Rob Gilmore CEO Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company bizjournals.com
Watlow Electric ManufacturingCompany, a North American manufacturer of thermal systems, will purchase Eurotherm, a global provider of temperature and power control measurement systems. The sale is estimated for the end of 2022.
“Watlow is excited to invest in this innovative product portfolio and professional team,” Rob Gilmore, Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company's CEO said. “Combining Eurotherm’s complementary controls technologies with Watlow’s focus on thermal systems, our shared engineer-to-engineer sales models and our focus on common markets will allow Watlow and Eurotherm to better serve all of our respective customers.”
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Heat TreatRadiohost and Heat TreatToday publisher, Doug Glenn, talks with Matt Wright, the chief marketing officer at C3 Data, to hear how the company has reimagined furnace compliance to fit in your pocket.
Below, you can watch the video, listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or read an edited transcript.
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
Doug Glenn: Matt, Welcome to Heat TreatRadio. This is your first time on.
Matt Wright: It’s good to be with you.
DG: I do want you to spend a little bit of time giving our listeners a little bit about your background and then, also, if you don’t mind, a quick summary of what C3 Data does, just so our listeners have a concept.
MW: I’ve been in the heat treat industry now for about 15 years. My brother, Nathan, and I together, we own a few — twenty-five — accredited pyrometry labs. C3 Data really comes as an outgrowth of that. Looking for an opportunity or way to reduce errors, a human element, and to save time with all of our technicians doing all the work that they’re doing. And so, it really became something that we did for ourselves and realized that it could be something that the industry as a whole could use.
When you look at our industry, there are two ways that you can comply with the AMS2750 CQI-9 specifications. One is what I would call the “roll your own method” which is what everyone has been doing from the beginning: that is using a whole panoply of different technologies, whether that’s an Excel spreadsheet, a clipboard, post-it notes, or what have you — anything and everything that you can do to try to remember to do all the things that need to be done, and then you go to the audit and hope that nothing fell through the cracks. What C3 Data does is takes all of those requirements and starts with the spec and encapsulates everything in one platform, one system, so you don’t have to think about and remember to do those things, you just follow what we have you do, and you come out and you’re ready for your audit.
DG: I want to jump back onto the labs you were talking about. Very briefly, how many where are they?
MW: We’ve got one in Ohio and one in Mexico that has three different offices in Mexico.
DG: And these are metallurgical labs, or did you say testing labs?
MW: They are labs that go on site to perform temperature uniformity surveys, system accuracy tests, instrument calibrations and those types of things.
DG: Let’s talk about compliance. Compliance with AMS2750 CQI-9 NADCAP is really an issue that is important to a lot of our listeners and readers, primarily those manufacturers who have their own in-house heat treat and have their own furnaces. Let’s talk about some of the latest developments, the latest technologies in that field. What are you seeing out there, Matt?
MW: When I look at our industry, one of the things that is the biggest challenge is the flow of information — getting information from where it resides to where it needs to be in the format that it needs to be. I think the technologies that have been successful in our industry are technologies that help lubricate that flow, if you will. A good example, I think you had mentioned some of the specs, but one of them is ITAR, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations specifications. In that case, you’re trying to prevent information from going to malign influence and so they’re going to use things like the Cloud and mobile technology. And those are the platforms that we’ve been built on, as well. But we’re kind of using it in reverse; we’re trying to disseminate information and getting it there as quickly as possible. So, the Cloud and mobile technology, I think, are the two biggest forms of technology that have been really helpful.
A couple other ones that we’re actually using that we’re seeing a little bit more and more of is OCR- optical character recognition. This is the ability to take a static document that has information on it and digitize it and get it to where it needs to be. We’re using that to be able to scan, for example, thermocouple cert, so that our customers, irrespective of who they’re buying their certs from, can just take a cert, scan it and build it right into their platform so they can use it to do an SAT in real-time.
Another one is the QR code. You know, with the things that are going on, it’s kind of made a comeback in recent days. Now you can get your wine list by scanning a QR code at the restaurant. Well, we’ve been using it since before it was cool to do that; we’ve been using to scan your thermocouples or your field test instrumentation, so you don’t have to go and look up something in a database or a table, you can just scan it in and, boom, you’re ready to go.
DG: This OCR is interesting regarding the certifications on the thermocouples. So, a thermocouple comes in, it’s got its stats and whatever you’re scanning, that becomes part of your data, if you will, correct? And are they using it for anything else? For example, I’m thinking in my mind, a company who wants to transition over to using a system like yours, perhaps they’ve got a lot of historical documents that, at least, would be helpful. Is that also an application?
MW: Certainly, a potential application could exist for that. We’ve got other tools with forms and things that we’ve put in place to make that transition from going from, what I call the “roll your own” in the static thing and pulling all of that information in. We’ve really made it, and strive to make it, more and more seamless every time.
DG: And the QR codes? Are you using those on furnaces, on thermocouples, or where are you using those?
MW: Any equipment that you use, whether it’s a thermocouple, a field test instrument, a data logger, any certification data that is associated with that, you can print a QR code and affix it to that. You’re not having to go and enter that in manually, you’re just scanning it in using our mobile app that has a QR code scanner built right in — it’s pulling that directly in. The whole idea is to reduce that bottle neck, if you will, and to get that information flow in so that these guys can do more value at a time out on the plant floor.
DG: I also wanted to ask you, because you mentioned about Cloud-based and mobile apps and things of that sort — let’s talk about security for just a second. I just got done doing an interview with a guy by the name of Mark Mills that hasn’t been released yet. He’s a fascinating guy and I’m going to give that one a plug right here- you need to listen to that when it comes out. But he was talking about cybersecurity- he wrote a book called The Cloud Revolution. I’ve also heard at some of the industry meetings that there have been real concerns where some of the larger companies are not wanting their data to go “outside,” if you will- they don’t want to break the ceiling and get into the Cloud, they want it on site. Are you guys seeing much of that? If so, how are you handling that?
MW: It’s a mix. We do see that. Every corporation has their own policies and procedures and what they’ve determined is a safe way to operate. So, on one side of the spectrum, we’ll get people that will be concerned and say, “Nothing in the Cloud,” and we have to have that conversation. Usually, the conversation revolves around what is the purpose of this information? And really, when you peel back and look at it, if someone were able to access the information in our system (which we have very tight security around), the only thing they’re going to find out is the very thing that those same preparations are bragging about on their website, and that is that they’re NADCAP compliant. There is no process-related data, there is no secret sauce involved in anything that we’re doing and so, it’s not something that we believe, and most people do end up seeing it our way that needs to be curtailed from a Cloud perspective.
DG: I know a lot of companies’ concerns are not so much that something will get out about them as it is this Cloud connection is a gateway for the nefarious amongst us to break in and get it. I’m sure you’re seeing that, right? Let me ask you it this way: What percentage of your clients are actually saying to you, “Listen, we want this to not be Cloud-based, we want it to be just on-site.”
MW: If I could swag, I would say maybe 5–10% ask the question, “Hey, is this something that we can just have locally because we would just like to have it for ourselves?” And the answer is, it’s not; it’s not something that we can have locally, just by nature of what it is — it’s an ongoing, continually improving and updated thing.
DG: Let’s talk about another hot point that we have here besides internet security. I don’t know if you guys have been affected by this, but it has to do with supply chain issues. We’ve got Covid to blame, we’ve got Russia to blame, we’ve got all kinds of things as far as supply chain. Are you experiencing any of that yourself for your business or are you seeing it from any of your customers?
MW: I think we are fairly isolated from that in that we’re not producing a tangible product; we’re a software company. Happily, we’re not experiencing that so much. I will say that, from our customers’ perspective, the big catchphrase now is “flexibility.” With those things that you mentioned, the ability to be able to adapt to not knowing from one day to the next if the guy that was supposed to do your SATs or TUSs today is even going to show up because he might test positive for Covid, or something else, really drives home the need to be flexible — to not put all your eggs in one proverbial basket. We’re striving asymptotically, if you will, to get closer and closer to that point where someone who’s never done a calibration before, can pick up an app and literally, the same day, start doing calibrations. There are a lot of hills to climb and obstacles to overcome, but we’re pretty close and we’re going to strive to keep doing that so that people don’t have to worry about what if this guy quits, or what if this guy gets a promotion? The system is going to run, and they can pick up and run with it with the next guy.
DG: When we talk supply chain, I start to think to myself, to a certain extent, I start to think internationally a little bit because a lot of the issues are bottlenecks at the border and things of that sort. But it makes me wonder — how about you guys, C3 Data, are you just North America or are you seeing business outside?
MW: Being a software company, one of the benefits of it is that you don’t have to ship anything anywhere. Being a U.S.-based company, we started out here and most of customers are here. We have a fair number of customers in Mexico, we have a few in the United Kingdom and we’re expanding currently, bringing on customers in France. Right now, we’ve got about four or five different languages that the website and the app is translated into, and we’re interested in expanding. It’s a great question and one that we’re really excited about — being able to not just be so parochial in the United States, but to expand into Europe.
DG: Tell me a bit about the mobile app. Let’s say you’re a manufacturer and you’ve got an in-house heat treat department. How often are you going to be using that mobile app as opposed to how often are you going to be using a desktop application, and how is the mobile app used?
MW: The decision to go with the mobile app came from our experience as a heat treat lab. Having to schlep around a laptop in a laptop bag or a cart with a computer on it, it’s really kind of a pain, quite frankly. Virtually everyone owns a cellphone. So, if we can put this into the power of a cellphone and enable that person to carry one less thing and to have the flexibility to not need to have to have that to do an SAT, to do a calibration, to change a sensor and those types of things, that’s what we wanted to do. You can use the app, you can run it on a laptop if you wish, and we have a few customers that just do that, but most of our customers (I would say over 90%), use the app, and depending on how fat their fingers are, they might go to a tablet.
DG: On a typical day when they’re using the app, they’re using it to do what? Run us through what would be a typical application.
MW: The mobile is primarily just used to do instrument calibrations and system accuracy tests. When you go out to do these tests, there is a whole lot of information that you need to have, and you need to be able to record information. Everything that you need is on the app, whether it’s defining what test sensor you’re using, what field test instrument you’re using, what furnace class the furnace is — everything is there. So, they’re using it just to record information. As they’re using that app and putting that information in, their reports are literally being generated in real-time and waiting for the quality manager to review whenever he or she wants to.
DG: I wanted to ask you about the different standards that you guys are covering. The three biggies we always think about are NADCAP, AMS2750, and CQI-9, and I’m sure you’ve got compliance with all of those. Are there any other major ones that you think any of our captive heat treaters might be interested in? I know the commercials will be interested in all of them, but any our captives might be interested in?
MW: Yes. Those two are the big ones — the AMS2750 spec and CQI-9 — that’s going to cover your aerospace and your automotive specification. We have the ability to give our customers, and a lot of our users do take advantage of it to create their own custom specs. They can just define their custom specs, their criteria, their frequencies, and then use the same platform that we built for these two specs, out of the box, to drive the compliance to whatever spec they want. So, it’s very open — it’s kind of agnostic in that regard. But we just built in those two AMS2750 and CQI-9 specs because that’s going to hit over 90% of what everybody wants.
Just a thing about those specs: Whenever those specs revise, like when CQI-9 went from rev 3 to 4 and when AMS2750 revision from E to F, and now, coming up in June when it revises to G, one of the benefits of having a Cloud-based solution is that all of our customers, when it went to F, all they had to do was log into the portal, find their furnace and go from E and select F and they’re off and running. That’s all they had to do. No training is required. It saves a lot on time of training, and you don’t have to redo the paperwork. The reports and all those things are now current revision.
DG: And Rev G of AMS2750 is probably out. I was just at some industry meetings and the big stink about the AMS2750 is going to a tenth of a degree on some measuring tools and things of that sort. Are you guys are able to handle that? I assume, being the software guys, it probably doesn’t really matter to you whether it’s a tenth or a hundredth or whatever. But you can cover that?
MW: Yes, absolutely. Now the tenth of a degree thing, I believe, is going to be extended for another year so that users are going to have one more year for that. The date we’re hearing and looking at is the end of June, so I think June 29th, which I think is the two-year anniversary of Rev E to F, so it will be coming out then, if nothing else changes.
DG: The fellows I was hearing from were saying basically there is talk of the extension, but they’ve got to get it passed to actually get the extension, otherwise end of June is the date that most people are going to have to nail that with.
Your C3 Data tool is basically Cloud-based, portable, whether it’s website, phone, tablet or whatever, to help people comply. When the auditor walks in to get the information they want, how easy is it for your clients? What do they need to do? I assume this is where the real time and money-savings come in, correct?
MW: Correct. What we like to tell people is, in a nutshell, C3 Data is going to save you time and help you pass your audits. The time saving is happening all during the year. Every SAT you do, you’re saving an enormous amount of time because you’re not writing in your reports, you’re not doing any calculations — you’re aggregating and gaining time throughout the year.
You’re also going to gain time in your audit preparation because, as you mentioned, when you log into your portal, your ability to find all of your documentation, along with our furnace dashboard which shows you, furnace by furnace, the compliance status of each one of them. You can see, in real-time, the compliance status is a huge timesaver and a real peace of mind that you can walk in with your hand on your heart and know from the auditor’s perspective, you’re going to have a good experience, because if he wants to see something, it’s very easy to find and you’re well prepared.
DG: Timesaving has got to be enormous. I know there are a lot of companies investing a lot of time in these audits and in compliance-related things.
You guys do a lot of work in this area. Are there any good tools out there for any of our viewers/readers if they want to go and find out more information, whether it’s dealing with compliance, what is AMS2750, what is CQI-9, any of that kind of thing? Any suggestions from you on where people might want to go?
MW: On our website, c3data.com, we’ve got a portion there that you can look up for training. We have a curriculum of training courses where they can come and educate themselves, whether it’s, like you say, to learn about what the spec is or maybe take a deeper dive into some of those fields — we have those available. We love talking to our customers and our prospects, too.
One of the things I will mention: In going back to the web as a software service model, one of the things that’s ongoing is the ability to support. We’ve been through so many of these audits and we know the spec probably more than the next guy and when you look at some of the testimonials on our website, you’ll see that they obviously love the product, but they love the ability to call one of us, and if we don’t know the answer, we’ll find out the answer and get them plugged into what they need. We enjoy talking about it.
This year, we’re going to be at the Furnace North America show in Indianapolis which is my hometown which will make it quite easy for me to get there. But we’re going to have a special guest, Doug Shuler, who’s going to be joining us at our booth. So come on by the booth and get all your questions answered by Doug.
DG: If his name is Doug, he can’t be all bad.
Matt, thanks a lot. I really appreciate your time. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys continue to grow and you’re offering a great service to heat treaters, so best of luck to you.
A hot isostatic press (HIP) was recently delivered to T.A.G. Medical Products Corporation Ltd. (TAGMPC), a manufacturer of medical and dental solutions that improve surgical procedures. The HIP will ensure the production of implants and surgical tools with the optimal material properties required by the exacting environments in which they are used.
Ran Weizman Executive Vice President T. A. G. Medical Products Corporation
"To increase production capacity, we invested in a new MIM (metal injection molding) production line," states Ran Weizman, Executive VP at TAGMPC. "The [Quintus Technologies] press will serve us for the implants and minimal cutting tools production, where high material uniformity and good mechanical properties are required."
Advanced proprietary features such as High Pressure Heat Treatment™ (HPHT™) and Uniform Rapid Quenching (URQ®) enable the Quintus press model QIH 15L to produce finished MIM parts with maximum theoretical density, ductility, and fatigue resistance. Incorporating heat treatment and cooling in a single process, HPHT combines stress-relief annealing, HIP, high-temperature solution-annealing (SA), high pressure gas quenching (HPGQ), and subsequent ageing or precipitation hardening (PH) in one integrated furnace cycle.
"All T.A.G. manufacturing processes, from A to Z, are done under one roof. Therefore, it is important for us to work with equipment that gives us this option,” Mr. Weizman comments.
With a new emphasis on disposable surgical instruments in the TAGMIM production chain, faster throughput and higher workpiece quality are also essential. The QIH 15L’s URQ capability achieves a cooling rate of >80K/s while minimizing thermal distortion and non-uniform grain growth. The press’s furnace chamber has a diameter of 6.69 inches (170 mm) and a height of 11.4 inches (290 mm) and operates at a maximum pressure of 207 MPa (30,000 psi) and a maximum temperature of 2,552°F (1,400°C).
The press was installed in the T.A.G. facility in May 2022.
Hot isostatic pressing. . . What is it? How is HIPing benefiting the medical industry? What is its place in additive manufacturing? In today's Technical Tuesday, Heat TreatToday is doing a deep dive into HIPing and its benefits. Check out these resources for some hot takes on HIPing.
What exactly is HIPing? It's taking over the additive manufacturing world. In this article, written in 2020 by Derek Denlinger, corporate lead metallurgist at Paulo, find out the answer and also discover the applications, materials, and advantages of HIPing.
"HIP was initially developed as a diffusion bonding technique. In diffusion bonding, high heat and pressure work together to weld similar or dissimilar metal surfaces without filler materials."
Product efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and improved process reliability are becoming more and more important everyday. HIPing's future has never been brighter. It's about to see a renaissance. To explore HIPing in depth, read this free ebook from Heat TreatToday and Quintus Technologies.
"Modern HIP machinery is an extremely good fit with the traditional heat treatment market, offering the opportunity to further adjust material properties through tailored HIP cycles."
Check out what Chad Beamer and Magnus Ahlfors at Quintus Technologies had to say about HIPing. Shrinkage, gas porosity, and lack of fusion between layers are all things that do not belong in medical implants. Implants manufactured with metal injection molding and casting often still contain defects, but HIPing eliminates those defects and produces a 100% dense material. HIPing is widely used across the medical industry to reduce the occurrence of these issues.
"The elimination of defects results in improved fatigue properties, ductility, and fracture toughness. For this reason, HIP is widely used for orthopaedic implants like hip, knee, spine, ankle, wrist as well as dental implants to ensure quality and performance and prevent early failure of the implant inside the patient."
High temperatures, high pressures. That's HIPing. Cliff Orcutt of American Isostatic Presses, Inc. describes HIPing as "pressurize sintering." Because of the high pressure, HIPing is faster and leads to less part deformation. In this episode of Heat Treat Radio, learn the many applications of HIPing (including ceramics) and learn if outsourcing is right for you.
"In HIP, since you’re starting with powders that are solid, you can blend things like graphite powder and steel. You couldn’t blend them very well in a molten state, but in here, you can. And, you can squeeze it to solid, you can get interlocking and bonding and diffusion bonding materials that you couldn’t otherwise. So, you can make things you couldn’t make any other way."
Marcin Stokłosa Project Manager Nitrex Poland LinkedIn.com
The YAZICI TRANSFER MAKINA company decided to increase its heat treat capacity in Istanbul with a second turnkey nitrocarburizing system from a Canadian furnace manufacturer. This decision specifically increases the manufacturing capacity of tooling and machinery components for the company’s precision CNC machines. It started production with the new system in the fall of 2021, and is used for Nitreg®-C nitrocarburizing and ONC® in-process oxidation treatments.
This second NITREX furnace is the same type as the first installation, a compact size NXK series furnace that became operational in 2019, simply bigger. Marcin Stokłosa, project manager at NITREX Poland, describes the turnkey system as a "solution that improves the company’s bottom line and reaffirms its commitment to sustainable manufacturing."
For the manufacturer, the Nitreg®-C nitrocarburizing and ONC® in-process oxidation will give a combined ability to improve the wear and corrosion properties of alloy and carbon steel parts.
"In the beginning, YAZICI TRANSFER MAKINA was relying on a very well-known commercial heat treater from the Turkish market to nitrocarburize the parts it needed," says Utku Inan, Nitrex representative in Turkey. "Now, the company has moved heat treating operations in-house, purchasing its own systems to nitrocarburize metal parts, which saves the company on lead time and transportation costs."
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
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 TreatToday presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday press release about some interesting developments in Indiana's electric vehicle industry.
Automaker Stellantis announced plans to build a manufacturing plant for lithium ion batteries in Kokomo, Indiana. Kokomo is already home to a Stellantis aluminum foundry and three transmission plants. The new battery plant will create over 1,000 new jobs and has an initial budget of $2.5 billion. The plant, a joint venture with Samsung, will manufacture rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, as well as energy-storage systems.
Eric J. Holcomb Governor of Indiana Source: in.gov
The battery modules will have an initial capacity of 23 GWh annually, and the JV hopes to increase this to 33GWh/year. Stellantis has made a commitment to develop new EVs and to increase production of low emission vehicle sales by 40% in the U.S by 2030.
"It’s another incredibly exciting day to be back in Kokomo celebrating such a transformational investment from Stellantis and our new partners at Samsung," stated Governor Eric Holcomb. "Today’s announcement is another step toward positioning Indiana as a leader in the future of mobility, battery technology and clean energy."
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Robert (Bob) Hill, FASM President Solar Atmospheres of Western PA Source: Solar Atmospheres
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA announced their newly designed vacuum oil quench furnace (VOQ) has passed startup protocol. There were zero flare and smoke-ups during the quench cycle and the transfer mechanism moved 2000 pound loads with no issues.
"[Recently]," Bob Hill, president of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, says, "insurance companies are reluctant to write policies for commercial heat treaters simply because they see a single flame or evidence of smoke. In the past, unfortunate accidents have occurred with explosive endothermic atmospheres and flammable oils. I am convinced that this new Solar Manufacturing furnace is a much safer and greener way to oil quench parts."
Watch internal and external camera footage during a quench operation.
The design of the furnace allows for reading work temperatures within the 36" x 36" x 48" hot zone. No oxygen probes are necessary, since the furnace operates with an atmosphere devoid of oxygen. Alloys of dissimilar carbon contents and similar cross sections and austenitizing temperatures can be treated in the same load.
To read about the installation of this VOQ, or to watch a video of the largest component of that installation, click here.
Mr. Sivaraman Arjunan Senior Manager Sundram Fasteners Limited Source: LinkedIn
Indian fastener manufacturer Sundram Fasteners Limited will receive a vacuum furnace to heat treat high quality aviation screws.
This will be the second furnace from SECO/WARWICK --- a global heat treat solution provider --- for this manufacturer. The vacuum furnace on order is a compact Vector device that meets the Indian partner’s requirements in the field of fastener heat treatment for use in the aviation industry, particularly for heat treating large loads of manufactured aviation bolts.
“[The] Vector," commented Mr. Sivaraman Arjunan, senior manager at Sundram Fasteners Limited, "will improve and increase the processing capacity of the tempering, hardening and annealing processes, and will improve the process economics, considering energy savings and the graphite chamber efficiency.”
Sundram Fasteners Limited is a world leader in manufacturing precision components for the automotive, energy (windmills) and aviation sectors.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Designing a new induction coil? Here are 15 questions to ask to ensure the coil meets all the requirements to do the job.
This Technical Tuesday feature was written by John Gadus, Design & Sales specialist at Induction Tooling,Inc., and was first published in Heat TreatToday's May 2022 Induction Heating print edition.
John Gadus Design & Sales Specialist Induction Tooling, Inc. Source: Induction Tooling, Inc
The scope of information available when designing a new inductor can vary greatly. The tooling designer must understand how the customer will process the parts to achieve the desired heat treat specification. Captive heat treating typically involves dedicated high-volume automated systems that heat treat the same part for the life of the production run. Commercial heat treating can be high or low volume with relatively simple setups that provide flexibility to adapt multiple part geometries very quickly. The induction machine design regarding the material handling system, locator tooling, and cooling and quenching capabilities are all important details that need to be provided for any new inductor design.
When beginning a new project, especially for a new customer, basic background information is always helpful. This initial consultation provides insight when presenting follow-up questions to help familiarize new customers with the correct terminology.
1. Have you had any prior induction experience?
2. Have you processed similar parts previously?
Prior to quoting a new job, the very first thing a potential customer should provide for review is a “green” part print and heat treat specification. If there are any questions or clarifications needed, this is the time to confirm with the customer the exact heat treat requirements to provide feedback for realistic expectations. The part material and the machined condition of the part prior to heat treating are key to avoid design complications from misquoting.
Induction hardening Source: Induction Tooling, Inc.
For new applications, often prototype or mock-up parts are used during development to prove out the heat treating process. This works well for very complicated or expensive parts. Extra care should be taken to maintain identical part geometries between prototypes and actual production parts to keep an apples-to-apples comparison.
Viable questions to ask would be:
3. What is the part material?
4. What is the hardness specification?
5. What are the heat treat pattern minimum and maximum limits for depth and breakout?
6. What are the “green” dimensions of the part prior to heat treating?
7. Will the part have extra stock for finish machining or grinding?
Specific details and information about the induction machine are very important as well. The machine design sets the stage for the style or type of inductor and determines how the part will be presented to the coil for heat treating. Locators often affect the temperature profile when placed in close proximity to heating zones. This can be used as an advantage especially when anticipating possible overheat conditions due to sharp corners or a thin wall. Detailed drawings of the locators and the material handling system along with close-up photos (or if practical, a visit to the customer’s facility) go a long way to avoid awkward tooling setups and machine clearance issues.
Here are a few induction machine questions whose specific answers will aid in the design process:
8. What is the generator frequency and power?
9. Single-shot or scanning?
10. What is the output contact design?
11. Is there an existing bus bar or quick-change clamping adapter?
12. What is the workpiece centerline?
13. What are the locator/material handling details?
The part material and heat treat specification will often dictate the quench design to provide optimal hardening results. Induction Tooling, Inc.
What is the generator frequency and power? Induction Tooling, Inc.
Additional follow-up questions to narrow down the specific inductor features will help finalize the design. Cooling is the life blood of any inductor and will have a large impact on cycle life. The part material and heat treat specification will often dictate the quench design to provide optimal hardening results.
Because of the importance of cooling and quenching, the last two questions we must ask are:
14. How many cooling lines (supply & return) and type of quick-disconnect fittings?
15. How many quench supply lines and type of quick-disconnect fittings?
Most induction projects are unique but all share similar design characteristics. Depending on the machine builder or OEM manufacturer, dedicated equipment or custom-built systems can vary greatly even when processing the same or similar parts. Well defined and detailed answers to this list of important questions will provide the tooling designer with the information needed to provide the best inductor design possible to achieve the desired heat treat specification.
About the Author: John Gadus is a Design & Sales specialist at Induction Tooling, Inc. with over 25 years of inductor design experience mentored under the guidance of president/CEO Bill Stuehr and VP of Engineering David Lynch. John has honed his induction knowledge and tooling design techniques working closely with customers to meet project requirements across a wide range of induction heating applications, from initial design concepts to customer support at installation. John is co-author of several design patents and has recently taken the lead to explore additive manufacturing solutions for new innovative inductor designs.
Heat TreatToday would like to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. As you (hopefully) take some time off from work, pause to reflect on the sacrifices men and women gave, and are currently giving, to protect and serve this nation.
Heat TreatToday will be back with you on Tuesday, May 31st, and we hope you too are able to rest and remember this weekend.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
DG: I want to jump back onto the labs you were talking about. Very briefly, how many where are they?
MW: Yes, absolutely. Now the tenth of a degree thing, I believe, is going to be extended for another year so that users are going to have one more year for that. The date we’re hearing and looking at is the end of June, so I think June 29th, which I think is the two-year anniversary of Rev E to F, so it will be coming out then, if nothing else changes.
