An Italian heat treater enhanced its operations with the installation of control cabinets, allowing for real-time data analysis and more efficient management of its carburizing processes. The improvement helped minimize downtime and optimize furnace performance.
Daniel Panny Product Manager and Head UPC-Marathon Europe
Despite the robustness of their three batch IQ furnaces, T.T.M. Trattamenti Termici dei Metalli Srlidentified an opportunity to redefine their approach to furnace controls and automation and partnered with UPC-Marathon, a Nitrexcompany, to breathe new life into their aging systems. The project entailed the installation of control cabinets equipped with advanced process controllers, the integration of the controllers into a SCADA system for advanced monitoring and control capabilities. To complement T.T.M.’s technological upgrades, UPC-Marathon also installed a new gas cabinet.
“This strategic investment in modernizing the furnace controls with UPC-Marathon proved not only highly effective in resolving immediate challenges with aging controls but also more cost-effective than replacing the three furnaces,” said Daniel Panny, product manager and head of UPC-Marathon Europe.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Nine heat treat furnaces are set to modernize the operations of a manufacturer’s heat treat facilities. This move is intended to create cleaner, safer, more cost-effective operations while also allowing for finer process control and a reduced carbon footprint.
The nine furnaces are being fabricated by SECO/VACUUM, a division of SECO/WARWICK Group: three Vector® vacuum furnaces and six tempering furnaces with supporting auxiliary systems. This returning heat treat client currently operates twelve SECO/VACUUM furnaces at their various locations throughout North America. They will incorporate the new furnaces as a continuation of their strategic planning to modernize all facilities from atmospheric heat treatment to vacuum processes.
Piotr Zawistowski Managing Director SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA Source: SECO/WARWICK
Each of the nine units are front-loading, horizontally configured furnaces with a 36″ x 36″ x 48″ working volume and a 3300 lb. capacity. The Vector® is a single-chamber gas quenching vacuum furnace using high pressure quench (2 to 25 bar) which can be applied to a variety of heat treating processes and applications. These particular Vectors will be used primarily for hardening. Tempering is a process primarily used to increase the toughness of hardened ferrous-alloy parts. The tempering process is typically applied after a hardening process.
Heat treating operations will have to shut down entirely during the modernization changeover. To minimize disruption, SECO/VACUUM will also serve as the general contractor, overseeing the installation of the new furnaces, auxiliary systems, wiring, piping, and ventilation needed prior to commissioning and operator training.
“It is a testament to our commitment to our partner’s success that they not only continue to return for more furnaces, but that they place their trust us in to manage the entire project in order to get them back to serving their customers,” said Piotr Zawistowski, managing director at SECO/VACUUM.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Nadcap certifications are integral to aerospace heat treating. Maintaining compliance, however, can be a headache. Learn how a new technology is streamlining Nadcap certifications.
This article by Chantel Soumis was originally published inHeat Treat Today’s March 2024 Aerospace Heat Treatprint edition.
Challenges to Capture Nadcap Certifications
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The Nadcap certification (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of heat treating processes, especially in the aerospace and defense industries. Recognized globally, the certification sets rigorous standards for heat treatment facilities, ensuring that heat treating processes produce parts and materials with the necessary strength, durability, and reliability.
The certification addresses the data that needs to be documented concerning all aspects of the heat treat processing, such as temperature control, process documentation, and quality management. A survey from the Performance Review Institute (PRI) indicates that 80% of aerospace and defense companies consider Nadcap accreditation as a requirement when selecting suppliers, and 90% of aerospace and defense prime contractors would disqualify a supplier without Nadcap accreditation. And when such a strict standard is implemented and then subject to regular audits, a 40% reduction in nonconformance costs are likely, as was reported by companies in the aerospace and defense sector in a study by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS).
While compliance with Nadcap and other heat treat certifications demonstrates a commitment to quality and opens doors to lucrative contracts with aerospace, defense, and other precision industries, actually capturing the data can be tedious. The effort and cost of employing disconnected systems — capturing measured data from system A, making the certification documents in system B, and then emailing the certification results to clients from system C — can be cut by synthesizing these actions into one system.
Digitizing Certification Management for Complete Compliance Control
Many organizations facilitate the certification process via digital means. This may be through the use of digital quality management systems (QMS) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that includes modules designed for certification management. These tools help automate record keeping, provide alerts for upcoming certification renewals, and streamline the overall certification tracking process, ensuring that heat treating operations remain compliant and efficient.
Nadcap Scanner tracking a process via QR code
But more should be done.
Veterans Metal, a metal finishing plant in Clearwater, Florida, was driving manual processes: everything was written down and data was being entered into spreadsheets for tracking purposes. Like many heat treaters, each step the company took to process a part required manual intervention to write down 20+ line items of information and then incorporate the associated data entry into spreadsheets.
The company was looking to modernize their plant.
After careful evaluation of Veterans Metal’s processes and needs, Steelhead Technologies developed and deployed the Steelhead Certification Scanner (or Nadcap Scanner) line that includes a handheld scanner and a system of QR codes to facilitate an easier user experience, including an interface that allows for swift operator proficiency, typically within minutes. This digital interface allows users to measure data, create certifications, and email this from the one system.
Smart Scanning in Action
The metal processing company received a 15-minute walk-through of the Nadcap Scanner, how to process parts, and where to find the data within the system. Using the handheld device, operators scanned QR codes (specifically created by Steelhead Technologies) that were placed on processing stations. As parts were moved from one process station to the next manually, a user would scan the accompanying QR code on the next current station, locking in data from the previous process and automatically reflecting that the next step was in process.
When operators scanned a process station, the device showed the remaining time in the process and displayed all parts being processed, custom instructions, and key data collection, such as oven temperature. This timer automatically starts when a process station QR code is scanned, gives a one minute warning when the process is nearing completion, and stops automatically when the next process station QR code is scanned.
Chet Halonen, a plant optimization expert for Steelhead Technologies, presented the “Powered by Steelhead” certification to the Veterans Metal team.
With the intuitive layout and guided steps, operators were easily able to navigate the accreditation process, significantly reducing time spent on extensive training. More importantly, the Nadcap Scanner line eliminated handwritten data entry, margin of error, and additional time needed to develop certifications since the scanner automatically generates them from the data and sends them to clients. The scanner has since been adopted by many other Nadcap-compliant operations across the United States.
Take Nadcap Digital
Achieving Nadcap accreditation is crucial for showcasing a commitment to quality, aligning with industry benchmarks, and accessing lucrative business opportunities. With the advent of digitized solutions like the Nadcap Scanner implemented within a comprehensive manufacturing ERP, companies will streamline the accreditation process, enhance operational efficiency, and bolster compliance with a system that’s “literally just button clicking,” as one manufacturer observed.
Embracing innovative tools not only saves time and resources, but also strengthens market positioning and client relationships. By merging the prestige of Nadcap accreditation with digital advancements, heat treaters can elevate their operations to reach new heights of excellence.
About the Author
Chantel Soumis, Head of Marketing, Steelhead Technologies
Chantel Soumis is serving as the head of Marketing at Steelhead Technologies. With a robust background in manufacturing technology and strategic partnerships, she leverages over 15 years of experience to shape the company’s marketing landscape.
For more information: Contact Chantel at chantel@gosteelhead.com.
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The four heat treat industry-specific economic indicators have been gathered by Heat Treat Today each month since June 2023. Thus far in 2024, the economic indicators have shown that suppliers to the heat treat industry have expected growth across all four indicators. However this month, suppliers are reporting that they expect one indicator to contract in June, as compared to May.
The numbers, which were compiled in the first week of June, show that responding parties strongly anticipate number of inquiries, value of bookings, and health of manufacturing economy — to grow as compared to the previous month (May). This expectation for growth continues to be rather limited with positive expectations falling just above the “neutral” x-axis, indicated by the number “50.” The size of backlog indicator stands out this month as being the first indicator suppliers anticipate contraction since the December 2023 indicators report.
The results from this month’s survey (June) are as follows; numbers above 50 indicate growth, numbers below 50 indicate contraction, and the number 50 indicates no change:
Anticipated change in the Number of Inquiries from May to June: 57.7
Anticipated change in Value of Bookings from May to June:54.0
Anticipated change in Backlog Size from May to June: 46.3
Anticipated change in the Health of the Manufacturing Economy from May to June: 52.9
Data for June 2024
The four index numbers are reported monthly by Heat Treat Today and made available on the website.
Heat TreatToday’sEconomic Indicatorsmeasure and report on four, heat treat industry indices. Each month, approximately 800 individuals who classify themselves as suppliers to the North American heat treat industry receive the survey. Above are the results. Data started being collected in June 2023. If you would like to participate in the monthly survey, please click here to subscribe.
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We’re celebrating getting to the “fringe” of the weekend with a Heat Treat Fringe Friday covering news about the promise gallium nitride (GaN) for the future of missions to Venus. Specifically, how this high-temperature-defying material may be used to form semiconductors that won’t melt on the near 900°F surface of Venus.
While not exactly heat treat, “Fringe Friday” deals with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing.
Gallium nitride is a material that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been studying how it performs when exposed to high temperatures. They have recently announced that their research has shown successful performance results at 500°C for 48 hours.
The surface of Venus can reach temperatures of up to 480°C. With silicon-based electronics incapable of operating at these high temperatures or a long duration of time, finding a material that can take the heat becomes critical to prospect of sending a rover to the planet’s surface.
John Niroula, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and lead author of the paper, commented, “Transistors are the heart of most modern electronics, but we didn’t want to jump straight to making a gallium nitride transistor because so much could go wrong. We first wanted to make sure the material and contacts could survive, and figure out how much they change as you increase the temperature. We’ll design our transistor from these basic material building blocks.”
Funding of this research has come from numerous interested parties, including the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Semiconductor Research Corporation through the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, Intel Corporation, and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
A major concern with cast products is fatigue resistance and getting the right mechanical properties. Of course, thermal processing plays a role, and for years, hot isostatic pressing has been solving this very problem.
Today’s best of the web article details out how the process can remove shrinkage porosity and internal defect, ultimately leading to a more resistant part for some of the most critical applications: nuclear power.
An Excerpt:
“The production of specially designed canisters can lead to predictive final shapes with extremely complex geometries, which are a viable option to forging, casting and additive manufacturing. The processing is referred to as Powder Metallurgy Near-Net-Shape (PM NNS), or Powder Metallurgy HIP (PM HIP).”
François Studer SA, a Swiss commercial heat treater with 45 years of experience, will advance their hardening capabilities with the order of two furnaces: a vacuum furnace with 15 bar abs high-pressure gas hardening and a furnace for tempering with vacuum purging.
The new solutions from SECO/WARWICK will help increase processing capacity while maintaining the processed element’s high precision and quality. This is important to the heat treater, a hardening plant that processes two truckloads of charges every day.
“We are constantly developing,” commented Francois Studer, CEO of Francois Studer S.A. “We needed to add the capacity to utilize vacuum carburizing, pre-nitriding for carburizing technology and low-pressure carbonitriding, and the new Vector fits these needs perfectly. The retort furnace, on the other hand, significantly increases the hardening plant’s processing capacity in terms of time-consuming tempering and nitriding processes using ZeroFlow technology.”
The vacuum furnace on order by the hardening plant enables efficient processes to be carried out at a vacuum level in both medium and high ranges. The round heating chamber allows for oversized loads. Combined with dedicated LPC, HPGQ technology and a high vacuum system, the furnace will meet the heat treater’s requirements for hardening and carburizing a wide range of various parts.
Maciej Korecki Vice President of Business of the Vacuum Furnace Segment SECO/WARWICK
The partial pressure system used helps to prevent evaporation and sublimation of alloying elements from the load surface during the vacuum heat treatment or vacuum brazing process. Partial pressure control is important when processing many materials to prevent the heating chamber evaporation and contamination. Isothermal quenching provides control of the cooling process by automatically managing the load temperature and the gas blower motor control using a frequency converter. The carburizing and low pressure carbonitriding (LPCN) options, which the furnace for François Studer SA is equipped with, enables precision processing to increase the steel surface hardness during the entire thermal process.
“The Vector furnace will streamline and increase the hardening process capacity and improve process efficiency. The advantage of this product is a large working space which can be adjusted to an oversized load, using the round heating chamber’s advantages. This is the so-called golden mean for many commercial heat treaters, also because it can be equipped with numerous additional options. With limited production areas, multifunctional, failure-free furnaces are worth their weight in gold for commercial heat treatment,” added Maciej Korecki, VP of the Vacuum Furnaces Team at SECO/WARWICK.
The second furnace on order is a horizontal retort furnace for gas nitriding using ZeroFlow technology and for high tempering with vacuum purging.
The press release is available in its original form here.
For gun barrels, tempering is essential to bring steel to the necessary hardness. But what equipment is needed, and how is this done under a nitrogen cover gas? Explore how low-oxygen temper furnaces — often electrically heated — accomplish this feat.
This article by Mike Grande was originally published inHeat Treat Today’sMay 2024 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies 2024print edition.
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Steel tempering is a heat treatment process that involves heating the steel to a specific temperature and holding it at temperature for a specific time to improve its mechanical properties. Tempering is most commonly performed on steel that has been hardened by quenching. Quenched steel is too brittle for most uses, and so it must be tempered to bring the hardness down to the desired level, giving the steel the desired balance between strength, toughness, and ductility.
Steel is tempered in an oven (often referred to as a “temper furnace”) at temperatures of roughly 350°F to 1300°F, with the exact temperature dependent on the alloy and the desired hardness and toughness. This heating process creates a layer of oxide scale on the surface of the tempered steel, which is unsightly, can weaken it, and can lead to failure or damage. Further, the scale can directly interfere with the intended use of the steel parts. Although in many applications this surface oxidation is not a detriment (it may be removed in a subsequent operation for example), it is not acceptable for certain steel parts.
In order to prevent surface oxidation during tempering, the oxygen can be removed from the oven using nitrogen injected into the heating chamber. More specifically, the nitrogen acts as a protective “cover gas” by displacing the oxygen, reducing the percentage of oxygen in the heating chamber. Essentially, the nitrogen dilutes the oxygen in the oven until it is brought down to a low concentration, such that very little oxidation can occur, preserving the surface quality of the tempered steel.
Gun barrels, for example, are tempered to remove the residual stresses from rifling and other prior processes and bring the steel down to the required hardness.
The tempering process involves heating the barrel to a specific temperature in a nitrogen atmosphere which is very low in oxygen. This helps prevent oxidation and other unacceptable surface contamination that would weaken the steel and make it unsuitable for the rigors of shooting. The internal barrel pressure during the firing of an AR15 rifle, for example, can reach 60,000 PSIG, which generates the 2,200 pounds of force required to produce the typical 3,000 feet per second (2,000 miles per hour) muzzle velocity. Considering these operating conditions and the temperature cycling experienced by the barrels, the tempering process must be performed precisely, and it must be very repeatable. This requires a carefully designed furnace engineered specifically for low-oxygen tempering under a nitrogen cover gas.
Design of the Low-Oxygen Temper Furnace
The key features of a properly designed temper furnace are a tightly sealed shell, a robust heating and recirculation system, a nitrogen delivery and control system, and an atmosphere-controlled cooling arrangement.
The shell of the controlled-atmosphere temper furnace must be tightly sealed so that the factory air, which contains oxygen, is prohibited from mixing with the heated environment inside the furnace. Air contains about 21% oxygen, and if it gets into the interior of the furnace during heating, this oxygen will quickly cause oxidation of the steel. This requires the heating chamber itself to be designed and manufactured with tight tolerances to prevent uncontrolled entrainment of air into the furnace and leaking of the nitrogen cover gas out of the furnace.
Low-oxygen temper furnaces are most commonly electrically heated, and the wall penetrations for the heaters are designed with special seals to preserve the low-oxygen furnace atmosphere. The same is true for the penetrations to accommodate the thermocouples and other sensors, the cooling system, and the door. Special attention must be given to the door opening, and the door itself. As the interface between the hot furnace interior and the room temperature factory environment, it is especially prone to warping, which will allow leaks. There are different technologies used to combat this, including double door seals, water cooled seals, and clamps to squeeze the door against the furnace opening.
Figure 1. Nitrogen temper furnace with a load/unload table
As with a conventional non-atmosphere temper furnace, the heating and recirculation system must be designed with a high recirculation rate and a sufficiently robust heating system to aggressively and evenly transfer the heat to the load of steel. The furnace manufacturer will do calculations to ensure the heaters are sufficiently sized to heat the loaded oven within the desired time, and this is an important part of the technical specification for anyone purchasing a temper furnace. Otherwise, the equipment may not be able to maintain the required production rate.
One of the most critical parts of the atmosphere temper furnace is the nitrogen control system. The idea is to inject sufficient nitrogen into the heating chamber to maintain the reduced oxygen level, and no more than that. Th e most effective design uses a sensor to continuously measure the oxygen level in the furnace, and a closed-loop control system to regulate the flow of nitrogen into it. It is important the nitrogen is high purity (that it contains a sufficiently low oxygen level), and that it is sufficiently dry, as moisture in the heating chamber can greatly increase the likelihood of oxidation.
The process starts by purging the furnace with nitrogen to establish the required low-oxygen environment. Sufficient nitrogen is introduced to the furnace to bring the oxygen level down to the percentage required to heat the parts without undo oxidation. Each time a quantity of nitrogen equal to the interior furnace volume is injected into it, it is considered one “air change.” The number of air changes employed is determined by the desired oxygen concentration in the furnace, with five air changes being a common rule of thumb.
Figure 2. Purging the furnace with nitrogen to reduce the oxygen concentration
Purging is complete when sufficient nitrogen has been injected into the furnace to reduce the oxygen purity to the desired level. The nitrogen flow is then reduced to the minimum required to replace any nitrogen leaking out of the furnace. Some furnace designs simply flood the furnace with a high volume of nitrogen in an uncontrolled manner. Although effective at reducing the oxygen concentration, these systems can waste a profuse amount of nitrogen since it is used at an unregulated rate. A nitrogen control system, therefore, is advisable.
After the load is heated up and soaked at temperature for the required time, the furnace must be cooled down. In an ordinary non-nitrogen furnace, the door is simply opened, or a damper system is actuated, allowing cool factory air into the furnace, while exhausting the heated air. A nitrogen atmosphere temper furnace, however, must remain tightly sealed with the door closed, until the temperature is reduced to below the oxidation temperature, commonly 300°F to 400°F, aft er which the door can be opened. Since the equipment utilizes a well-insulated, tightly sealed design, it would take many hours, or even days, to cool sufficiently without a forced cooling system. For this reason, nitrogen temper furnaces must employ a sealed cooling system that cools the furnace without introducing factory air. This is done with a heat exchanger used to separate the reduced-oxygen furnace atmosphere from the cooling media, which is air or water.
Figure 3. Rear-mounted cooling system
The most effective style of cooling system uses cooling water passing through one side of the heat exchanger and the furnace atmosphere passing through the other. The heat exchanger is mounted to the rear exterior of the furnace, and the furnace atmosphere is conveyed through the exchanger, with dampers included to start and stop the atmosphere flow, thereby starting and stopping the cooling action. There are also systems available that pass cooling air through the exchanger, rather than water. Although less expensive, they provide a much slower cooling rate, which greatly increases the cooling time and reduces the production rate of the equipment, as fewer loads can be processed on an annual basis.
Nitrogen Tempering for Materials Other Than Steel
Some metals other than steel are heat processed in a low-oxygen nitrogen environment, while others do not benefit from this process.
Pure copper can be processed under a nitrogen cover gas to reduce oxidation during heating. If the oxygen concentration is not low enough, spotting of the material can occur, where black, sooty spots appear on the surface. Copper is much less sensitive than steel to moisture in the heating chamber. Copper alloys, such as brass or bronze, are not suitable for processing in a nitrogen atmosphere due to a phenomenon known as dezincification, which removes zinc from the alloy, weakening the material and turning it a yellow color. Titanium is not processed with nitrogen, as “nitrogen pickup” (a nitrogen contamination of the titanium) will occur. Aluminum can be processed under a low-oxygen nitrogen atmosphere to some benefit, which slows down the growth of surface oxidation during heating, but not to the degree experienced with steel.
About the Author
Mike Grande,
Vice President
of Sales,
Wisconsin Oven
Corporation
Mike Grande has a 30+ year background in the heat processing industry, including ovens, furnaces, and infrared equipment. He has a BS in mechanical engineering from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received his certification as an Energy Manager (CEM) from the Association of Energy Engineers in 2009. Mike is the vice president of Sales at Wisconsin Oven Corporation.
For more information: Contact sales@wisoven.com.
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A group of graduates from MIT and Duke University identified manufacturing as an industry overburdened by rapidly growing energy costs and proposed a technology to provide electric bill savings of up to 30%. They will be piloting this technology with a U.S. heat treater, ThermoFusion, a Californian heat treater and brazer.
EQORE, a startup tackling energy issues for manufacturers, is developing smart energy storage systems. They aim to cut industrial energy bills by a third while offering a payback period of 1–3 years. Connected behind the meter, an EQORE system serves as an optimizing filter for electric equipment without changing its operation in any way. The system consists of a wall-mounted computing unit and a compact floor-mounted battery pack. It can be installed inside or outside of a facility and only needs a connection to the electric panel and internet.
The founding team features backgrounds in energy storage engineering from Tesla and Apple, as well as software and business development, and is supported by an innovation fund at MIT. The technology specifically targets reducing demand charges, which can account for 60–70% of industrial electricity costs. Demand charges penalize high variability in electric usage, a characteristic of heat treating facilities like ThermoFusion. For these facilities, a single peak in power usage can drastically increase the entire bill. Remarkably, in some locations in the U.S., demand rates have doubled since 2022.
After talking to over 200 businesses, utility representatives, and energy experts, the team concluded that the solutions to the demand issue remain limited. Available power optimizations disrupt customer operations, while independent power generation like solar is often out of reach due to its decade-long repayment periods. EQORE’s solution empowers clients to reduce energy costs while maintaining existing production levels.
Their team is actively looking to engage with more pilot customers and is open to collaborations.
The original press release is available upon request.
Beymetal Alüminyum, a manufacturer in the aluminum extrusion industry and based in Türkiye, is overcoming limitations with an outdated gas nitriding furnace with the installation of a batch-type nitriding/nitrocarburizing furnace.
This Nitrexfurnace installation will increase their in-house nitriding capabilities. With a much larger furnace size and advanced technological capabilities, the company has pushed the boundaries in die performance to meet increasing production demand.
Marcin Stokłosa Technical Sales Manager NITREX Poland Source: LinkedIn.com
The NX-1015 furnace model, with a 2,000 kg (4,400 lb.) capacity, is equipped with Nitreg® controlled nitriding and Nitreg®-C controlled nitrocarburizing, tailored for treating extrusion dies for aluminum profiles used in architectural applications. These technologies ensure precise control over uniform case depths and nitride/nitrocarburizing layer formation. This enhances the mechanical properties of the extrusion dies, resulting in a long service life and increased output per die, lowering the overall tooling costs for Beymetal. Additionally, the new installation contributes to more efficient use of production media and reduces electricity consumption.
For Marcin Stoklosa, manager of Technical Sales for the EMEA region at Nitrex, commented, “The need for extrusion companies to enhance tooling performance while prioritizing sustainability represents the future of the aluminum industry. Beymetal’s adoption of Nitrex nitriding and nitrocarburizing technologies serves as an example of this necessity. This transition harmonizes production with global sustainability initiatives for a more environmentally friendly future.”
