AHT Expands Footprint and Nitriding Capacity

January 22, 2025 / MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, NITRIDING NEWS, NITROCARBURIZING NEWS

A North American nitriding company recently announced a building expansion to accommodate more equipment and services. The new production space at its Monroe, Michigan, facility will house two additional pieces of equipment, a gas nitrider and an ion nitrider, with room for more equipment.

Mike Woods
President
Advanced Heat Treat Corp.

“The building expansion and new equipment demonstrate our sustained growth and forward-looking investments as we continue to adhere to our mission of ‘exceeding expectations with UltraGlowing® results,'” said Mike Woods, president of Advanced Heat Treat Corp (AHT). “The additional nitriding units will increase our nitriding capacity and enable faster turnaround.”

AHT provides surface treatments, including gas and ion nitriding/nitrocarburizing, UltraOx®, induction hardening and stress relieving, at its locations, which comprises the Michigan facility as well as two additional sites in Waterloo, Iowa, and one in Cullman, Alabama. The company broke ground on the project in November 2024 and expects construction to be completed by Summer 2025.

Main image caption: AHT plant manager, Chad Clark, at the southeast end of the building under expansion

The press release is available in its original form here.

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Heat Treating in Red, White, and Blue

June 28, 2022 / FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING TECHNICAL CONTENT, INDUCTION HEATING EQUIPMENT TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, NITRIDING TECHNICAL CONTENT

Independence Day is right around the corner, and Heat Treat Today wanted to share some red, white, and blue processes from across the heat treating industry. We're highlighting induction hardening, gas nitriding, and hydrogen generation. Curious? Get ready for Independence Day with this red, white, and blue Technical Tuesday.

Red Hot Basics: Induction Hardening: Understanding the Basics

Induction hardening in action
Photo Credit: Contour Hardening

Induction hardening is a bit out of place in the heat treating world. There are no huge pieces of equipment, long wait times, or mysterious happenings behind furnace walls. But using those red hot coils for hardening can be a game-changer, because induction hardening offers selective hardening, increased part strength, and uninterrupted process flow.

"The induction coil is a copper conductor that is shaped in order to harden the specified area of the part. The current that flows through the coil is what produces the magnetic field, which in turn heats the part. Coils are typically part specific, since they need to be precisely constructed to heat a particular portion of the part."

White Layer Cases in Gas Nitriding: Elevate Your Knowledge: 5 Need-to-Know Case Hardening Processes

White layer from nitriding
Photo Credit: SECO/VACUUM

Gas nitriding is a valuable case hardening process. In gas nitriding, a white layer made up of a nitrogen-rich compound is formed. This white layer is hard and wear-resistant, but is also very brittle.

"This compound layer depth is dependent on processing time. In the more traditional two-stage process, the case depth produces a gradient of hardness from surface to core that commonly ranges from 0.010-0.025”, with minimal white layer, typically between 0-0.0005”."

Blue Water Gas: On-Site Hydrogen Generation: A Viable Option for Reducing Atmospheres in Heat Treating

Water and electricity: that's all the materials that are needed to generate hydrogen on site. Water electrolyzers for hydrogen generation are compact, portable, and reliable, as well as being safer than storing gases. Could the future of heat treating — and perhaps the end of natural gas — be "blue"? Now, unless you live on the beach in the Bahamas, the water you're used to probably isn't blue, but you catch our drift.

"Electricity and water come into a plant in pipes and wires and are highly reliable. Additionally, there are no hydrogen storage tanks taking up a large amount of unusable space."

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Heat Treater to Expand Capabilities with Gas Nitriding Furnace

March 3, 2021 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, NITROCARBURIZING NEWS

A North American heat treater is expanding their capabilities with a large pit gas nitriding furnace. The furnace will be designed by a North American based vacuum furnace manufacturer.

Piotr Zawistowski
Managing Director
SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA

Source: secowarwick.com

The supplier, SECO/VACUUM Technologies (SVT), says their gas retort nitriding furnaces use uniform high convection heating, precision nitriding potential, and ammonia control along with vacuum purging to reduce operating costs and process a variety of metals. Processes possible with retort technology include gas nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), post oxidation, tempering, age hardening, and stress relieving.

“I believe our team is one of the most adaptable and technically sound groups of experts in the thermal processing industry,” commented Piotr Zawistowski, managing director at SVT. He also notes that a consultative approach benefits both parties, especially in types of situations where an unfamiliar process is being adopted.

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The Pros and Cons of Gas and Ion (Plasma) Nitriding

May 22, 2018 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, NITRIDING TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: AHTcorp.com

The compound zone acts as a ceramic skin protecting the metal underneath from corrosion. (Photo credit: Advanced Heat Treat Corp)

Engineers considering the advantages and disadvantages of surface treatments typically have a usable lifespan, surface hardness, and fatigue strength in mind. As a process, both gas and ion (plasma) nitriding avoid the issues involved with coatings and achieve similar metallurgical properties, and the compound zone increases corrosion resistance. But what are other areas in which the two processes can be compared, and what are their differences? It’s good to know, particularly since the latter could significantly make a direct impact on the end product.

Jacob McCann, a process metallurgist with AHT Corp., provides a specific list of pros and cons of gas nitriding and ion (plasma) nitriding in our Technical Tuesday feature for today.

Photo credit: Advanced Heat Treat Corp

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Gas Nitriding