of the Board, will remain active in the heat treating and metallurgical services community as president ofIntegrated Heat Treating Solutions, LLC. (IHTS). IHTS is a “heat transfer” consulting company for product development teams to enable more sustainable heat treating equipment and practices to be integrated into their new product designs. IHTS and its team of part making consultants enable their part making clients to deliver more “total added value” from heat treating and forging per BTU expended in making their products for their end users; including the design of the associated heating and quench cooling equipment for "leaner + greener, more sustainable, manufacturing" and for greater recyclability of metal alloys.
Pictured in the image above: AST’s new shareholder team, and Joe A. Powell, Chairman of the Board, are pictured from left to right: Matt Moldvay, President; Steve Powell, Vice President of Quality, Christina Powell Somogye, Vice President of Administration; Joe A. Powell, Chairman; and Joe N. Powell, Vice President of Sales. (Source: AST)
