Heat Treat Radio #133: Process Qualification & Recipe Development in Vacuum Carburizing

/ HARDENING TECHNICAL CONTENT, HEAT TREAT RADIO, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Heat Treat Radio host Heather Falcone and guest Vincent Lelong, Senior Synergy Center Manager and Metallurgist at ECM USA, explore the realities of process qualification and recipe development in modern heat treating. Vincent shares decades of experience developing vacuum carburizing processes for automotive, aerospace, and high-volume manufacturing applications. Together, they discuss how heat treaters can balance metallurgy, fixturing, quench strategy, and production demands to achieve repeatable results. From practical troubleshooting insights to the evolution of vacuum carburizing technology, this conversation offers a grounded look at what it takes to optimize heat treating.

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.

Introduction (00:05)

Heather Falcone: Hi, I’m Heather Falcone, and welcome to Heat Treat Radio. Today, we are asking a metallurgist, and we are talking about the ins and outs of process qualification and recipe development. We are on-site with the sponsor of our episode, ECM USA, in beautiful Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. It’s a real treat to be able to record on site. We hardly ever get that chance. Joining me today is Vincent Lelong, the Senior Synergy Center Manager and Metallurgist. Thanks for joining me today, Vincent.

Vincent Lelong: Thank you, Heather.

Heather Falcone: So you have the luxury, since we are in your beautiful facility, to tell me not just about yourself, but also about ECM. Start off with your background because it is extensive.

Vincent Lelong: I am a metallurgist, I went to college in France, and I started with ECM in 1999. Since then, I’ve been across the world in the U.S. for 20 years. I do presentation and testing for the furnace behind us and our larger furnace. I go on-site. This is our Synergy Center; it’s a nice environment, clean — quiet today because we’re filming.

Heather Falcone: Tell me a little bit about what ECM does.

Vincent Lelong: At ECM, we manufacture and install heat treatment vacuum furnaces. Our main focus is on low-pressure carburizing modular furnaces, large and small. We integrate not just heat treatment itself, but the pre-treatment, like washing, storage, preparation of the load with robots, heat treatment, temper, cryo… Everything is set up together, and that is our main goal: integration of a fully automatic installation.

Heather Falcone: A one-stop shop. You go to one place, and you’re going to make it all work.

Vincent Lelong: There’s a part and everything will be ready in few hours later, sometimes days, depending on the treatment.

Heather Falcone: Hopefully it all works.

ECM Nano vacuum furnace used for client cycle development and qualification.

Vincent Lelong: Well, it always works. It’s a really repeatable modular furnace. In the U.S., we are focusing on vacuum carburizing, but we also manufacture other types of furnaces for crystal growth, silicon heat treatment, melting silicon for solar panel, and others. Within ECM Group, there’s a range of heat treatment processes that we manufacture for. And not just steel; it can be other materials. I’m specialized in steel and very restricted heat treatment with vacuum carburizing, but maybe one day we can do other materials.

Heather Falcone: Steel makes the world run.

Vincent Lelong: With our modular furnace, we can do hardening, gas quench, oil quench, carburizing, gas quench, oil quench, and now we do vacuum carbonitriding and we can do nitriding in the furnace. So you can have one installation for multitask heat treatment. It’s the purpose of the modular furnace, the beauty of it.

Heather Falcone: More flexibility, more capabilities.

Biggest Challenges of Process Qualification and Recipe Development (4:08)

Heather Falcone: That brings us into the first core question that I want to ask, because when you’re evaluating bringing in another piece of equipment or if you’re trying to bring on a new process, it can be a little challenging. What do you see are the biggest pitfalls or what do you see people struggling with most when it comes to process qualification and recipe development?

Vincent Lelong: Most customers say, “I would like a good metallurgy. I would like mechanical properties.”

Heather Falcone: Right, make good parts. That’s number one.

Vincent Lelong: But you need to look at what kind of furnace you would like to use, as well as the size, the type of part, and the process. If you have a small part, do you want a bulk load? Do you want special fixtures because the main target is distortion-free? Everybody would like everything…

Heather Falcone: …distortion-free!

Vincent Lelong: Always. No problem. So, as a metallurgist, you need to think not just about heat treatment because you’ve been asked to heat treat a part. I could heat and quench in oil and say, “You have the metallurgy. My job is done.”

Heather Falcone: Right. It hit hardness.

Vincent Lelong: Exactly. Hardness, good. Vacuum carburizing, no oxidation. Good. How about the distortion? Okay, let’s speak about what we can do to reduce the power of the heat treatment itself. Then, let’s do a gas quench, but let’s work on fixtures also. It’s working with the supplier for fixtures and working with the customer with the machinists.

Sometimes, because we propose gas quench, people say, “Oh, gas quench means no distortion.” Well, the first step is to get the metallurgy right. If you need 20 bar gas quench, you might have some distortion. From experience, we know that the fixtures are also important. So we can work with the customer and supplier to propose the right fixtures and test the fixtures to target the best cooling rate and other properties.

But we also need to work with the machinists. If you have a challenging part, machinists may say, “It’s the fault of the metallurgist.” And the heat treater will say, “No, let’s work together at the table. We’ll sit, and we do the testing.” At the Synergy Center we have also the CMM, so we can measure before heat treatment and after heat treatment. It’s the best feeling when you bring not just the metallurgists together, but also the people who make the part. We work together to have the best of the best. It’s a lot of work, but we have years of experience, so we can reach the target faster than 20 years ago.

Technology has changed. As such, you also need to work with the steel manufacturer, the way the steel is made and the composition. Research has shown that if you improve the steel, you can reduce the quench pressure. If you need oil quench, then you already know that distortion will be potentially higher. If you need 20 bar, it’s one thing. Well, I did a presentation not long ago, and I found that the distortion with 10 bar or 20 bar in a Nano furnace was much better than in a larger load. For one part, that is. This might not be true if it’s other parts. There’s always that phrase in heat treatment, “that depends.” I don’t like this phrase.

Heather Falcone: It always depends.

Vincent Lelong: But it’s true, unfortunately. So, when you have worked all that together, you can bring the best analysis. I’m working before that to sell a furnace.

I need to choose whether it’s better for the customer to have a smaller furnace or a larger installation. That really depends on how many parts, the diversity of parts. If the customer has mostly small parts, the Nano may be the better choice. You have a faster answer because it’s in and out. You don’t need to buy so many fixtures. But if you have a larger part, a larger furnace is better. It’s not whether one furnace is better than the other. You need to choose which one will achieve your production target.

A customer in facility number A may need a larger furnace, but in facility B, there are other types of part, so that facility may need a smaller furnace. That’s how we work with the customer to target what is important.

Heather Falcone: Pick the right atmosphere, pick the right hot zone size, pick the right fixturing, raw material specs. All of those are going to influence how the runs going to go. I bet you have some stories about TCE from fixturing and eutectic and inadvertent bonding.

Vincent Lelong: I certainly have had a few mistakes in testing. I used a higher temperature because with vacuum carburizing we say we can go to a higher temperature. But then I used CFC fixtures at the wrong temperature!

Today however, the mixtures of fixtures can work and reduce the weight. As a metallurgist and a heat treater, I prefer to heat treat the part rather than the fixtures. When I see a customer running a load with almost more fixtures than parts, I’m asking, “What do you heat treat?” Are you losing money on heat treating fixtures more than parts?”

Heather Falcone: There is such a big weight differential between fixturing and the parts. How much lag time on your heat up and cool down are you wasting on having too much fixturing?

Vincent Lelong: It’s true.

Balancing Technical Requirements with Production (11:30)

Heather Falcone: Once you’re in recipe development, how do you balance technical requirements, the repeatability, and the realities of production?

Vincent Lelong: Repeatability is firstly about how you design the load. Then you need to know the quantity of parts. You also may know the surface of your load, but it may always be necessary, I will say. Most of the time we don’t know that and it still runs correctly.

Heather Falcone: Still a black box. It’s an art what we do.

Vincent Lelong: Technically, it’s a good thing because when we put something inside the furnace, it’s coming back, and we don’t see much difference. But the mechanical properties are completely different, so it is kind of like magic.

So you define your load, you define your heating time to get temperature, and when you’re sure you’re at temperature, you start to carburize. I will speak about vacuum carburizing. First, we have software for the carburizing boost and diffusion; you input your parameters and then you have your recipe. You can run it generic, or you can go into detail and improve it. But as built, the software will give you some set parameters and will work.

Heather Falcone: Technology is so cool.

Vincent Lelong: It’s getting better and better. You will also need to select the type of furnace. When you have one part, it’s not the same as when you have 3,000 parts. The density of the load will influence your gas flow and the capacity of your installation.

Most of our larger furnaces have a maximum of acetylene of 4,000 liters. But you can play with the gas and the duration of the boost and diffusion so it goes inside the part; when you have a blind hole or you need 3 millimeters, you carburize. (Acetylene is beautiful, but molecules can go everywhere, sometimes where we don’t want acetylene, which is why we have the stop off.) But you define your load, you define your recipe, your gas flow, and then you run a test and analyze the metallurgy. If it’s good, then you’re done and you don’t move from that.

Heather Falcone: That’s what production wants to hear.

Vincent Lelong: When you are a heat treater, you may receive 10 parts to heat treat. Tomorrow you may receive 20 parts, and maybe you need to run the same recipe. In general, you can run the same recipe for 10 parts or 20 parts. You would use the parameters of the larger load for the smaller, if possible. The result will be mostly the same, but the cost will not be the same.

This is where you can optimize your recipe for different types of load, like half of the load versus a full load. You can change the flow of gas, and then reduce your heating time because why set for two hours when in one hour, it is at temperature. One hour is money.

Heather Falcone: Got to turn and burn.

Vincent Lelong: This is also where you define your database and your repeatability. I once had a customer that had me create a recipe for a specific quantity of parts and a design of load. A few years later, that customer called and said, “It doesn’t work.” With modern heat treating controls, we record everything, so you have a database, the curves, and you can go back and see what was wrong.

Heather Falcone: Right. What changed?

Vincent Lelong: In this case, I discovered the customer was running the double quantity of parts in the same load without changing the recipe at all.

Heather Falcone: Makes sense. Start there.

Vincent Lelong: Heating time was not long enough. Gas flow was not long enough. And they were not working at the right pressure in the furnace, so failure occurred. I said, “Change that.” No news is good news usually. If the customer doesn’t call you, it’s because…

Heather Falcone: …Everything works.

Vincent Lelong: That’s the beauty of this furnace.

With repeatability, you always need to look at the curves. If you have an issue of temperature out of the range, there will be an alarm. So, you can check if the part is good without checking the metallurgy. If you heat treat a big part, usually you won’t cut the part. If you have six parts in a load or 10, you have samples. You have to validate your sample and your real part at the beginning.

Heather Falcone: To make sure it’s representative.

Vincent Lelong: Exactly, or if there are differences because you cannot find exactly the same material, you know the difference, and the difference would be always the same.

Heather Falcone: Right. Make it predictable.

Vincent Lelong: We have some customers that would check one load per day or per shift and not every load. If you have 3,000 parts in a load, you can check a part. When you have six parts, you will likely not cut a part. If the furnace tells you it’s good, why check? When you check repeatability, you still need a lab. Not checking the metallurgy is difficult. You should always check again. Repeatability shouldn’t be left to chance or statistics. Take a part and check. Is it good? Then continue.

Heather Falcone: That’s kind of the target of qualification, right? To get those parameters that you predefined.

Vincent Lelong: In time you need to be sure nothing changes.

Heather Falcone: What does re-qualifying look like?

Vincent Lelong: You want to be sure that nothing changes, material-wise. Sometimes, you run the same material, and you achieve 35 HRC. But at one point in time, you achieved only 25 HRC. This is the same material on the paper, but something has happened. So you need to go back in time and figure out what was originally going on. Is it the heat treatment? Is the installation of something around it?

Heather Falcone: Use all the data that’s available to you.

Vincent Lelong: This is where you check the productivity.

Quench Media (19:20)

Heather Falcone: How about the quench media?

Vincent Lelong: When you develop a recipe, if you do oil quenching you will always do austenitizing. You don’t want a crack. You will carburize, austenitize, and go to oil quench. It’s pretty easy to switch from atmosphere oil quench to vacuum oil quench because technically the recipe is pretty much the same, and we’re going to cover that ground extensively because I know it’s kind of scary to even consider that possibility.

When you go with gas quench, if you don’t know the target or are unsure, you select 20 bar.

Heather Falcone: Sure, 20 bar. That’s the easiest in the world.

Vincent Lelong: Exactly. You do 20 bar and you get what you get. There is an advantage of the gas quench. Many customers will ask, “Do I need to do a direct quench? Do I need to do austenitizing?” Most of the time we say direct quench, and we found that you don’t crack with gas quench. Whatever the pressure, we never really have much cracking. Or a customer may ask, “Will the part break due to the gas quench?” That will never happen. I once asked the competition if they ever saw a crack with gas quenching and they said no. It’s the way the gas quench quenches and cools the part down, then it’s less powerful than the liquid, so you don’t have this potential issue.

But if you don’t know, you stay at 20 bar. If you would like to optimize, you can reduce, but you need to achieve the target metallurgy.

Heather Falcone: Right. You’ve got to get your core hardness.

Vincent Lelong: Your limit is when your metallurgy is not right. When you reduce, you reduce the cost. If you reduce the pressure and the speed, you will reduce the distortion potential.

Heather Falcone: Which is always a good thing.

Vincent Lelong: If you have a shaft, you should not place it horizontal, because whenever you quench that, it will not be straight.

Heather Falcone: We’ve potato chipped a few parts over the years, yes.

Vincent Lelong: Me too. I have tried horizontal in some cases. It’s interesting, but you need more support. I think it’s possible, but nobody wants to try it.

Heather Falcone: Why bother?

Vincent Lelong: Vertical is easier.

Heather Falcone: If you’re qualifying, just make the fixture that’s going to support it.

Vincent Lelong: Yes. Why should I change? It’s always a big question; we just quench it vertically this way. We do it this way. Now for gears, in heat treat sites I see a lot of vertical positions for gears strung on a rod. As an operator, I don’t like that.

Heather Falcone: Tell me why.

Vincent Lelong: Because it’s heavy. We already have difficulty finding operators in heat treatment. If it’s heavy, nobody wants to do it.

From a robotic point of view, it’s more difficult, too. Today, with most vacuum carburized and gas quenched gears are heat treated horizontally on fixtures and most of the time with offset position. That will give you the best metallurgy, but also the least distortion overall. Vertically for machinists, it’s very difficult to re-machine something round to oval. When you place it horizontally, you can do potato chips but machinists can grind and reshape the part easily, if it’s possible.

Heather Falcone: If you’re already near net, it’s going to be a different story.

Vincent Lelong: Exactly. That’s where when you check your distortion and repeatability of process — it’s the fixtures.

Heather Falcone: I would think working with the customer as much as you can to see if material can be left on the part too, if we do need to have grinding, if we do need to have repair or recovery for any possible distortion.

Vincent Lelong: So, let’s say we are working on a six-speed. For the six-speed, everybody wants to vacuum carburizing gas quench. The objective: zero distortion, heat treat, and assemble.

Heather Falcone: In theory.

Vincent Lelong: No, in truth.

Heather Falcone: Really? Okay.

Vincent Lelong: That was the target.

Heather Falcone: Ambitious, I like it.

Vincent Lelong: Yes, but when you have a new product, you can use new technology, you can work on the fixtures, you can work on everything. We worked a lot with car manufacturers to do the best heat treatment, the best fixtures, the maximum of parts, of course, and repeatability. This furnace is running millions of parts.

That is why we know vacuum carburizing works and it’s repeatable. For this high volume, we had to work on zero distortion. But the specification then didn’t change, metallurgically speaking. Most of the time it was 0.3 to 0.7 millimeters. It’s a large gap. No problem. Then we went to the 10-speed for most of the automotive, and then the distortion was the target because of the experience we gained with the six-speed, which was the noise. People don’t want the noise. Today, with the 10-speed, we start to grind at 0.1 millimeter.

You have to compensate for your carburizing process so that it is longer and deeper, but also most customers will reduce the metallurgical requirements. From 0.3 to 0.7, they want 0.5 plus or minus 0.05, which is much thinner. With electrical applications today, you want zero noise, because you can hear everything. There’s a lot of grinding, and when I say a lot, I mean exact, 0.2 millimeter.

Heather Falcone: That is a lot of post-process work.

Vincent Lelong: You have the perfect teeth. You need to anticipate longer carburizing, and it’s great! Also, what I see with metallurgy, it’s not that you don’t have a general metallurgical specification, but each area of a part will have its own metallurgy. That means you have the pitch of the gear, the roots, a minimum, but sometimes you have a specification of the tip.

A customer may specify, “I don’t want more than 0.8.”

Heather Falcone: Just for that area.

Vincent Lelong: Yes. As the parts get more and more complex, they have more than just one application or function. You have the spline. You have double teeth. Each one will have its own requirement. With an atmospheric furnace, to get that, it doesn’t work very well. But with vacuum carburizing, you can achieve very precise requirements.

Switching from Atmospheric to Vacuum Carburizing (28:11)

Heather Falcone: To that point, is that one of the things that stops people from considering the change from atmospheric to vacuum carburizing, or is it part complexity?

Considering the switch? See how different carburizing technologies and furnace features stack up when you click on the image above.

Vincent Lelong: The larger companies do not seem to be afraid, because they know what they want and they already have experience. For the heat treaters, the smaller companies, it’s very difficult to switch with the requirements today. When you see the requirement on the drawing, it’s funny because before there was just heat treatment.

Heather Falcone: Yeah, it’s on this process sheet.

Vincent Lelong: One line. Surface condition, effective case depth, core hardness.

Heather Falcone: Right.

Vincent Lelong: Today there are different requirements, and there are several requirements: before heat treatment, after, and final. You know how much you need to take off, and not every area you take off. You said keep more material. The advantage of that is more material, less distortion. But you will have to carburize more.

Heather Falcone: Ultimately it may be more expensive for everybody.

Vincent Lelong: Exactly. The machining behind the grinding is also costly. When we develop a recipe, we have the customer machine to the final dimension, do the heat treatment, and then we will see where we are in terms of metallurgy and distortion. If we are not where we need to be, don’t take off too much. Then you adjust.

One other story is about a thread.

Heather Falcone: Oh, God, threads. The bane of every heat treater’s existence, threads.

Vincent Lelong: I get a lot of questions about threads. Do I need to make them before heat treatment? Do I need to put a mask on, paint, or make the fixture?

Heather Falcone: Fixture or mechanical.

Vincent Lelong: Or to not do them and do them after?

Heather Falcone: That is also expensive.

Vincent Lelong: Yes, also expensive; but I think it could be a robotic application.

Heather Falcone: Oh true. Very good point.

Vincent Lelong: It’s the way I would go.

Heather Falcone: How interesting.

Vincent Lelong: To not do the thread before.

Heather Falcone: Lower risk.

Vincent Lelong: First, when you carburize, you can create a brittleness of the thread. But also operator movement of the thread from crate to the fixtures can cause damage to the thread. What do you do? Can you save the thread after heat treatment? Not always. Then that is garbage. You had to manufacture the part, heat treat the part, just to put in the garbage, which is a cost.

Heather Falcone: Probably 80 or 90% of your whole cost, gone in an instant.

Vincent Lelong: In my opinion, you could have a robot preparing the load. You would have a robot take off, and every time it’s the same movement. Then, thread or not, it’s easier.

Heather Falcone: More predictable.

Vincent Lelong: Then the robot, if you don’t do the thread, can put the shaft, usually it’s a shaft with a right connection on the thread on the end, put to a little induction machine, reheat, and then put in a crate and go back to machining. Then it’s all done.

In that instance, I think it’s my preference not to do the thread first. I have customers who ask me for paint or for a mask. Paint is not, I would say, 100% safe. You need a specialist to put on the paint. There are some tricks, as I know heat treaters know. They have been doing this for years and they know their stuff.

Heather Falcone: That’s their secret.

Vincent Lelong: I think heat treaters have more secrets about painting and protection of the part than the big companies do. They know it better.

Heather Falcone: Their lives are on the line. That’s all they do, so they have to make it perfect.

Vincent Lelong: You can learn a lot from heat treaters. They know their work.

Heather Falcone: That’s what I always recommend to the captives. Get out to as many heat treat shops as you can, because it’s going to make your in-house heat treat better.

Vincent Lelong: They have years of experience to learn from. Heat treatment is tricks after tricks. Some customers are afraid to go to in-house heat treatment. These heat treaters hold a variety of information that is helpful for these customers.

Heather Falcone: It’s an interesting point that you brought up about being afraid, because vacuum carburizing has gotten that reputation over the years that it’s difficult. It’s tough to figure out.

Vincent Lelong: Because we did a good job. We did a good job to say you can optimize. In reality, if you understand what you want to heat treat, the carburizing process is all made by software. Every company has their own software. So it is pretty simple, and though it can still be scary for the heat treater.

Heather Falcone: Process change is scary.

Vincent Lelong: There are some companies that develop vacuum carburizing software where you need to know everything about the steel, the chemistry, all the parameters. We work with carbon. For our software, you enter the carbon content originally, roughly the temperature you would like to heat treat, and what you would like on the final. The software will give you something, and it will be 95% of what you’re looking for.

Now you need to quench. Like I said, with oil quenching, it’s no problem. Gas quenching, 20 bar, no problem, very easy and straightforward. Optimization can be where it’s trickier. But it’s just like an atmospheric furnace. I work with atmospheric furnaces, and they all have their cheat sheets.

You need carbon potential, temperature, time, and in vacuum carburizing, it’s the same thing. The temperature, your carbon potential, or what you expect for carbon, the time, the case depth you would like to achieve, and here is your process.

Heather Falcone: Then you don’t need the cheat sheet. It’s gone. Then it’s documented and repeatable.

Vincent Lelong: Right, then you have to heat up and quench. So, straight heat treatment: heat it up to be sure you’re at temperature, then carburize, and you quench.

Heather Falcone: One test?

Vincent Lelong: Yes, I often do just one test.

Customers may ask me to do a test for a Flex system, a larger system. I do it here at the Synergy Center first because it’s cheaper for me because it just value add and it’s here. I can mix a different part, different design, and run. “Oh, it’s a 8620? No problem.” Usually, it’s good.

For a Nano load, it’s like a one-fifth or it’s a one fixture and the bigger load, it’s like two column of fixtures, then you stack. So, it’s not much different. You start on a smaller scale and you go bigger, and you just add a little heat up time.

And if you ask me, “What do you need?” Put everything to the maximum!! (We are here to sell you a spare part, so, you know.) But really, if you put everything to the maximum you will be good. Maybe too good, and you might have a more maintenance, but we’d be able to provide a quote to reduce the maintenance. (*joking laughter*) 

Closing Thoughts (37:36)

Heather Falcone: As we finish up, if there’s one thing that you’d want our listeners to take away, rethinking about their approach to process qualification and recipe development, what do you want them to know?

Vincent Lelong: It’s not difficult. It’s like every other heat treatment; you have to test it and you will quickly see that it’s easy. At ECM USA, we provide training and testing to show you what can be achieved and answer your questions. If you’re worried, we will show you how easy it is, how clean it is. There’s no flame. If you have oil quench, there’s no flame because everything is protected. So it’s not difficult, it’s just one step. Do not be afraid.

Heather Falcone: Take that first step, and explore the process.

Vincent Lelong: I think there’s enough research and evidence in the last 25 years in the U.S., especially with large automotive and aerospace companies to know that it’s not a big deal. Most people — in heat treating or not — don’t like change.

Heather Falcone: But they can partner with you, Vincent, who has decades of experience. Reach out to ECM. Get in touch. Start exploring.

Vincent Lelong: The funny thing is, with decades of experience, what we are capable of heat treating 20 years ago we can do way better now. The technology is better. Gas quenching is made to quench, not to cool. It’s quenching. It’s hard. It’s almost as hard of a quench as an oil quench. You can do bulk load carburizing. I did carbonitriding in bulk load not that long ago. If you had asked me to do that 20 years ago, I would say, “No way that works.” But today that works. Just contact us.

Heather Falcone: Start the conversation, right?

Vincent Lelong: And I would be happy to show you. I like my job.

Heather Falcone: You love your job. I’m going to say it. You’re very passionate.

Vincent Lelong: I like testing because it’s a challenge every day. It’s pushing the limit. It’s like a movie. Is it possible? If you follow the book or internet, they will say no. I would say, “Let’s try.” I’m testing on materials other than steel as well that I would not have expected to work. Modular furnaces can be a very versatile.

Heather Falcone: Well it sounds like production is getting ready to get things done. Thanks so much, Vincent. It was great spending time with you.

About the Guest

Vincent Lelong
Synergy Center Manager / Sr. Metallurgist
ECM USA, INC.

Vincent Lelong, ECM USA Synergy Center Manager, transferred to ECM USA in 2005 to manage the North American Testing Program in Wisconsin after 6 years’ experience with production/testing furnaces at ECM Technologies headquarters in Grenoble, France. Vincent has degrees in Chemistry & Physics from the University of Reims, and Treatment of Materials (specializing in Heat Treatment) from BTS Roosevelt, also located in Reims, France. He began his career as a production and laboratory technician for a commercial heat treater, and joined the ECM Group in 1999 as an ECM Technician running LPC testing/metallurgical analysis within ECM vacuum furnace systems.

For more information: Contact Vincent Lelong at vincentlelong@ecm-usa.com.

Heat Treat Radio #133: Process Qualification & Recipe Development in Vacuum Carburizing Read More »

Mega-HIP Expands Precious Metals Capacity

/ HIPING NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

ITP Co. Ltd. has installed a new hot isostatic pressing (HIP) system to strengthen production capabilities for precious metal equipment used in glass manufacturing, supporting improved densification, product consistency, and manufacturing efficiency for precious metals.

Global high pressure technology company with North American ties Quintus Technologies supplied the QIH 286 URC® hot isostatic press for installation at ITP’s facility in Wuxi, China. Installed in March 2026, the system is intended to strengthen the company’s production capabilities for precious metal equipment used in electronic glass and fiberglass production.

Equipped with Quintus patented uniform rapid cooling technology, the QIH 286 URC® press for ITP integrates key processes to fully steer and control the heating, cooling, and pressure parameters directly inside the HIP vessel, improving material performance and production efficiency. | Image Credit: Quintus Technologies

The HIP system features a work zone measuring 1600 mm (63 in) in diameter and 2,500 mm (98 in) in height, enabling densification of large batches at pressures of up to 2,000 bar (29,000 psi). Operating at temperatures of up to 1400°C (2552°F), the press incorporates Quintus’ uniform rapid cooling (URC) technology to control heating, cooling, and pressure parameters inside the HIP vessel.

Johan Hjärne
CEO
Quintus Technologies

The system is expected to improve material performance, process consistency, and production efficiency while reducing overall cycle time. ITP cited process stability and productivity as important factors in selecting the equipment due to the sensitivity and cost associated with precious metal products. The installation also includes participation in an eight-year service and maintenance program covering application support, spare parts availability, technical support, inspections, and personnel training.

“Our collaboration with ITP confirmed that the Quintus mega-HIP would enable them to upgrade the performance, specifications, and reliability of their platinum, palladium, and other precious metal products, supporting expansion into high-end markets,” notes Johan Hjärne, CEO of Quintus Technologies.

Press release is available in its original form here.

Mega-HIP Expands Precious Metals Capacity Read More »

Utilization: The Hidden Sustainability Metric in Heat Treatment

/ MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

As manufacturers push toward ambitious sustainability targets, heat treatment remains both essential and energy intensive, making efficiency gains critical. In this Technical Tuesday installment, Myles McCarthy, a senior sustainability and climate leader at Bodycote, highlights utilization as a powerful, often overlooked lever, showing how maximizing furnace loading and focusing on energy per component can significantly reduce emissions and improve overall process performance.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s May 2026 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies print edition.

The drive toward more sustainable manufacturing continues to gather momentum across sectors like aerospace, automotive, and advanced engineering. While political priorities may fluctuate, the direction is clear: manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, and demonstrate measurable progress against ambitious environmental targets. For many organizations, thermal processing sits at the center of this challenge.

Heat treatment, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and specialist surface technologies are essential to the performance, safety, and longevity of critical components. Without them, components would not perform as designed, leading to higher raw material consumption, increased emissions, and excessive waste. Yet, thermal processing is also one of the most energy-intensive stages of manufacturing. In some industries, thermal processing can account for 25–35% of a component’s carbon footprint.

As a result, attention is increasingly drawn not just to what processes are used, but how efficiently they are delivered.

Beyond Furnace Efficiency

Much of the conversation around sustainable heat treatment has focused on equipment: furnace design, insulation, electrification, and the transition to renewable energy sources. These are all important developments, and they continue to play a key role in reducing emissions.

However, an equally important and often overlooked factor is utilization. The energy consumed during a heat treatment cycle is largely fixed, regardless of whether a furnace is fully loaded or only partially utilized. As a result, the true energy intensity of heat treatment is not simply a function of furnace efficiency, but of energy consumed per component processed.

In practice, this means that two identical furnaces operating under different loading conditions can produce significantly different carbon outcomes.

The Impact of Underutilization

In many in-house environments, heat treatment is one step within a broader manufacturing process. Production variability, batch sizes, scheduling constraints, and part mix can all lead to suboptimal furnace loading. Partial loads, idle time between cycles, and non-continuous operation are common realities.

From an operational perspective, these challenges are often unavoidable. From a sustainability perspective, however, they have a direct impact, increasing energy consumption per component, raising associated carbon emissions and reducing overall process efficiency.

In this context, even highly efficient equipment may not deliver optimal environmental performance if it is not consistently utilized to capacity.

Utilization as a Sustainability Lever

True energy intensity needs to measure the energy consumed per component heat treated. | Image Credit: Bodycote

This raises an important question for manufacturing leaders and heat treatment engineers: What is the true energy cost per treated component, and how much of that is driven by utilization rather than technology?

Increasingly, improving sustainability outcomes is less about incremental gains in furnace design and more about maximizing throughput efficiency. Higher and more consistent utilization levels enable lower energy consumption per unit processed, improved process stability and repeatability, and reduced waste associated with inefficient batch cycles. In some cases, higher utilization has been shown to reduce carbon per component by up to 60%. In simple terms, a well-utilized process is often a more sustainable process.

Rethinking Traditional Boundaries

Achieving consistently high utilization is not always straightforward within a single manufacturing site. Demand variability, product diversity, and production scheduling can all limit the ability to fully optimize furnace loading.

As sustainability targets become more demanding, some organizations are beginning to explore how these constraints can be addressed more strategically. In particular, there is growing recognition that where heat treatment takes place can influence overall efficiency outcomes, especially when greater consistency of loading and throughput can be achieved.

In environments where demand from multiple sources can be aggregated, including across organizational boundaries, it becomes possible to operate equipment closer to optimal utilization levels on a sustained basis. This can improve energy efficiency per component while maintaining process control and quality standards.

At the same time, continued advances in process technology, such as vacuum processing and low-pressure carburizing, are enabling more efficient and repeatable outcomes, particularly when combined with modern, well-utilized infrastructure.

The Role of Data in Decision Making

As expectations around sustainability reporting increase, decisions related to thermal processing are also becoming more data driven. Manufacturers are increasingly required to understand and report the carbon footprint of individual components, not just emissions at site level. This shift is placing greater emphasis on measuring energy consumption and emissions at process level, including the impact of utilization.

Tools and methodologies aligned with recognized standards are enabling more accurate modeling of energy consumption per cycle and per component, emissions associated with different processing routes, and the comparative impact of alternative operating models. This data allows engineers and decision makers to move beyond assumptions and evaluate thermal processing strategies based on measurable environmental performance.

Balancing Control, Efficiency, and Sustainability

For decades, the benchmark of a well-run heat treatment operation was control, over equipment, processes, and supply. That principle remains important. However, the definition of control is evolving. Today, control increasingly includes visibility of process performance, confidence in quality and repeatability, and the ability to meet sustainability targets alongside production requirements. In this context, improving utilization is emerging as a key consideration. It offers a practical and measurable way to reduce energy intensity without compromising technical outcomes.

A Shift in Perspective

Sustainability in thermal processing is often framed in terms of new technologies or alternative energy sources. While these remain critical, utilization highlights a broader point. Efficiency is not just designed into equipment; it is achieved through how that equipment is used.

As manufacturers continue to navigate the complexities of decarbonization, focusing on energy per component rather than energy per cycle provides a more complete picture of performance. This shift in perspective does not prescribe a single solution. Instead, it encourages a more holistic evaluation of thermal processing, one that considers utilization, technology, data, and operational context together.

Successful Examples of High Utilization, Advanced Heat Treatment

Future heat treatment facilities must deliver the reliability, quality, and flexibility demanded by leading OEMs and their suppliers, while meeting efficiency and sustainability challenges in global markets, such as aerospace and automotive. An outsourced approach, supported by local and dedicated specialist capacity, can meet these needs.

Bodycote’s heat treatment plants in Derby and Rotherham — combining advanced heat treatment and densification services — are examples of a co-located outsourced model. The aerospace partnership behind these plants demonstrates three decades of reliable, dedicated, and flexible capacity, aligned to core customer requirements.

A key advantage is utilization. By complementing core aerospace demand with additional volumes from other clients and markets, these facilities maximize utilization, driving higher efficiency, lower cost per part, and improved sustainability performance.

Both sites operate highly utilized, fully electric furnaces powered by 100% renewable electricity, enabling zero-emission thermal processing. Alongside electrification, ongoing investment in energy efficiency continues to reduce consumption. The Derby site (opened in 1999) recently installed a closed-circuit adiabatic cooling system, replacing evaporative towers and delivering electricity savings of 73%, reducing peak load and associated emissions, and cutting water use by over 85%, while eliminating chemical dosing and cleaning.

These examples demonstrate how specialist providers can deliver both advanced technical capability and low-carbon infrastructure for modern aerospace manufacturing.

Similar approaches are emerging across the aerospace industry, as manufacturers replace legacy fossil-fuel-based heat treatment with more efficient outsourced solutions. These partnerships support ambitious Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions while ensuring long-term access to modern, lower-carbon processing capacity operated at consistently high utilization.

From Energy Per Cycle to Energy Per Component

Thermal processing will remain an essential part of advanced manufacturing. Its energy intensity makes it a natural focus for sustainability efforts, but also a significant opportunity for improvement.

Focusing on utilization shifts the conversation from how much energy a furnace consumes to how effectively that energy is used. This highlights a more meaningful measure of performance: not energy per cycle, but energy per component.

As sustainability expectations continue to rise, engineers and manufacturing leaders are being asked not only to ensure process integrity, but to demonstrate measurable efficiency and carbon performance.

In that context, the most effective improvements may not come from new equipment alone, but from rethinking how processes are operated, optimized, and where appropriate, configured.

Because ultimately, sustainable heat treatment is not just about using less energy — it is about using energy more effectively.

About The Author:

Myles McCarthy
VP, Group Sustainability
Bodycote plc

Myles McCarthy is a senior sustainability and climate leader within Bodycote’s sustainability team, focused on driving and delivering corporate strategies that support the transition to more sustainable businesses. He has 25 years of experience working with boards and senior management of global businesses, both as an external climate advisor and as an in-house sustainability lead.

For more information: Contact Myles McCarthy at Myles.McCarthy@bodycote.com.

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Happy Memorial Day!

/ FEATURED NEWS

As we spend time with family and friends this holiday weekend, we reflect with gratitude on the courage and dedication of those who gave their lives protecting the freedoms we enjoy today.

This Memorial Day, the team at Heat Treat Today pauses to honor and remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Our offices will be closed Monday, May 25, and will reopen Tuesday, May 26.

Wishing our readers a safe and meaningful Memorial Day.

Happy Memorial Day! Read More »

Rethinking On-Site Hydrogen for Flexible Control, 2 Case Studies

/ ATMOSPHERE GENERATORS TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, SINTERING POWDER/METAL TECHNICAL CONTENT

What if durable hydrogen production design was approached from the standpoint of optimizing data analysis and controls management? When addressed as such, onsite generation can simplify deployment, reduce upfront integration risk, and enable flexible scaling for applications ranging from backup power to industrial processing. Anya Bharadwaj, product manager at Fourier Earth, examines how two North American heat treating operations — one induction, the other sintering — have leveraged software-defined modularized hydrogen to capture these advantages.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s April 2026 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition.

In the high-stakes world of advanced manufacturing, the atmosphere inside a furnace is as critical as the temperature. For decades, manufacturers have been tethered to a legacy, delivery-based model for their hydrogen supply. This energy ecosystem is increasingly showing its age, plagued by hazardous storage conditions, supply chain shocks, and logistical costs that can balloon to 7–10x the actual production costs.

Recent changes in modular electrolyzer technology challenge the delivery-based hydrogen model by enabling on-site generation directly at industrial facilities. One such approach seeks to reimagine energy distribution and storage — when, and how it is needed most. Two case studies illustrate how intelligent, software-defined systems improve reliability, reduce logistical risk, and better align supply with real-time process demand.

Achieving Scalability with PEM Electrolyzers

This system utilizes Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by applying electricity across a solid polymer electrolyte membrane. Water is fed to the anode side, where oxygen is ionized into positively charged ions (protons) and negatively charged ions (electrons). The protons pass through the membrane while electrons travel through an external circuit (creating the electrical loop). The protons recombine at the cathode to form hydrogen gas.

PEM systems are well-suited for dynamic operations because they respond quickly to changes in power input, operate at relatively high current densities, and produce high-purity hydrogen without requiring a separate gas purification step.

Figure 2. Fourier electrolyzer system displayed at customer site | Image Credit: Fourier

Unlike large, monolithic MW-scale electrolyzers that are complex to integrate and difficult to optimize, PEM stacks can be designed in modular units (Figure 2). Electrolyzer efficiency does not inherently improve with size, so instead of scaling up into single massive systems, the design is scaled out — splitting capacity across many smaller modules without sacrificing performance. Modularization improves lifetime and efficiency since each stack can operate at its optimal temperature, pressure, and current density.

In this architecture, variables in hydrogen production across hundreds or thousands of stacks need to be controlled and optimized. Fourier’s software-defined energy system materialized from seeing hydrogen production as a data and controls problem first and foremost. This hardware-software feedback loop combines machine learning and modular hardware to monitor and control such variables as temperature, pressure, and density.

While on-site hydrogen generation overcomes centralized hydrogen production challenges, seamless integration requires a system that functions as a distributed, intelligent energy resource. The modular architecture is driven by advanced algorithms that optimize performance in real-time, constantly adjusting to deliver peak efficiency and reliability. For modern heat treat operations, this is a crucial step to overcome the technical and commercial barriers due to transportation challenges and volatile industrial gas pricing.

Case Study 1: The Heat Treatment Facility

Table A. Performance metrics for induction brazing

The primary objective of the first pilot deployment at an induction heat treatment facility in Southern California was to generate a supply that matched the rigorous reliability and purity requirements of their brazing process. For high value components being induction brazed, hydrogen removes surface oxides from metals, preventing oxidation and improving the quality of the heated workpiece. Any supply interruption or purity dip can compromise their integrity.

In September 2025, the first modular electrolyzer unit was deployed (Figure 1). The integration process involved:

  • Direct connectivity: The unit co-located at the site and connected directly to the existing electric panel and water supply.
  • Zero-disruption tie-in: The system integrated directly into the facility’s existing hydrogen manifold, essentially replacing the delivery truck with a continuous on-site stream.
  • Technical excellence: Over a four-week pilot, the system met stringent specs — a -70°C (-94°F) dewpoint and 60 PSI pressure — supplying hydrogen for two brazing furnaces.
Figure 1. Metal parts being loaded into furnace running on Fourier hydrogen at heat treatment facility, CA | Image Credit: Fourier

During the pilot, hydrogen quality was monitored through continuous dew point and pressure sensing, with all data aggregated into a central dashboard to track moisture levels, delivery stability, and overall system performance in real time. Dew point served as a critical indicator of gas dryness, since excess moisture would directly increase oxidation risk at high-temperature induction heating. Pressure monitoring ensured steady flow and confirmed system integrity throughout each run.

Although a formal gas chromatography was not conducted during the pilot, purity was validated through application-level outcomes. Each treated batch of metal was inspected post-processing, and clean, bright surfaces were consistently observed without scale, pitting, or discoloration. Because hydrogen acts as a reducing atmosphere, even minor deviations in moisture or composition would quickly appear as visible defects. This aligned with stable sensor data and consistent operating conditions. This real-world validation is commercially meaningful: in induction heating, surface quality directly affects downstream machining, coating adhesion, and yield. Demonstrating repeatable, oxide-free results confirms both technical robustness and economic value under actual production conditions.

The successful proof-of-concept achieved industrial-grade performance and reduced costs by more than 50% on a dollar-per-kilogram basis compared to what the client was paying under the existing hydrogen contract.

Case Study 2: Compax, Inc.

Figure 3. Furnace running on Fourier hydrogen at powder metal plant, Compax, CA | Image Credit: Fourier

For the second pilot development at Compax, Inc., a leader in powdered metal manufacturing located in Southern California, the challenge centered on sintering. Compax uses hydrogen to eliminate oxygen during the heat treating process (Figure 3). The facility faced frequent price hikes and the looming threat of supply disruptions that could halt their belt sintering furnaces, a risk the company sought to eliminate.

The pilot deployment at Compax in November 2025 further proved the scalability of the design — modular units inspired by the data center world, easily configured to specific site needs. The integration process involved:

  • Rapid deployment: Within just two days, the team fully brought the system online in Compax’s utility infrastructure.
  • Tailored performance: The system delivered a flowrate of 255 SCFH at a -40°C (-40°F) dewpoint and 10 PSI, precisely optimized for the powdered metal sintering process.
  • Operational control: According to Earl Johnson, CEO of Compax, the system “reliably produced hydrogen…without the hassle of transportation,” adding that it provided much needed “flexibility against frequent increases in industrial gas prices.”
Table B. Performance metrics for sintering

Implications for Industrial Heat Treating

Both pilots achieved a structural advantage by removing logistical constraints, proving that this type of software-enabled hydrogen generation is a viable, cost-effective solution for industrial decarbonization.

By shifting from a centralized commodity model to a distributed, intelligent energy resource, manufacturers gain more than cheaper gas; they gain independence from hydrogen delivery. As the heat treat industry faces increasing pressure to decarbonize while maintaining razor-thin margins, modular, data-driven approaches offer a practical solution, lowering local emissions and ensuring on-demand production.

About The Author:

Anya Bharadwaj
Product Manager
Fourier Earth

Anya Bharadwaj is a product manager at Fourier Earth, where she leads product strategy and go-to-market for modular hydrogen electrolyzer systems. Her work focuses on identifying new market opportunities and deploying hydrogen technologies for long-duration energy storage and industrial decarbonization. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and previously worked in energy investment.

For more information: Contact Anya Bharadwaj at anya@fourier.earth.

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Reader Feedback: Heat Treat To Lead a Low-Carbon Economy

/ READER FEEDBACK

Readers are checking out Heat Treat Today’s magazine, and the Letter from the Publisher in the January 2025 Annual Technologies to Watch print edition has sparked this reader feedback article from materials science engineer Jeremy Lipshaw. It makes the case for the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change — and argues that the heat treatment industry is well-positioned to lead in a low-carbon economy.

This insightful feedback article was first released in Heat Treat Today’s September 2025 Annual People of Heat Treat print edition.

Would you like to weigh in on the topic? Submit your question, comments, thoughts, or queries here or email Bethany Leone at editor@heattreattoday.com.

In January, Heat Treat Today’s publisher, Doug Glenn, authored a letter titled “What if We’re Wrong About CO₂ & Global Warming.” It questioned the scientific consensus of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change and suggested that “the science doesn’t seem to be as settled as claimed.” Since then, Mr. Glenn and I have had an extensive back-and-forth conversation on the topic, which ultimately resulted in this editorial. First and foremost, our discussion proved that, even in today’s polarized society, respectful discourse surrounding sensitive topics is still possible. We left that discussion with great esteem for each other, even if we did not come to an agreement on everything. Secondly, there is both considerable evidence of anthropogenic climate change, as well as an incredibly robust scientific consensus regarding its existence. Moreover, while climate change will impact the heat treatment industry, it can also provide a lucrative opportunity.

Scientific Consensus

To acknowledge the elephant (and donkey) in the room, the strongest individual predictor of climate change belief is political ideology (Hornsey, et al. 2016). This heavily implies that a strong ideological bias follows this topic. As a science-based industry, we should rise above tribalism, be skeptical about the potential for motivated reasoning (especially from ourselves), and remain open-minded to the scientific process. While there may be conservative or liberal policies surrounding the implications of climate science, science itself should remain neutral.

A scientific consensus is not a vote or opinion and therefore does not trigger the “appeal to authority” fallacy. Instead, it is a reflection of the systematic weighing of evidence and the error-correcting nature of the scientific method. While science can never truly be “settled” (nor should it be), consensus can surpass a confidence threshold to be considered robust. A robust scientific consensus emerges when two major criteria are met:

  1. The evidence from multiple well-established, independent scientific disciplines and international communities converge.
  2. There are no other alternative theories that can sufficiently explain the evidence and predict the future to a similar accuracy.

The anthropogenic climate change theory thoroughly satisfies both criteria. Climate science has been advancing for over 200 years, and the theory of anthropogenic climate change has been deduced from multiple independent lines of evidence, including through studies in atmospheric science, glaciology, geology, thermodynamics, oceanography, and paleoclimatology. Additionally, as of 2024, nearly 200 international science organizations, representing a variety of backgrounds and motivations, have endorsed the anthropogenic climate change theory (CA Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation 2024).

Data and Discussion

Scientific progress and discussion predominately occur within peer-reviewed literature. Of the papers published between 1991 and 2011 which expressed a position on climate change, 97% supported the anthropogenic climate change theory (Cook, et al. 2013). A more recent study analyzed papers published from 2012 to 2020 and purposefully biased itself by specifically searching for papers skeptical of the leading theory. Despite that, the authors discovered that the percentage of papers supporting anthropogenic climate change may have increased to greater than 99% (Lynas, et al. 2021).

Figure 1. The observed change in global temperature cannot be explained by natural-forcing alone such as the sun, orbital mechanics, cloud-cover, etc. (b) and requires the human element (a). (Data from Wuebbles, et al. 2017.)

Proper science dictates that research that disagrees with the consensus should be highlighted rather than thrown aside. An investigation from 2015 found that, from a sample of 38 publicly touted papers skeptical of the scientific consensus, all 38 papers had a number of methodological flaws. When those flaws were corrected, the results of these papers aligned with the anthropogenic climate change consensus (Benestad, et al. 2015). To further illustrate the strength of this consensus, Figure 1 shows how alternative theories, like the theory that global warming is caused by natural variations in the climate, are insufficient and neither explain nor predict the future to the same accuracy as anthropogenic climate change (Wuebbles, et al. 2017). This is the scientific method in action.

This high degree of consensus is very rare in the scientific community. For example, there is still no robust consensus within the heat treatment industry on the formation mechanism of bainite in steel (Fielding 2013). Is it diffusionless-displacive? Diffusional-reconstructive? Yet, even with this uncertainty, bainite is austempered every day, producing lighter and stronger components.

The Economics of Climate Change

Similar to the level of certainty that informs today’s heat treating practices, the impacts of anthropogenic climate change are also relatively uncertain; nevertheless, the general economic ramifications are clear. A well-cited and influential study from 2024 predicted that anthropogenic climate change may cost the globe $38 trillion in damage per year by 2049. For a sense of scale, this value is 34% of global GDP in 2024, is six times more than the expected climate change mitigation costs and may lead to an overall income reduction of 19% (Kotz, et al. 2024). From a global perspective, it is the fiscally responsible decision to mitigate climate change, which consequently led 107 countries, responsible for roughly 82% of greenhouse gas emissions, to adopt a net-zero policy (United Nations 2025).

These policies result in strong financial incentives for heat treatment. The heat treatment industry is in a unique position for mitigating climate change because it can increase the strength-to-weight ratio of a material with marginal energy inputs. By reducing the total material required for a component, this optimum mitigation technique can decrease the energy and greenhouse gas emissions in all three stages of a component’s life cycle: production, use, and end-of-life.

Figure 2. For a given strength requirement, heat treated materials tend to produce less greenhouse gas emissions than competing materials. (Data adapted from Zhu, et al. 2023.) | Image Credit: Aalberts surface technologies

The casting industry recognized a similar opportunity and sponsored a life cycle analysis to calculate greenhouse gas emissions and the overall energy consumption for ductile iron (Zhu, et al. 2023). The study discovered that ductile iron tends to decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions per unit mass of material compared to competing manufacturing methods for ferrous materials. Additionally, it was revealed that Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI), a heat-treated ductile iron, can replace alternative materials on a pound-for-pound basis and further decrease greenhouse gas emissions. (In fact, ADI components could weigh more than the alternative material and still decrease greenhouse gas emissions in a lifecycle perspective). This finding can be extended to most heat-treatable materials as production greenhouse gas emissions per unit strength tend to be less than competing materials (Figure 2).

To retain this intrinsic advantage, the heat treat industry can continue to focus on decarbonization. Heat Treat Today has previously discussed a multitude of strategies for heat treaters, including electrification (Clark, et al. 2023), recapturing heat loss (Stowe 2024), enhancing furnace insulation (Roberts 2025), optimizing heat treatment processes (Buchner 2024), and utilizing hydrogen as fuel (Wolff 2024). These innovations can be explored on a case-by-case basis to balance investment with marketability to remain globally competitive.

Conclusion

To summarize, anthropogenic climate change is the prevailing scientific theory that most accurately describes the behavior of the climate. It is based on thousands of papers and studies and has survived brutal scientific and public challenges. Due to its predicted impact to the global economy, the heat treat industry is in an excellent position to become a leader in decarbonization, thereby fostering a more sustainable and prosperous future. Let’s not squander the opportunity.

References

Benestad, R. E., et al. 2015. “Learning from Mistakes in Climate Research.” Theoretical and Applied Climatology 126 (3–4): 699–703. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1597-5.

Buchner, K. 2024. “How to Reduce Carbon Footprint During Heat Treatment.” Heat Treat Today, May 16. https://www.heattreattoday.com/how-to-reduce-the-carbon-footprint-during-heat-treatment/.

CA Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. 2024. “List of Worldwide Scientific Organizations.” https://web.archive.org/web/20241005030117/https://www.lci.ca.gov/facts/list-of-scientific-organizations.html.

Clarke, J., P. Kerbois, P. Sherwin, M. Pizella, A. Selvy, and S. Hakes. 2023. “Energizing the Future of Furnaces — 4 Perspectives.” Heat Treat Today, July 11. https://www.heattreattoday.com/industries/energy-heat-treat/energizing-the-future-of-furnaces-4-perspectives/.

Cook, J., et al. 2013. “Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature.” Environmental Research Letters 8 (2): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024.

Fielding, D. 2013. “The Bainite Controversy.” Materials Science and Technology 29 (4): 383–399. https://doi.org/10.1179/1743284712y.0000000157.

Glenn, D. 2025. “What If We’re Wrong About CO₂ & Global Warming?” Heat Treat Today, January 27. https://www.heattreattoday.com/what-if-were-wrong-about-co2-global-warming/.

Hornsey, M. J., E. A. Harris, P. G. Bain, and K. S. Fielding. 2016. “Meta-Analyses of the Determinants and Outcomes of Belief in Climate Change.” Nature Climate Change 6: 622–626. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2943.

Kotz, M., A. Levermann, and L. Wenz. 2024. “The Economic Commitment of Climate Change.” Nature 628: 551–557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07219-0.

Lynas, M., B. Z. Houlton, and S. Perry. 2021. “Greater than 99% Consensus on Human Caused Climate Change in the Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature.” Environmental Research Letters 16 (11). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966.

Roberts, J. 2025. “The Cost of Furnace Insulation Failure.” Heat Treat Today, June 23. https://www.heattreattoday.com/the-cost-of-furnace-insulation-failure/.

Stowe, M. 2024. “Sustainability Insights: How Can We Work to Get the Carbon Out of Heating? Part 2.” Heat Treat Today, March 26. https://www.heattreattoday.com/sustainability-insights-how-can-we-work-to-get-the-carbon-out-of-heating-part-1-2/.

United Nations. 2025. “For a Livable Climate: Net-Zero Commitments Must Be Backed by Credible Action.” https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition.

Wolff, D. 2024. “Water Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production Facilitates Decarbonization.” Heat Treat Today, December 17. https://www.heattreattoday.com/water-electrolysis-for-hydrogen-production-facilitates-decarbonization/.

Wuebbles, D. J., D. W. Fahey, and K. A. Hibbard. 2017. “Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I.” NOAA. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/19486.

Zhu, Y., G. A. Keoleian, and D. R. Cooper. 2023. “A Parametric Life Cycle Assessment Model for Ductile Cast Iron Components.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106729.

About The Author:

Jeremy Lipshaw
Materials Science Engineer

As a Class of 2022 Heat Treat Today 40 Under 40 recipient, Jeremy Lipshaw is an emerging leader with over 10 years of experience in the foundry and heat treatment industry. This article represents Jeremy’s passion for sustainability and scientific skepticism and is not affiliated with any current or previous employment.

For more information: Contact Jeremy Lipshaw at jeremylipshaw@gmail.com.

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Ask the Heat Treat Doctor®: What is pH Really?

/ MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, PARTS CLEANING TECHNICAL-CONTENT, QUENCHING TECHNICAL CONTENT

Ask The Heat Treat Doctor® has returned to bring sage advice to Heat Treat Today readers and to answer your questions about heat treating, brazing, sintering, and other types of thermal treatments as well as questions on metallurgy, equipment, and process-related issues. In this installment, Dan Herring discusses the science behind pH — what it really measures, and why it matters — and offers practical guidance on monitoring water quality in open and closed systems found throughout the heat treat shop.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s May 2026 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies print edition.

Introduction to pH

The term “pH” is used to describe a unit of measure that indicates the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14 (Table A). pH is an abbreviation that stands for the “potential of hydrogen”; the “p” being the symbol for potential (or power) and “H” the symbol for hydrogen.

Table A. pH Chart (Herring 2015b)

A Slightly Deeper Dive

What most people don’t realize is that pH is a complex concept rooted in chemical equilibrium, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. The formal definition of pH is “the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity” and can be expressed mathematically by the following formula where au+ is the activity of hydrogen ions, a dimensionless quantity (Rumble 2024):

In this form, pH provides a way of expressing the degree of the activity of an acid or base in terms of its hydrogen ion activity. Acids and bases have, respectively, free hydrogen [H+] and free hydroxyl [OH−] ions. Since the relationship between hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions in a given solution is constant for a given set of conditions, either one can determine the other. In other words, pH is really a measurement of both acidity and alkalinity, even though by definition it is a selective measurement of hydrogen ion activity.

Since pH is a logarithmic function, a change of one pH unit represents a tenfold change in hydrogen ion concentration, that is, of both the hydrogen ion and the hydroxyl ion at different pH values (Table A). Note that each decrease in pH by one pH unit means a tenfold increase in the concentration of hydrogen ions.

A Little Chemistry

In school, we learned that all substances are made up of millions of tiny atoms. These atoms combine to form molecules. In water, for example, each molecule is made up of two hydrogen (H) atoms and one oxygen (O) atom. The formula for a molecule of water is expressed by the familiar symbol H2O. That is, there are two hydrogen atoms needed for each oxygen atom to form a stable compound.

Now, the behavior of pH in aqueous systems is governed by the equilibrium of water to form positive and negative ions (so-called self-ionization), which can be expressed as:

or in the following form we more commonly think of:

Hency, at 25°C (Kw = 1.0 x 10-14), the equilibrium constant for this process is:

Then for pure water, where aH+ = a0H-, we have that aH+ = 10-7 hence pH = -log10 (10-7) = 7.00 which is neutrality at 25°C (77°F).

Finally, it is important to note that Kw is temperature-dependent: it increases with temperature, meaning neutral pH decreases slightly as temperature rises (e.g., ~6.14 at 100°C). Therefore, “neutral pH” is not always 7 — it depends on thermal conditions.

A Practical Application — Water Quality in the Heat Treat Shop

Water is used in most of our heat treat shops for a variety of purposes, perhaps less than before but still vitally important. Examples include parts washers, heat exchangers, water cooled bearings on fans and rolls, seals on pit furnace covers, water cooled jackets on continuous furnaces, water cooled jackets for quench tanks, top or side cooling chambers, inner doors and plate coils, and make up water for water systems, to name a few.

Table B. Typical Water Requirements for Open Systems (Decelles 2002)
Table C. Water Requirements for Closed Hydronic Systems (Heatlink Group 2006)

Water quality requirements are often defined differently for open systems (Table B) and closed (recirculated) systems (Table C). Open systems are typically more problematic as the issue of water quality varies. Water is often classified as “soft” or “hard” depending on its mineral content (i.e., the amount of calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water). Soft water has an ideal hardness of approximately 120 ppm (7 grains/gallon). Hard water often results in the formation of mineral deposits, which can lead to blockages in water systems (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Sludge buildup and flow blockage in the top cool of an integral quench furnace | Image Credit: The HERRING GROUP, Inc.

Furthermore, we must ensure that the water being discharged from our heat treatment operations is clean and meets EPA standards. Finally, we must be especially careful to avoid cross-contamination from other sources in the shop (e.g., polymers, quench oils, chemicals).

In Summary

Two little consonants, pH, are deceptively simple yet so profoundly important. They represent the thermodynamic state of solutions, but in reality, link microscopic interactions with real world issues. As heat treaters, our focus is to not take our water supply and water systems for granted since unexpected surprises, unwanted downtime, and expensive repairs can result. When is the last time you tested your water?

References

Herring, Daniel H. 2015a. Atmosphere Heat Treatment. Vol. 2. Southfield, MI: BNP Media.

Herring, Daniel H. 2015b. “The Importance of pH.” Industrial Heating, January.

Heatlink Group. 2006. Water Quality in Hydronic Systems. June 21, 2006. https://www.heatlink.com/sites/default/files/Info%20Sheet/L2329-Water-Quality-in-Hydronic-Systems-2006-06-21.pdf.

Decelles, P. 2002. The pH Scale. Johnson County Community College. Archived webpage. http://staff.jccc.net/pdecell/chemistry/phscale.html.

Rumble, John R., ed. 2024. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 105th ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

About the Author

Dan Herring
“The Heat Treat Doctor”
The HERRING GROUP, Inc.

Dan Herring has been in the industry for over 50 years and has gained vast experience in fields that include materials science, engineering, metallurgy, new product research, and many other areas. He is the author of six books and over 700 technical articles.

For more information: Contact Dan at dherring@heat-treat-doctor.com.

For more information about Dan’s books: see his page at the Heat Treat Store.

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Optimized Heat Treat Results Start with Optimized Cleaning

/ CARBURIZING TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH, PARTS CLEANING TECHNICAL-CONTENT, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Optimized heat treat performance starts long before parts reach the furnace. In this Technical Tuesday installment, Chris Tivnan of SAFECHEM North America Inc. highlights how SEW-EURODRIVE‘s switch to solvent-based cleaning enabled faster cycles, reliable residue removal, and consistent results.

This informative piece was first released in Heat Treat Today’s April 2026 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition.

In the world of industrial motion systems, precision, durability, and efficiency are non-negotiable. SEW-EURODRIVE, a manufacturer of advanced drive solutions, focuses on delivering performance-driven gearboxes and industrial drives that power everything from airport walkways and roller coasters to heavy-duty conveyors in manufacturing plants. At the heart of this capability lies the careful heat treatment of steel components, specifically gears and pinions, processed to exacting standards for strength and longevity.

From Atmospheric Carburizing to New Demands

Since 2002, SEW-EURODRIVE had relied on a well-established process: aqueous cleaning, followed by atmospheric carburizing, oil quenching, and a second aqueous cleaning process. The approach was reliable but not without limitations.

Their gas-fired furnaces demanded costly maintenance, such as re-bricking the hot zone, replacing furnace rails, and frequently tuning the burners to ensure safety. Oil quenching created a messy environment and required an additional post-quench wash. For smaller parts, the process was also highly labor-intensive. Operators had to manually build furnace loads, then shot blast parts after heat treatment. Processing several hundred thousand gears and pinions per year in this way translated into significant time and manpower.

Figure 1. Advanced robotics drive SEW-EURODRIVE’s fully automated cleaning and vacuum carburizing line — delivering higher throughput, consistency, and precision. Image Credit: ECM & SEW-EURODRIVE

SEW-EURODRIVE maintained five atmospheric furnaces on site, but to improve efficiency they envisioned a new setup: continuing to run large parts in the existing furnaces while shifting smaller, higher-volume gears and pinions to a vacuum carburizing line with robotic automation.

Why Vacuum Carburizing and Why Cleaning Matters

The ECM NANO vacuum carburizing system, designed for small batch sizes, allowed SEW-EURODRIVE to integrate robotic loading and unloading, a crucial step toward automation. Vacuum carburizing also offered tighter process control, reduced distortion, and more consistent results than atmospheric methods.

However, vacuum carburizing is unforgiving when it comes to cleanliness. Unlike atmospheric furnaces, which can tolerate some surface contamination, vacuum furnaces demand perfectly clean parts. Any residue from machining oils, coolants, or metal shavings risks compromising part quality and furnace integrity.

This is where cleaning — often treated as a secondary or preparatory step — became the cornerstone of SEW-EURODRIVE’s process reengineering. The HEMO hybrid cleaning machine, capable of running both aqueous and solvent programs, was selected to provide maximum flexibility. The system runs on the modified alcohol solvent DOWCLENE™ 1601.

Overcoming Initial Concerns

For a company committed to environmental responsibility, introducing a solvent-based process was not taken lightly. Concerns about waste disposal, flammability, and worker exposure were thoroughly evaluated. However, the hermetically sealed HEMO cleaning system, designed for safe solvent handling and minimal emissions, provided the reassurance the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team required.

Beyond the demands of vacuum carburizing itself, another decisive factor for solvent cleaning is the use of carbon fiber composite (CFC) fixtures in the cleaning and heat treat line. Lightweight yet highly durable, these fixtures make automated handling of smaller batch sizes possible. However, their porous structure tends to absorb liquids during cleaning. Any residual moisture or oils can later release in the furnace, risking damage to the hot zone and compromising part quality.

Compared with aqueous cleaning, solvent cleaning evaporates completely and removes absorbed residues far more effectively, leaving both parts and fixtures perfectly dry. In this way, solvent cleaning makes automation with CFC not only feasible but reliable. Multiple test cycles, conducted both at HEMO’s and ECM’s facilities, confirmed the performance: only solvent cleaning reliably removed the oils and coolants that could otherwise lead to furnace fouling or part discoloration.

A Technical and Operational Leap Forward

By March 2025, the fully integrated cleaning and vacuum carburizing line was in full production. The new process — solvent cleaning, vacuum carburizing, gas quenching, and tempering — represented a dramatic leap forward, both technically and operationally.

Figure 2. Full integration of HEMO cleaning and ECM vacuum technology enables a streamlined, automated workflow. | Image Credit: ECM & SEW-EURODRIVE

Parts now exit the furnace bright and clean, with no spotting or discoloration. The smaller batch sizes of the vacuum furnace system enable robotic loading, helping to achieve a streamlined, automated heat treat flow, especially critical for high-volume parts.

Manual processes once needed to build and break down furnace loads, as well as to shot blast parts post-treatment, have been fully eliminated for small components. This shift has not only freed up significant labor hours for larger parts that still require traditional handling but has also eliminated roughly $6,000 per month in consumable abrasive costs.

“In the past, it would take us two weeks to process an order of 25,000 gears and 25,000 pinions through the manual steps. That manpower is no longer needed on a very large section of our product family,” explained Chris Rollins, SEW-EURODRIVE’s Heat Treat Supervisor.

The hybrid cleaning system, equipped with aqueous and solvent cleaning technologies, was selected to provide maximum flexibility in removing different types of machining soils. This versatility ensured that the system could adapt to any future cleaning requirements. In practice, after extensive testing, SEW-EURODRIVE determined that solvent-only cycles best matched the needs of their vacuum carburizing line, offering the shortest cycle times and most consistent cleaning results.

While hybrid programs run in about 30 minutes and aqueous cycles in around 50 minutes, solvent-only cycles achieve the same high cleanliness in just 18 to 22 minutes — fast enough to keep pace with furnace loading and optimize overall throughput.

Gas quenching has also replaced oil quenching, eliminating the need for a second aqueous wash and the associated challenges of soap concentrations, rinses, and tank maintenance. Beyond weekly solvent checks and routine discharges, maintenance requirements for the cleaning machine remain low.

“With aqueous cleaning, it’s always a delicate balance to get the right amount of soap for cleaning without leaving spots,” explained Rollins. “With solvent cleaning, we don’t see spotting, rust, or any contaminants. The vacuum process also helps reduce distortion, so we have more consistent parts.”

Cleaner Start, Cleaner Finish

Optimizing heat treat results meant looking beyond the furnace for SEW-EURODRIVE. With vacuum carburizing, cleanliness is no longer optional — it’s critical. The integration of the hybrid cleaning technology unlocked the full advantages of the vacuum carburizing furnace system: automation, speed, quality, and consistency.

This process reengineering experience demonstrated that heat treat success starts far earlier, in the cleaning phase, and that true optimization comes from understanding how each part of the system supports the others. In this case, the cleaner the start, the cleaner the finish. “The new system has made us faster, leaner, and more confident in every part that leaves the line. Solvent cleaning wasn’t just a switch — it was the key to making vacuum carburizing work,” concluded Rollins.

About The Author:

Chris Tivnan
Sales Manager
SAFECHEM North America Inc.

With two decades of experience in the chemical industry, Chris Tivnan of SAFECHEM North America Inc. counsels manufacturers on the right choice of cleaning agent and their parts cleaning operation. He also manages relationships with regional distributors as well as local OEMs/OEAs.

For more information: Contact Chris Tivnan at c.tivnan@safechem.com.

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Message from the Editor: When Technology Recruits

/ EDITOR

Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the editor. This letter is from the April 2026 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition. In today’s letter, Bethany Leone, managing editor at Heat Treat Today, shares her insights on how modern technology shapes not just heat treat operations, but the people those operations can attract — and why understanding the difference between a “high performer” and the right fit may matter more than chasing the unicorn hire.

Twenty first century heat treat operations benefit from adopting new technologies. Beyond technical performance, however, new technologies also play a role in shaping and attracting the modern workforce.

Let me state plainly: this is not a pragmatic assertion to adopt new technologies to satisfy workforce trends. Technological advances should first be evaluated by their technical merit. While not the primary driver, the fact is technology influences hiring realities.

When heat treat shops are looking to attract talent, one key factor — for better or worse — is the appeal of advanced technology. There is a pretty direct relationship between having up-to-date technologies and heat treat operations’ ability to attract leading talent. This was a central point in a conversation I had with Josh Hale at International Search Partners. As we look at an industry seeking to hire young talent and “high performers,” what follows is a summary of nuggets that Josh Hale shared.

“High Performer”?

First, what does “high performer” mean? This definition is probably more important than you think since not every role should be designed for a high performer: the term “high performers” describes individuals who do their job at top level; often these are people who crave ownership, innovation, and drive constant growth in their careers. Their value is pushing and supporting change, and this bent makes them a good fit for dynamic environments in which to keep growing their careers.

A mismatch can occur when single product heat treat operations want a high performer. Since consistency is the priority, making hiring decisions to attract “high performers” can lead to (a) difficulties filling that position and/or (b) such hires looking to change, innovate, or possibly leave that company.

A strong production workforce is essential, but a mismatch can also occur here. High performers in this field will likely rise through the ranks from the shop floor to management positions — they drive their own change and change around them. However, when hiring leads fill these positions inherently built on qualities of dedication and reliable excellence, the same problems arise if they are holding out for a high performer.

Just a quick note: There is fierce competition for production leads from similarly paid, less dangerous jobs (like retail). Josh notes successful companies stay ahead by employing these 21st century changes:

  • relaxing non-essential barriers (e.g., drug testing, minor record blemishes)
  • offering flexible schedules
  • incentivizing overtime opportunities
  • providing training support

Young Workforce

Look at the world around young people: whether in the classroom or driving their first vehicle, digital integrations have augmented so much of their life and work. Expectations of how systems function have that foundation. Analogue or visibly outdated systems can unintentionally signal technological stagnation, even if the underlying process is sophisticated.

Technology that Attracts

Legacy equipment and systems often deter both young people and high performers before hiring discussions even begin.

What technologies does Josh see attract top talent? In order of importance:

  1. Digital interfaces and controls. Digital systems signal modernity, clarity, and operational control. For many entering or growing their careers in the workforce, this is the baseline expectation of a professional environment.
  2. Clean processes, like induction and vacuum heating. Clean technologies in a historically flame-filled industry speak to innovation and long-term growth.
  3. Internal lab equipment and testing. A culture committed to testing is one that embraces precision, accountability, and continual development.

In Sum

Fit matters. It’s fine to seek a unicorn hire, but unicorns are always hard to find. Figure out what the operation needs — a high performer or someone else — and consider hiring needs during conversations about technology investment.

Bethany Leone
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today
Contact: Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com

Message from the Editor: When Technology Recruits Read More »

20 News Items to Keep You Current

/ HEAT TREAT NEWS

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry. Enjoy these 20 news items, including Advanced Heat Treat Corp.’s Iowa expansion to grow carburizing and hardening capacity, Allied Graphite’s collaboration with Harper International and ONEJOON Gmbh to scale vertical furnace technology for battery-grade graphite production, Vac Aero International’s AS9100 certification achievement at its Greenville facility, and more!

Equipment

1. Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT), a global provider of commercial heat treat services and metallurgical solutions, is expanding its Waterloo, Iowa, facility to increase capacity for carburizing, through hardening, normalizing, and other heat treatment processes. The 18,000 sq. ft. project broke ground on April 6 and is expected to be completed by fall 2026.

2. Treatnorte, a commercial heat treat company, will add a new vacuum furnace supplied by SECO/WARWICK to support vacuum heat treatment of tool steel, improving process control and consistency for components used in manufacturing applications.

3. RTX’s Pratt & Whitney, a North American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, is investing $100 million to expand production capacity through advanced manufacturing processes, including heat treatment of forged engine components, to support increased output of commercial and military aircraft engines. The expansion is expected to strengthen supply for aerospace programs and improve throughput of critical engine parts used across global aviation fleets.

4. A U.S. national laboratory has selected a plasma gas atomization (PGA) system supplied by Retech, a division of SECO/WARWICK Group in support of a critical materials initiative. The pilot-scale program will enable advanced powder development for next-generation materials used in high-performance manufacturing and emerging technologies.

5. Wallwork Group is doubling its hot isostatic pressing (HIP) capacity with the installation of a second HIP system supplied by Quintus Technologies to support improved component integrity and performance for aerospace applications.

6. Andis Company, a U.S.-based manufacturer of grooming tools, has completed a controls upgrade on a vacuum heat treat furnace used for hardening components. With support from ECM USA, the upgrade supports continued operation of a system critical to its production.

7. A U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer is expanding its heat treat capabilities for bearing components with the addition of vacuum heat treatment furnace supplied by SECO/WARWICK. The Vector vacuum furnace is equipped with a 15-bar absolute high-pressure gas quenching system that has been customized to meet the client’s requirements by integrating the low-pressure carburizing (LPC) option. The move supports increasing production capacity, process quality, and operational flexibility.

8. HYUNDAI-POSCO Louisiana Steel has selected SMS group to supply rolling mill technology for a new steel plant in Louisiana set to begin operations in 2029. The multi-billion-dollar project will produce high-quality automotive steel using advanced hot and cold rolling processes, supporting domestic supply for U.S. automakers and strengthening North American steel manufacturing capacity.

9. Gazi Metal has awarded Pomini Tenova a contract to supply a foundation-free roll grinding machine to expand roll shop capacity at its Karasu facility in Türkiye. The equipment is designed to improve precision, increase throughput, and streamline installation, supporting higher production efficiency for cold-rolled steel operations.

Groundbreaking at AHT’s Iowa facility
Vacuum furnace for tool steel heat treatment
Pratt & Whitney’s $100 million expansion in Poland
Advanced powder development for next-generation materials
Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) capacity expansion at Wallwork
Controls upgrade at Andis Company
Vacuum heat treatment furnace supplied by SECO/WARWICK for U.S. aerospace manufacturer
SMS Group and Hyundai Steel delegation at the SMS Campus in Germany
Roll shop capacity expansion at Gazi Metal’s Karasu facility

Company & Personnel

10. Allied Graphite is working with Harper International and ONEJOON GmbH to scale vertical furnace technology for battery-grade graphite production. Led by CEO Andy Goshe, this partnership to develop, validate, and provide engineering data for vertical furnace solutions will support the company’s progress toward commercial-scale production.

11. Velontra, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup, partnered with Innovative 3D Manufacturing, a rapid prototyping company in Franklin, Indiana, to produce propulsion system components using laser power bed fusion (L-PBF) technology from Renishaw. The approach enables rapid prototyping while addressing material use, dimensional tolerances, and cost constraints.

12. Signature Vacuum Systems, a small manufacturer of vacuum furnace equipment, recently implemented an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), placing partial ownership of the company into a trust that benefits its employees. The transition reflects a growing interest among small- to mid-sized manufacturing companies in alternatives to traditional ownership succession — particularly as many in the industry face workforce turnover and the challenge of preserving decades of accumulated knowledge.

13. Bluewater Thermal Solutions promotes David Farnham to CFO, effective April 27, 2026. In this role, David will oversee all aspects of finance, accounting, planning and analysis, and financial strategy, partnering closely with operations and executive leadership to drive long-term, sustainable growth.

14. Phoenix Heat Treating has added a third Pratt & Whitney-certified LCS representative to expand its ability to certify aerospace hardware in-house and support aluminum solution heat treating work. The move is expected to improve lead times and strengthen process control for aerospace manufacturers and machine shops supplying Pratt & Whitney programs.

15. The Precision Metalforming Association has appointed Mark Getsay as managing director as part of a broader leadership restructuring aimed at strengthening member engagement and supporting growth across the North American metalforming industry. The transition also includes the promotion of Katlyn Stratis to executive director of member services and the creation of a new membership leadership role, reinforcing support for manufacturers and suppliers serving precision metalforming and related manufacturing sectors.

16. AICHELIN Americas has appointed Wm. Wright & Associates as a regional representative to support its portfolio of thermal processing equipment, technologies, and services across North America. The partnership expands access to brands like AFC-Holcroft, Nitrex, and UPC-Marathon, aiming to improve local support, streamline service, and strengthen lifecycle solutions for manufacturers.

17. ABB AB Sweden and SMS group GmbH have agreed to work in partnership to jointly market and further develop FC Mold X (Flow Control Mold X), and electromagnetic flow-control system for thin and medium slab continuous casting.

18. Skuld LLC is leading a project in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Rubble to Rockets (R2R) program to develop methods for converting scrap metal into usable components through advanced manufacturing approaches. Skuld contributes research in alloy characterization, casting evaluations, and AI-supported design methodologies. It is collaborating with partners including Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Foundry Casting Systems, MatMicronia LLC, and other research partners working across materials science, AI/machine learning, and advanced manufacturing.

Vertical furnace technology for battery-grade graphite production
Additively manufactured afterburner casing for the hypersonic propulsion system
Signature Vacuum System co-founders Tim Horning (left) and Greg Kimble (right)
David Farnham, newly promoted CFO of Bluewater Thermal Solutions
Mark Getsay, newly appointed managing director at Precision Metalforming Association
AAB AB Sweden and SMS group leadership working together

Kudos

19. Vac Aero International‘s Greenville, South Carolina facility has achieved AS9100 certification.

20. Hindalco-Almex Aerospace Limited has secured the NADCAP certification for the Non-Destructive Testing (UT) process which is a hallmark of aerospace quality.

The Greenville Vac Aero team posing with its AS9100 certification
Hindalco-Almex Aerospace Limited’s NADCAP certification

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