An Asian aircraft parts manufacturer has chosen a horizontal vacuum furnace intended for vacuum carburizing aircraft parts. The furnace will produce gears used in aircraft structural sub-assemblies.
Maciej Korecki, VP, Vacuum Furnace Segment at SECO/WARWICK (source: SECO/WARWICK)
The SECO/WARWICK furnace is designed for low-pressure carburizing (LPC), equipped with a horizontal chamber with dimensions of 900 x 600 x 600 mm and a graphite chamber with a gas hardening system at a pressure of 6 bar.
“LPC technology,” said Maciej Korecki, Vice-President of the SECO/WARWICK Group Vacuum Segment, “is an increasingly popular solution. Its main advantage is the ability to carry out an efficient and effective carburizing cycle in a much shorter time than in atmospheric furnaces. This furnace ensures higher productivity and consequently, lower process costs and a quick return on investment. Carrying out the process in vacuum, on the other hand, increases the operational safety, because it does not involve explosive and flammable gases. LPC eliminates direct CO₂ emissions from the carburizing atmosphere.”
The original press release from SECO/WARWICK is available here.
How often do you think about the intelligent designs controlling the thermal loop system behind your heat treat operations? With ever-advancing abilities to integrate and manage data for temperature measurement and power usage, the ability of heat treat operations to make practical, efficient, and energy-conscious change is stronger than ever. In part 1, understand several benefits of thermal loop systems and how they are leveraged to comply with industry regulations, like Nadcap.
This Technical Tuesday article by Peter Sherwin, global business development manager – Heat Treatment, and Thomas Ruecker, senior business development manager, at Watlowwas originally published inHeat Treat Today’sJanuary/February 2024 Air & Atmosphere Heat Treat print edition.
Introduction
Heat treatment processes are a crucial component of many manufacturing industries, and thermal loop solutions have become increasingly popular for achieving improved temperature control and consistent outcomes.
A thermal loop solution is a closed loop system with several essential components, including an electrical power supply, power controller, heating element, temperature sensor, and process controller. The electrical power supply provides the energy needed for heating, the power controller regulates the power output to the heating element, the heating element heats the material, and the temperature sensor measures the temperature. Finally, the process controller adjusts the power output to maintain the desired temperature for the specified duration, providing better temperature control and consistent outcomes.
Performance Benefits
Heat treatment thermal loop solutions offer several advantages over traditional heat treatment methods, including improved temperature control and increased efficiency. The thermal loop system provides precise temperature control, enabling faster heating and cooling and optimized soak times. In addition, the complete design of modern thermal loop solutions includes energy-efficient heating and overall ease of use.
Figure 1. Watlow Industry 4.0 solution (Source: Watlow)
Heat treatment thermal loop solutions are integrated with Industry 4.0 frameworks and data management systems to provide real-time information on performance. Combining artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can also provide additional performance benefits, such as the ability to analyze data and identify patterns for further optimization. Ongoing performance losses in a heat treatment system typically come from process drift s. Industry 4.0 solutions can explore these drift s and provide opportunities to minimize these deviations.
Heat treatment thermal loop solutions can be optimized using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). FMEA is a proactive approach to identifying potential failure modes and their effects, allowing organizations to minimize the risk of process disruptions and improve the overall efficiency of their heat treatment processes. Historically, this was a tabletop exercise conducted once per year with a diverse team from across the organization. Updates to this static document were infrequent and were primarily based on organization memory rather than being automatically populated in real time with actual data. There is a potential to produce “live” FMEAs utilizing today’s technology and leveraging insights for continuous improvement.
Th e effectiveness of heat treatment thermal loop solutions can be measured using metrics such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). OEE combines metrics for availability, performance, and quality to provide a comprehensive view of the efficiency of a manufacturing process. By tracking OEE and contextual data, organizations can evaluate the effectiveness of their heat treatment thermal loop solutions and make informed decisions about optimizing their operations.
Regulatory Compliance
Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) is an industry-driven program that provides accreditation for special processes in the aerospace and defense industries. Heat treatment is considered a “special process” under Nadcap because it has specific characteristics crucial to aerospace and defense components’ quality, safety, and performance. Th ese characteristics include:
Process sensitivity: Heat treatment processes involve precise control of temperature, time, and atmosphere to achieve the desired material properties. Minor variations in these parameters can significantly change the mechanical and metallurgical properties of the treated components. This sensitivity makes heat treatment a critical process in the aerospace and defense industries.
Limited traceability: Heat treatment processes typically result in changes to the material’s microstructure, which are not easily detectable through visual inspection or non-destructive testing methods. Th is limited traceability makes it crucial to have strict process controls to ensure the desired outcome is achieved consistently.
Critical performance requirements: Aerospace and defense components often have strict performance requirements due to the extreme conditions in which they operate, such as high temperatures, high loads, or corrosive environments. The heat treatment process ensures that these components meet the specifications and can withstand these demanding conditions.
High risk: The failure of a critical component in the aerospace or defense sector can result in catastrophic consequences, including loss of life, significant financial loss, and reputational damage. Ensuring that heat treatment processes meet stringent quality and safety standards is essential to mitigate these risks.
Nadcap heat treatment accreditation ensures suppliers meet industry standards January/February and best practices for heat treatment processes. The accreditation process includes rigorous audits, thorough documentation, and ongoing process control monitoring to maintain high quality, safety, and performance levels.
The aerospace industry’s AMS2750G pyrometry specification and the automotive industry’s CQI-9 4th Edition regulations are crucial for ensuring consistent and high-quality heat treated components. Adherence to these regulations is essential for meeting the stringent quality requirements of the aerospace and automotive industries and other industries with demanding specifications.
Temperature uniformity is a crucial requirement of both AMS2750G and CQI-9 4th Edition, mandating specific temperature uniformity requirements for heat treating furnaces to ensure the desired mechanical properties are achieved throughout the treated components. AMS2750G class 1 furnaces with strict uniformity requirements +/-5°F (+/-3°C) provide both quality output and predictable energy use. However, maintaining this uniformity requires significant maintenance oversight due to all the components involved in the thermal loop.
Calibration and testing procedures are specified in the standards to help ensure the accuracy and reliability of the temperature control systems used in heat treat processes.
Detailed process documentation is required by AMS2750G and CQI-9 4th Edition, including temperature uniformity surveys, calibration records, and furnace classifications. This documentation ensures traceability, enabling manufacturers to verify that the heat treat process is consistently controlled and meets the required specifications.
Figure 2. Eurotherm data reviewer (Source: Watlow)
Modern data platforms enable the efficient collection of secure raw data (tamper-evident) and provide the replay and reporting necessary to meet the standards.
Th e newer platforms also off er the latest industry communication protocols – like MQTT and OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unifi ed Architecture) – to ease data transfer across enterprise systems.
MQTT is a lightweight, publish-subscribe- based messaging protocol for resource-constrained devices and low-bandwidth, high-latency, or unreliable networks. IBM developed it in the late 1990s, and it has become a popular choice for IoT applications due to its simplicity and efficiency. MQTT uses a central broker to manage the communication between devices, which publish data to “topics,” and subscribe to topics that they want to receive updates on.
OPC UA is a platform-independent, service-oriented architecture (SOA) developed by the OPC Foundation. It provides a unified framework for industrial automation and facilitates secure, reliable, and efficient communication between devices, controllers, and software applications. OPC UA is designed to be interoperable across multiple platforms and operating systems, allowing for seamless integration of devices and systems from different vendors.
The importance of personnel and training is emphasized by CQI-9 4th Edition, which requires manufacturers to establish training programs and maintain records of personnel qualifications to ensure that individuals responsible for heat treat processes are knowledgeable and competent. With touchscreen and mobile integration, a significant development in process controls has occurred over the
last decade.
Figure 3. Watlow F4T® touchscreen and Watlow PM PLUS™ EZ-LINK®
mobile application
By integrating these regulations into a precision control loop, heat treatment thermal loop solutions can provide the necessary level of control and ensure compliance with AMS2750G and CQI-9 4th Edition, leading to the production of high-quality heat treated components that meet performance requirements and safety standards.
Continuous improvement is also emphasized by both AMS2750G and CQI-9 4th Edition, requiring manufacturers to establish a system for monitoring, measuring, and analyzing the performance of their heat treatment systems. This development enables manufacturers to identify areas for improvement and implement corrective actions, ensuring that heat treat processes are continuously improving and meeting the necessary performance and safety standards.
To Be Continued in Part 2
In part 2 of this article, we’ll consider the improved sustainability outcomes, potential challenges and limitations, and the promising future this technology offers to the heat treat industry.
About the Authors
Peter Sherwin, Global Business Development Manager – Heat Treatment, WatlowThomas Ruecker, Senior Business Development Manager, Watlow
Peter Sherwin is a global business development manager of Heat Treatment for Watlow and is passionate about offering best-in-class solutions to the heat treatment industry. He is a chartered engineer and a recognized expert in heat treatment control and data solutions.
Thomas Ruecker is the business development manager of Heat Treatment at Eurotherm Germany, a Watlow company. His expertise includes concept development for the automation of heat treatment plants, with a focus on aerospace and automotive industry according to existing regulations (AMS2750, CQI-9).
For more information: Contact peter.sherwin@watlow.com or thomas.ruecker@watlow.com.
This article content is used with the permission of heat processing, which published this article in 2023.
Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com
Mike Moyer Vice President of Sales, Solar Atmospheres, Eastern PA
Solar Atmospheres of Souderton PA commissioned a new vacuum furnace capable of utilizing high pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) at 20-Bar (about 300 PSI) to meet demanding cooling rate specifications for the heat treatment of nickel-based superalloys in the aerospace and power generation industries.
The vacuum furnace, manufactured by sister company Solar Manufacturing, has a working hot zone of 24” x 24” x 72” and utilizes unique hot zone design features to increase the quench rate. The furnace is rated for operation to 2400°F and temperature uniformity plus/minus 10°F.
Mike Moyer, vice president of Sales at Solar Atmospheres comments, “The furnace utilizes a 600-HP cooling motor and fan with a creative gas nozzle design to maximize gas flow as it moves through the hot zone and the heat exchanger and back across the workload.”
The full press release from Solar Atmospheres is available upon request.
A precision heat treatment company Vacu Braze recently partnered with a U.S. furnace manufacturer to procure new equipment to expand its processing capabilities.
The TM8 is the first high-pressure gas quenching furnace to be installed in Vacu Braze’s clean processing room. This high-purity furnace from TM Vacuum Productsexpands the heat treater’s high-pressure gas quenching capacity for large and small jobs, while offering increased processing cleanliness.
The TM8 is equipped with a molybdenum all-metal hot zone and a cryogenic pump capable of helping the furnace reach the 10-7 vacuum scale. With a qualified work zone of 12” x 12” x 24”, small batches of parts made from a wider array of materials can be processed more quickly than with traditional atmospheric methods.
The new furnace is fully compliant with AMS 2750 class 2 pyrometry and fit for processing critical parts for aerospace applications. As clean processing capabilities expand, Vacu Braze is proud to provide innovative solutions to industries requiring precision, purity, and cleanliness from their heat treatment provider.
.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Sławomir Tomaszewski Vacuum Melting Team Director SECO/WARWICK Source: LinkedIn
One of the world’s largest producers of jet engines has modernized their casting furnace, which was last updated two decades ago.
This company has two casting units supplied two decades ago by RETECH, a North America-based company belonging to the SECO/WARWICK Group. The modernization project was for the VIM EQ furnace - a system for the production of castings in equiaxed crystallization. It will involve replacing almost all the furnace components except the power supply, melting chambers and mold. The platforms will also remain unchanged. The remaining components will be replaced with more modern, ergonomic, and user-friendly parts and assemblies.
Says Sławomir Tomaszewski, vacuum melting team director at SECO/WARWICK, “This order includes the complete elimination of hydraulic components by replacing them with electrical components such as an elevator drive or crucible rotation drive. In addition, two old feeders: one for loading crucibles, the other for removing disposable crucibles, will be replaced with a modern system that can perform both activities."
He added, "An additional advantage of the operation will be the fact that the furnace operator will not have to come into physical contact with hot used crucibles, because they will be removed automatically without human intervention."
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Solar Manufacturing has received a patent for an improved vacuum furnace control thermocouple design. The new thermocouple design offers an advantage when controlling at operating temperatures from ambient up to 1200°F (649°C) especially in smaller diameter hot zones of 36” (91.44 cm) or less.
William Jones CEO and Founder/Owner, Solar Atmospheres
The new thermocouple configuration was developed to lessen the undesirable thermal conduction losses of the thermocouple assembly. This thermocouple design has also demonstrated to improve temperature uniformity survey results. To satisfy AMS 2750 standard temperature uniformity specifications, it is critical to have the control thermocouples in the proper location of the hot zone for satisfactory survey thermocouple measurements without correction factors.
The patent inventor is William R. Jones, owner of Solar Manufacturing, Inc.
Under these conditions, the outer ceramic protection tube of the conventional control thermocouple design acts as a heat sink. This thermal conduction, or the heat loss, is compounded by the shorter length of the thermocouple assembly and causes the control thermocouple to operate at a lower temperature, thus increasing the power output to the furnace heating elements to maintain set-point temperature. The result is the workload temperature hotter than the furnace temperature. The phenomenon is more pronounced at lower processing temperatures (<1200°F/649°C).
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Thinking about travel plans for the upcoming holiday season? You may know what means of transportation you will be using, but perhaps you haven't considered the heat treating processes which have gone into creating that transportation.
Today’s Technical Tuesday original content round-up features several articles from Heat TreatToday on the processes, requirements, and tools to keep planes in the air and vehicles on the road, and to get you from one place to the next.
Standards for Aerospace Heat Treating Furnaces
Without standards for how furnaces should operate in the aerospace, there could be no guarantee for quality aerospace components. And without quality aerospace components, there is no guarantee that the plane you're in will be able to get you off the ground, stay in the air, and then land you safely at your destination.
In this article, written by Douglas Shuler, the owner and lead auditor at Pyro Consulting LLC, explore AMS2750, the specification that covers pyrometric requirements for equipment used for the thermal processing of metallic materials, and more specifically, AMEC (Aerospace Metals Engineering Committee).
This article reviews the furnace classes and instrument accuracy requirements behind the furnaces, as well as information necessary for the aerospace heat treater.
Dissecting an Aircraft: Easy To Take Apart, Harder To Put Back Together
Curious to know how the components of an aircraft are assessed and reproduced? Such knowledge will give you assurance that you can keep flying safely and know that you're in good hands. The process of dissecting an aircraft, known as reverse engineering, can provide insights into the reproduction of an aerospace component, as well as a detailed look into the just what goes into each specific aircraft part.
This article, written by JonathanMcKay, heat treat manager at Thomas Instrument, examines the process, essential steps, and considerations when conducting the reverse engineering process.
If you are one of the growing group of North Americans driving an electric vehicle, you may be wondering how - and how well - the components of your vehicle are produced. Electric vehicles (EVs) are on the rise, and the automotive heat treating world is on the lookout for ways to meet the demand efficiently and cost effectively. One potential solution is laser heat treating.
Explore this innovative technology in this article composed by Aravind Jonnalagadda (AJ), CTO and co-founder of Synergy Additive Manufacturing LLC. This article offers helpful information on the acceleration of EV dies, possible heat treatable materials, and the process of laser heat treating itself. Read more to assess the current state of laser heat treating, as well as the future potential of this innovative technology.
When the Rubber Meets the Road, How Confident Are You?
Reliable and repeatable heat treatment of automotive parts. Without these two principles, it’s hard to guarantee that a minivan’s heat treated engine components will carry the family to grandma’s house this Thanksgiving as usual. Steve Offley rightly asserts that regardless of heat treat method, "the product material [must achieve] the required temperature, time, and processing atmosphere to achieve the desired metallurgical transitions (internal microstructure) to give the product the material properties to perform it’s intended function."
TUS surveys and CQI-9 regulations guide this process, though this is particularly tricky in cases like continuous furnace operations or in carburizing operations. But perhaps, by leveraging automation and thru-process product temperature profiling, data collection and processing can become more seamless, allowing you better control of your auto parts. Explore case studies that apply these two new methods for heat treaters in this article.
Two new furnaces are about to go live for Wallwork Group Ltd. These furnaces will increase the heat treating capacity within the group and help the demand for the aerospace and general engineering industries.
These furnaces from SECO/WARWICK, an international industrial furnace company with North American locations, are capable of 10bar pressure quench and designed to deal with increasingly detailed customer specifications. Joining Wallwork Group's current heat treat capacity, consisting of sealed quench, plasma and gas nitride, vac braze, salt nitrocarburize, PVD coatings, and a hot isostatic pressing center, these new furnaces will further expand heat treating potential for aerospace and general engineering.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Vacu-Braze recently installed a new water quenching furnace in their Quakertown, PA, facility. This acquisition will allow for the expansion of capabilities to include rapid quenching of specialty aerospace materials such as steels or titanium.
The new furnace from LuciferFurnaces, measuring 45.5”x29.5”x28,” contains argon and nitrogen atmosphere capabilities which allow for processing in a protective atmosphere even at high temperatures while maintaining AMS 2750 compliant uniformity. The pyrometry team at Vacu-Braze was able to achieve Class 2 pyrometry, opening up more available processes such as annealing, austenitizing, normalizing, stress relieving, solution treating, and tempering.
"Lucifer Furnaces was selected for the order," commented Jerry Novak, process engineer at Vacu-Braze, "[as their furnaces] are locally made and could be custom designed for the application. They are built in Eastern Pennsylvania to our desired specifications. Vacu-Braze is always happy to partner with companies that manufacture quality equipment and products in the USA."
The heat treat company also noted that this piece of equipment expands their services to existing clients while providing processes for new clients.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
A supplier of aviation and defense industry components, a NASA and Formula 1 partner has recently purchased a horizontal two-chamber furnace with oil quenching and LPC. The furnace will be used for the heat treatment of aviation parts.
SECO/WARWICK is supplying the CaseMaster Evolution® two-chamber, horizontal vacuum furnace with oil quenching consisting of a heating chamber and a quench bath equipped with a loading and unloading vestibule. The load cooling can be carried out in two different centers: dynamically in inert gas (1.5 bar abs) and in quench oil. This solution enables users to implement a variety of heat treatment and thermo-chemical processes, such as vacuum carburizing.
Noted Maciej Korecki, vice president of the Vacuum Segment at SECO/WARWICK, “[This model] is one of the most frequently chosen furnaces for metalworking by the aviation industry."
The furnace can be switched on and off without additional time and energy expenditure. It does not require users to maintain the system at specific temperature parameters when at standstill, as is the case of traditional gas furnaces.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
A precision heat treatment company Vacu Braze recently partnered with a U.S. furnace manufacturer to procure new equipment to expand its processing capabilities.
