Oreskovich has expanded his family of companies to further enhance and leverage each group’s ability to include customized engineered solutions. “As a mechanical engineer born and raised in Niagara,” says Oreskovich, “I have always had great admiration for CAN-ENG’s technical expertise, and the level of quality and creativity provided by their products which are installed around the world.”
With the addition of CAN-ENG, the combined resources will increase to over 250 associates, operating at four separate locations, consisting of a total of over 300,000 ft2 of available floorspace, outfitted with the most modern manufacturing capabilities. With this potential, CAN-ENG will be positioned for strategic growth and development activity in thermal processing and heat treatment markets previously not explored.
Heat Treat Today is pursuing an interview with Mr. Oreskovich. Stay tuned for more information if/when it becomes available.
Plant image from JTL Integrated Machine website. All other images provided by CAN-ENG Furnaces International Ltd.
Gasbarre Furnace to Thermal Vacuum Services, Inc. Gasbarre
Thermal-Vac Technology will expand their capabilities with a precision nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing furnace at their facility in Orange, California. The furnace is capable of processing workloads that are 48” wide by 72” long by 40” high and weigh up to 7,000 pounds.
Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems‘ electrically heated furnace utilizes Super Systems, Inc. controls for automatic KN and KC control to AMS 2759/10 & 2759/12 specifications. The furnace is designed to meet AMS 2750F as a Class 2 furnace, which allows it to be used to perform nitrogen tempering and stress relieving processes. For cycle time improvements and consistent process control, the furnace is equipped with a vacuum pump for purging processes, pre- and post-oxidation capabilities, and accelerated air and atmosphere cooling systems. The furnace also comes with an ammonia dissociator to achieve zero white layer processes.
Gasbarre engineered, manufactured, and serviced this system out of their United States locations. Thermal-Vac is set to receive the equipment in March of 2021.
In a special Heat Treat Radio series, 40 Under 40 winners from the class of 2020 respond with their stories and insights of their life and work in the heat treat industry. This episode features the stories of Luke Wright, Nathan Durham, and Alberto Cantú.
This episode in the series also features an update from a past alum; in this episode, Kyle Hummel of Contour Hardening shares his journey over the last several years and how he has grown as a person in heat treat.
Below, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button and read a few excerpts from this episode.
Luke Wright Senior Engineer JTEKT North America Corporation / Koyo Bearings
“So, we had a void in the heat treating department. We had three new hires — 2 others including myself at the time. They kind of shuffled us around: one went to assembly and I got put in heat treat with one of the others. They figured heat treat was difficult enough for two green engineers. I kind of picked it up as I went along.”
“I guess that’s kinda what I really like — sort of this black box science that everyone wants to talk about, and there’s so many things we have to just say, Well, I’m not really sure. We turn this knob and it tends to work better that way. But then, there’s also really detailed science and theory that kind of guides you and that gut feel, twist-that-knob practical application.”
“Something that I’ve been trying to do more lately in my job is to explain more about what I’m doing, what’s going on with the others around me — maintenance workers, furnace operators, or supervisors — instead of just keeping to myself or pushing them out of the way to just do the thing myself if they don’t understand: Doing a little more to work alongside people.”
Nathan Durham
Nathan Durham Aftermarket Sales Manager Ipsen
“As we near the end of 2020 and reflect on the many, many challenges that arose, I’m truly motivated by the diversity and resilience of our industry[…] We’ll persevere through this pandemic, and push forward into 2021.”
“During my tenure at Ipsen, I’ve realized how important it is to always remain flexible within a career and adapt to what your company and what your customer are asking you.”
“Thank you again, as I’m truly humbled to be a part, and associated with, such great company, and the future of our industry.”
Alberto Cantú
Alberto Cantú VP Combustion, Control and Services Nutec Bickley
“I started as an R&D manager. I had completed a PhD on the computation of fluid dynamics and used these tools to design new furnaces. But lately, I’ve been more involved in sales and business development.”
“On the one hand, the computation of power has been increasing — I’m going to say since the birth of computers, but lately more and more — but then the internet and the whole internet of things and Industry 4.0 coming together… You can do a lot of things with both the calculations and the ability to have the information in real time. I think many of these operating procedures that were mainly based on ‘rules of thumb’ and heuristics will change[…] to be based on machine learning…”
“I would suggest [for young heat treaters] to get involved in tradeshows, subscribe to newsletters, make sure you read all the news in the magazines available and in companies so that you get up-to-date in all things happening in the industry because, as I said, it’s vey exciting and I see a bright future.”
“Professionally, I’ve been honored to accept a promotion and am now responsible for overseeing our operations. And on top of that, I’m currently studying for my very last finals to get my MBA in which I’ll graduate May.”
“The heat treatment industry is such a broad field of processes and technologies that anyone can get really excited about. I also think that heat treating can offer the perfect balance of hands-on work experience as well as quality and process improvement that can keep you engaged for years as you continue to grow your career.”
“I’m personally excited to see how the heat treat industry adapts to the next five years as electric vehicles sales continue to rise in the US. I believe this will be an opportunity for heat treaters to start thinking about how to broaden their service offerings and expanding into other industries as well.”
Maciej Korecki Vice President Vacuum Business Segment SECO/WARWICK (source: SECO/WARWICK)
A global aerospace manufacturer ordered a single-chamber gas quench furnace for their US plant. The turn-key solution also includes auxiliary equipment, such as a closed-loop water system, a gas reservoir, a loader, and carbon fiber fixturing.
The Vector® 2-bar quenching unit from North American based SECO/VACUUM is equipped with high vacuum diffusion pump and convection heating for improved performance at low temperatures. It meets class 2 requirements per AMS2750F (temperature uniformity +/- 6°C (+/- 10°F)). It will be installed in the company’s Center of Excellence and will be used to heat treat 3D printed parts.
This expansion of capabilities continues the relationship that SECO/WARWICK Group has with the manufacturer, who has been expanding their heat treat capabilities with the Group for the last 10 years at locations in Poland, Indonesia, Singapore, France, and the US.
The partnership, commented Maciej Korecki, VP of the Vacuum Business Segment at SECO/WARWICK Group, is a confirmation that the company continues to deliver “products that not only fulfill but exceed their needs.”
Pulse plasma nitriding systems deliver uniform case-hardening and increased speed of processing when treating high wear parts.
Did you think purple was just a fashion statement? Explore the advantages, applications, and future of advanced pulse plasma nitriding in this Technical Tuesday.Heat TreatTodayhopes you enjoy this original content piece by technical writer Jeff Elliott in cooperation with PVA TePla.
Jeff Elliott Technical Writer Source: Jeff Elliott
When case-hardening the surface of steel, or steel alloy parts, commonly used in the transportation industry, such as gears, crank pins, dies, camshafts, the options have traditionally included one-of-three processes: carburizing, salt-bath nitrocarburizing and gas nitriding. Each process has advantages and disadvantages, but those seeking more precise control of the diffusion layer formation, depth of case hardening, and preservation of component dimensions are increasingly turning to plasma nitriding.
Although pulse plasma has been utilized for decades, advanced pulse plasma nitriding offers absolute control of the DC (direct current) pulsing signal. In addition, improved chamber design and construction allow for more precise temperature control and uniform distribution of the heat zone throughout the hot-wall chamber. The result is extremely consistent and uniform nitriding batch-to-batch and part-to-part, with less gas consumption.
“The benefits are more precise control of the diffusion layers, and its broader appeal to heat treat more diverse materials, beyond steel, that include titanium, stainless steel, and even aluminum,” says Thomas Palamides, senior product and sales manager at PVA TePla America.
In addition, commercial heat treat shops and high-volume part producers can now select from multiple system configurations that offer flexibility, efficiency, repeatability, and throughput optimization. As a result, global manufacturers in machined parts, tool design, die forming, die cutting, medical device manufacturing, additive manufacturing, electric vehicles, trains, electric generators, and land-based power systems are now leveraging these systems to run a cleaner, more efficient operation.
Pulse Plasma Nitriding Advantages
For steel and steel alloys, case-hardening can be achieved by carburizing, nitriding, cyaniding, or carbonitriding. Although carburizing is a traditional approach, the part has to be raised above the A3 temperature (727°C or 1341°F) on the Iron-Carbon diagram, usually in the temperature range of 900-930°C (1652-1706°F) or higher. Since the solubility of carbon is higher in the austenitic state, than the ferritic state, a fully austenitic state is required for carburizing.
Along with the high temperatures and time-at-temperature associated with carburizing, parts can be distorted. Depending on the part, and its geometric tolerances, limited machining may also be required.
An alternative to carburizing is nitriding, a lower-temperature, time-dependent, thermo-chemical process used to diffuse nitrogen into the surface of metal.
Superior controls for the DC pulsing signal and improved chamber design allow for more precise temperature control. Source: Jeff Elliott
One method is salt bath nitriding. In this process, liquid immersion is required, and is typically conducted at 550 to 570°C (1022 to 1058°F). The source of nitrogen is a nitrogen-containing salt, such as sodium cyanide, often greater than 50% in concentration. However, with salt bath nitriding, post-bath cleaning is required to remove the residual cyanide-based treatment. In addition, there are disposal costs for salt and washing , also known as sodium hydroxide, environmental handling costs, as well as safety and operational liabilities.
Gas nitriding (500oC or 932°F) and gas nitrocarburizing (540-580oC or 1004-1076°F) are universally accepted procedures, and typically require a high concentration of ammonia (NH3), and a high amount of carrier gas flow (normal pressure process) compared with pulse plasma nitriding. The elemental nitrogen gas constituent diffuses into iron and forms hard nitrides. Because of the reduced temperature compared to carburizing, no quenching is necessary, and therefore the chance for distortion and cracking are lower.
Several disadvantages of gas nitriding are that it requires the use of flammable gases like ammonia, and high gas consumption compared to pulse plasma. Gas nitriding is also not able to treat rust- and acid-resistant steels (i.e. stainless steels with greater than 12% Cr content) due to the impenetrable layer of the protective surface oxide layer. Where as the energized pulsed plasma signal, during heat up, allows for the dissolution, or breakdown, of this thin protective layer, in effect cleaning the surface, allowing atomic nitrogen to penetrate.
With recent advancements in pulse plasma nitriding, however, a new level of precision and control is possible which results in uniform and consistent case hardening. Together with the advantages of using environmentally friendly gases only – in contrast to the use of ammonia in gas nitriding – plasma-based nitriding has become a focal point for additional innovations and a requirement for those that seek a more environmentally and safe solution.
In pulse plasma nitriding, parts are loaded into a heated vacuum chamber. After evacuating the chamber to a working pressure of 50 to 400 Pa, on a supporting fixture, to be covered by a bell chamber. The chamber is evacuated to below 10 Pa (7.5 x 10-2 Torr) prior to heating and a pulsating DC voltage of several hundred volts is applied between the charge (cathode) and the chamber wall (anode). The process gas in the chamber is then ionized and becomes electrically conducting. For this type of process, nitrogen and hydrogen gas mixtures and gases with carbon additions, like methane are often utilized.
Depending on treatment time and temperature, nitrogen atoms diffuse into the outer zone of components and form a diffusion zone. This can be is atomic nitrogen, dissolved in the iron lattice, as well as in the form of included nitrate deposition.
With recent advancements in pulse plasma nitriding, a new level of precision and control is possible. Source: Jeff Elliott
Adding further precision, innovators in advanced pulse plasma have discovered methods to optimize the process through better control of the pulses. In the PulsPlasma® process developed by PVA TePla AG Industrial Vacuum Systems, for example, a precision regulated gas mixture of nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon-based methane is used. A pulsating DC voltage signal of several hundred volts is delivered in less than 10 microseconds per pulse to ionize the gas. This serves to maximize the time between pulses for superior temperature control throughout the chamber.
“If you have a temperature variance of plus-minus 10 degrees within a batch, you will get completely different treatment results,” says Dietmar Voigtländer, sales manager at PlaTeG – Product Group with PVA Industry Vacuum Systems (IVS), Wettenberg, Germany, the manufacturer of PulsPlasma nitriding systems. “However, by controlling the pulse current by means of an exact pulse on and off time management, the overall temperature can be precisely managed with a uniform distribution, from top to bottom, throughout the hot wall chamber.”
A unique feature with this approach is that the system can be switched on to a stable glow discharge at room temperature. Most systems cannot do this because the generators do not supply stable plasma. To compensate, those systems must first be heated to 300-350°C (572-662°F) before plasma can be applied, adding time to the process.
[blocktext align="left"]“The benefits are more precise control of the diffusion layers, and its broader appeal to heat treat more diverse materials, beyond steel, that include titanium, stainless steel, and even aluminum." -Thomas Palamides, PVA TePla America.[/blocktext]Even the materials of construction used to manufacture the nitriding systems furnace itself have been optimized. In all systems, PlaTeG uses insulative materials developed in the aerospace industry to create a furnace wall as thin as 40 millimeters, compared to the industry standard of 150 millimeters. With less wall mass, the furnace requires less energy and time to heat, while still protecting workers that may accidentally touch the outside of the chamber.
With better overall control, advanced pulse nitriding furnaces offer multiple heating and cooling zones with each controlled by its own thermocouple. “This will create a very uniform temperature distribution within plus or minus 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) from the bottom to the top of the furnace,” said Voigtländer.
Uniformity of temperature within a chamber pays a dividend beyond the consistency of nitriding results. With an even temperature throughout the chamber, the entire space is available for loading components which effectively increases the chamber’s capacity.
Stainless Steel – a Softer Steel
One of the key advantages of pulse plasma nitriding is that it is more suited to heat treating of high alloy materials such as stainless steel. When working with steels that have a higher chromium content, liquid nitriding can react with chromium and other elements, resulting in a loss of corrosion resistance.
Stainless steel has a natural passivation layer of chromium oxide, which inhibits corrosion. To bring nitrogen into the material, the chromium oxide layer must first be removed. With gas nitriding, removal of the passivation layer requires the application of a special gas chemistry, stainless steels can also be nitrided in salt baths, but only with a sacrifice of some level of corrosion resistance.
In the case of PulsPlasma nitriding, the treatment is applied directly through controlled ionic bombardment of the surface. By choosing a nitriding temperature below 450°C (or 842°F), and with exact control of the gas mixture, the material surface can be treated without reducing the corrosion resistance of the material.
Dies, Stamping & Injection Molds – a Harder Steel
Today, various molds and dies are used to shape everything from plastic bottles, to automobile quarter panels, to extruded wire, to metal injection molded (MIM) parts. Depending on the intricacy of the mold and die, it can cost a customer hundreds of thousands of dollars to fabricate. Customers require die longevity, while maintaining part tolerance, throughout the life of the die to ensure return-on-investment (ROI).
Despite being made of hardened steel, however, injecting melted resins at high temperatures and pressure into cavities over thousands of cycles begins to wear away and erode die edges, cavities, and moving components. Even the thermoplastic material can be abrasive, acting like sandpaper or leaving residue that wears down the surface. With the ever-increasing utilization of even more abrasive material, in the form of long glass and composite fibers, the amount of abrasion and friction within molds is increasing.
According to Voigtländer, pulse plasma nitriding is an ideal solution both to protect molds against damage and corrosion, but also because the diffusion of nitrogen increases the lubricity of the surface, facilitating quick removal of parts. “The diffusion of the nitrogen into the mold surface," he explains, "increases the fatigue strength of the material. In doing so, you can protect the surface against scratches… and increase the lifetime of the mold or die."
Sintered Parts
Pulse plasma nitriding also represents a strong option for sintered, or sinter hot isostatic pressing (HIP) components manufactured though additive manufacturing.
Salt baths have historically been used to nitride sintered components. However, the process of immersing components in molten salt makes it very difficult to remove the salt from open surface porosity. When gas nitriding is used, the nitriding atmosphere permeates all open pores resulting in the entire component, the surface, and the core, being completely nitrided.
“With pulse plasma nitriding, the atmosphere goes through the pores and only the surface area is affected, leaving the core or base material soft,” said PVA’s Voigtländer. “Most designers prefer having a wear-resistant surface with a soft, elastic core.”
Increased Production Throughput
Nitriding is a batch process. Innovation in furnace design, through an optimized mechanical operation, can increase efficiency and increase production capacity. While the actual time for nitriding does not change, efficient loading and unloading scenarios plays an important part. The PlaTeG plant design can use any one of a Mono, Shuttle or Tandem footprint, to manage throughput, resources, and operations costs.
As a batch process, nitriding typically requires waiting for the prior batch to be treated, cooled, and unloaded before a new batch can be started. Shuttle and tandem extensions are now available to streamline the batch process.
Multiple system configurations can offer flexibility, efficiency, repeatability, and throughput optimization. Source: Jeff Elliott
With a shuttle extension, an additional vacuum chamber bottom may be added to a furnace. During a running nitriding process, the unloading of an earlier batch and the loading/preparing of a subsequent batch on the second vacuum chamber is possible. The cycle time therefore for two consecutive batches is reduced because of the overlapping of the time for unloading/loading of a vacuum chamber with the treatment time of the running process.
With a tandem extension there are two complete vacuum chambers which are operated alternately by the vacuum pumps, the process gas supply, the plasma generator and the control unit of the system. In situations such as unmanned weekend operations, an automatic process can be started and controlled for both batches in succession. With this type of operational structure, “it is possible to increase overall nitriding capacity by 30-60% annually,” according to Voigtländer.
Because plasma nitriding uses environmentally friendly nitrogen and hydrogen, the furnaces can be collocated with the machining of components without requiring a separate room. Moreover, the pulse plasma nitriding systems produce no polluting gases. This makes nitriding more efficient as part of an overall manufacturing process as an operator can locate the furnaces beside their drilling machines.
Pulse plasma offers significantly more precision in nitriding through the control of the mixture of gases, the controllability of glow discharge intervals, the design of the Pulsed signal, and the use of a highly insulated hot wall nitride furnace. Together with innovations in the design of the furnaces to streamline batch management in nitriding operations, manufacturers who depend on nitriding components can benefit from greater uniformity of results, better-protected materials, and increased throughput.
About the Author: Jeff Elliott is a Torrance, California-based technical writer. He has researched and written about industrial technologies and issues for the past 20 years. He wrote this article in cooperation with PVA TePla.
Heat TreatToday brings you this best of the web content to highlight how 8 companies have been using simulation in their heat treat processes. In the article, the companies attest to saved time and costs as well as the benefits of visualizing accurate results. Check it out!
An excerpt:
[blockquote author=”CENOS” style=”1″]Old coil design failed and started leaking after 20,000 shots, while the redesigned coil is still running after 122,000 shots – more than five-fold improvement of the coil lifetime. By summing all of the benefits of the simulation software adoption in the engineering routine of the plant, Kevin got a 9% increase of the overall equipment efficiency (OEE).[/blockquote]
Welcome to Heat Treat Today’s This Week in Heat TreatSocial Media. As you know, there is so much content available on the web that it’s next to impossible to sift through all of the articles and posts that flood our inboxes and notifications on a daily basis. So, Heat Treat Today is here to bring you the latest in compelling, inspiring, and entertaining heat treat news from the different social media venues that you’ve just got to see and read!
This week, get a taste of the changes in the industry from the new U.S. President’s plans to neon heat treating signs to aerospace “demos”.
1. It’s General, But You’ll Want To Know These 5 Things
“Upon entering office, President Biden quickly set to work undoing executive actions taken by his predecessor, President Trump, and issuing new ones reflecting his own priorities. During his first week as President, Biden signed executive orders on topics as varied as COVID-19, supply chains, and climate change. Here are five of Biden’s early-term executive actions with potential impact on the manufacturing sector.” (Industry Week)
(Click the Image to view slideshow)
2. People Talk!
Catch up on the latest things that people have been talking about on social media!
Walk Around the Plant Floor
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That Neon Glow
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Heat Applications: Waffle Iron
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Too Hot To Touch, Or…
3. What’s with the #?
Did you know that you can find the topics you love by typing a hashtag (#)? And if you see a # in a post, did you know that you can find other content by CLICKING that term? Give it a try on one of our posts on LinkedIn! Hit the “see more” and click #heattreatment.
Get into the meat of it with these podcasts and articles from all around the heat treat industry.
What is Electron Beam Welding?
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Heat Treat Radio Series
We just completed a series with Thomas Wingens with podcast episodes on Washing and Ferritic Nitrocarburizing. You can also find the complete Heat Treat Radio series with James Hawthorne of Acument Global Technologies and Justin Rydzewski of Controls Service, Inc. on CQI-9. All of these and more on our Heat Treat Radio page.
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Prerecorded Webinar:
“Solving the 4 most common metal cleaning challenges in heat treatment”
In January 2021, Hubbard-Hall hosted a free webinar with Thomas Wingens of Wingens International and Michael Onken of SAFECHEM. These two experts described the influencing factors for technical cleanliness and some solutions for washing. We shared an original content overview of what happened at the virtual event here.
5. When Your Client Wants a Demo…
In honor of the March Aerospace edition of Heat TreatToday’sprint magazine, check out this aerospace “demo”.
Heat treat methods are going to change in more ways than one, claims Dilip Chandrasekaran, head of R&D and Technology at Kanthal. “What we’ll see in the future as the industry grows is more automated processes where 3D printers feed parts into post-treatment. It will need to be smooth and streamlined, and the heating will need to perform different processes.”
Heat TreatToday brings you this quick, best of the web piece to keep you current with the latest insights in additive manufacturing.
An excerpt:
[blockquote author=”Kanthal®” style=”1″]The growth of additive manufacturing is creating new challenges in the field of heat treatment technology and prompting a shift toward electrification and greater flexibility from heat treatment equipment. These changes are expected to affect heat treatment in other industries too.[/blockquote]
Marc Drobny President, Military Aviation StandardAero.com
The United States Navy has awarded StandardAero a $149 million multi-year contract to provide engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for Rolls-Royce T56 Series III engines powering the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fleet of C-130s, C-2, P-3 and EP-3 aircraft.
The multi-year contract will continue into 2026 with the work being performed at StandardAero’s San Antonio and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada facilities. StandardAero was part of a Multiple Award Contract (MAC) on this program over the last five years, having recently completed option year four in support of this customer. Under the new contract, StandardAero will provide the same service experience the Navy and Marine Corps has received through the previous multi-year contract.
“We are thrilled to continue expanding our successful partnership supporting Navy and Marine Corps aircraft engine MRO,” said Marc Drobny, president of the military division at StandardAero. “Powering these aircraft is a strategic and logical continuation within our portfolio of services.
“Our employees, many of whom have served in the military, take great pride in serving the Navy – Marine Corps Fleet. As a former Naval aviator, I take great personal pride in our team’s ability to provide exceptional operational readiness through reliable and high-performing engines.”
StandardAero also supports the Rolls-Royce Series IV engines including support for the Marine Corps C-130J AE2100 engine and the Navy E-2D T56-A-427/A MRO requirements as a sub-contractor to Rolls-Royce.
Heat Treat Todayis excited to bring you a NEW and FREE ebook this Technical Tuesday!
In an ever-changing world where production efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and improved process reliability are in focus, some well-known technologies are seeing a renaissance.
Hot isostatic pressing (HIP), is one such technology, which until now has been an essential process to densify porosity and improve the mechanical properties of materials for components. The outlook for HIP technology has never been brighter, helped by technology shifts that are accelerated by recent global events.
In this book written with the expert insights of Quintus Technologies, explore high pressure heat treating through the many facets of hot isostatic pressing.
Victor Oreskovich, owner of JTL Integrated Machine Ltd. (JTL) and Trenergy Inc. (Trenergy), announced the recent acquisition of Can-Eng Furnaces International, Ltd. (CAN-ENG).
