Between science and business, the evolution of heat treatment is taking large strides. A global heat treat solutions manufacturer and a Polish laboratory hardening plant are developing modern solutions to metal treatment needs.
For the past decade, SECO/WARWICK, the global manufacturer and parent of North America SECO/VACUUM Technologies of metal heat treatment equipment and technologies, and HART-TECH, a hardening plant with scholarly shareholders — professors, doctors of science, process engineers — have been working together to engage in the evolving science of modern metal heat treatment solutions.
Together with professor Piotr Kula’s team from the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Łódź University of Technology, the company implemented projects and research, and collaborated on the technical capabilities of the equipment in terms of the latest research and innovations in the discipline. As this work progressed, the cooperation started to involve product development through equipment testing in practical business applications.
Robert Pietrasik, Sc.D. Eng Management Board CEO and a Technological Department Head Director HART-TECH Sp. z o. o.
In 2009, the initiative of three researchers from the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering of the Łódź University of Technology — professor Piotr Kula, professor Antoni Rzepkowski, and Robert Pietrasik, Sc.D. Eng. — brought to life the HART-TECH hardening plant, which currently holds 11 specialized devices for vacuum metal treatment, equipment provided by the global heat treat manufacturer.
The hardening plant specializes in: hardening, carburizing, nitriding, sulfonitriding, steel tempering processes, and more. They apply the latest technologies to modify, change, and improve products. In turn, SECO/WARWICK modifies their equipment designs to meet the exact needs of the customer.
“Our experience and process facilities enable us to perform very demanding and difficult processes,” explained Robert Pietrasik, Sc.D. Eng, president of the board of HART-TECH. “We are renowned to be experts in the impossible since we have vast scientific knowledge and expertise as well as reliable technological back-up from SECO/WARWICK. This cooperation enables us to specialize in highly demanding and difficult jobs requiring the best quality.”
The companies seek new implementations with technologies and processes/modifications that will make the heat treatment process more efficient, allow optimizations, or even defining new technologies. SECO/WARWICK equipment is for trials, experiments and tests. The devices allow for the control and monitoring of a given process, and their design provides for additional safety margins that make it impossible to exceed temperature, power and speed limits. The furnaces are enable many processes with the use of one device. Commercial hardening plants especially value the versatility when serving many different customers from various industries and sectors.
Sławomir Woźniak CEO SECO/WARWICK Source: secowarwick.com
“On the one hand,” said Sławomir Woźniak, CEO of SECO/WARWICK Group, “HART-TECH is a particular partner with whom we have very close cooperation in terms of the technologies and processes. On the other hand, this customer is something of an extreme. They quickly switch from what the device was intended for to what more can be done with it.”
“Our [partner’s] curiosity of the world motivates us to develop new innovations,” added Maciej Korecki, vice president of the Vacuum Business Segment at SECO/WARWICK Group. “We attentively listen to the feedback from our customers. This enables us to create tailor made solutions that always respond to the needs 100%. With HART-TECH, we share the passion and a huge, constant drive for excellence.”
After the hardening plant’s growth in their heat treating capacities over several years, they found themselves, like others confronting hardening deformations. Therefore, HART-TECH was in need of a device enabling gas quenching to minimize the problem. The company selected a single-chamber Vector® furnace for high-pressure gas quenching (10 bar) with nitrogen cooling.
The dynamic expansion of HART-TECH motivated them to place an order for another Vector® furnace for high-pressure gas quenching (15 bar).
The last device ordered summarizes the 10-year cooperation between the two companies: another CaseMaster Evolution® (CMe) unit — a two-chamber, third-generation furnace for batch processing with oil cooling. It offers a significant advantage in shortening the production process and improving the quality targets.
“Certainly, the expansion of our hardening plant has not been a conventional one,” says Pietrasik. “We need to remember that the developing market needs were a significant factor affecting the purchase of new devices by HART-TECH[…] We started with one customer and furnaces rented from Łódź University of Technology on an hourly basis. Now, all our vacuum furnaces come from SECO/WARWICK[..] More than 1300 customers and a technology partner are probably the best recommendation for us and for this partnership.”
“We are not interested in the intended purpose of the device,” Sylwester Pawęta, Sc.D., Eng, operations director and shareholder of HART-TECH, “but in what it can really do, what are its technological limits.”
“Continuous feedback from trials of equipment operated under the maximum load, used in an intensive way, shows us what we need to reinforce and improve to maintain the highest treatment parameters for the entire lifetime of the device, and also how we can upgrade them to work even better. Sometimes, this is a real trial by fire, or a test bench,” summarised M. Korecki.
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Equipment Chatter
A new feature on Ipsen’s PdMetrics dashboard monitors incoming three-phase utilities, voltage and frequency on vacuum furnaces. This addition offers further diagnostics for the diffusion pump heater assembly.
AMETEKSTC’s JOFRA ASC-400 Advanced Signal Calibrator now includes a built-in help function that offers a graphical solution to connect with the ASC-400s current set-up. The end result is time saved and reduced errors.
Ipsen’s expanded capablities with heat treat software
AMETEK STC’s ASC-400 Signal Calibrator Interface
Personnel/Company Chatter
Andrew Clark from Advanced Heat Treat Corp. has been promoted to induction equipment operator.
AVS is pleased to announce the successful transfer of ownership from Steven Levesque to Jacob (Jake) Krashan.
Solar AtmospheresGreenville, SC facility announced it had been awarded GE Aviation approval.
Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) has installed and recently commissioned the state’s largest commercial Solar + Energy Storage System. By combining onsite generation, an advanced energy storage system, and an artificial intelligence powered analytics platform, SCA will optimize energy use by automatically switching between onsite generation, battery power, and grid power.
Bodycote announced the opening of a new Syracuse, NY heat treatment facility.
SECO/VACUUM, SECO/WARWICK’s North American’s vacuum furnace company, received orders in 2020 from the aerospace and defense sectors, with the tool and die market also placing orders.
Paulo announced plans to double the size of its Monterrey, Mexico facility to meet the demand from the automotive industry for the heat treatment of brake components in passenger cars and trucks.
Ambrell’s first system retired after nearly 35 years of service.
Solar Atmospheres of California Energy Storage
Bodycote announced new Syracuse heat treat facility.
SECO/VACUUM received orders from the aerospace and defense sectors in 2020.
Paulo expands its Monterrey, Mexico facility
Kudos Chatter
AMETEK STC launched a new webshop for pressure measurement industries.
Schneider Electric is ranked the world’s most sustainable corporation by Corporate Knights.
Hubbard-Hall announced its certification as a Woman Owned Small Business by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Molly Kellogg leads the specialty chemical producer and distributor headquartered in Waterbury, CT as the chairman, CEO, president, and 6th-generation owner.
AMETEK STC announces webshop
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO, Schneider Electric
Molly Kellogg, Chairman, CEO, President of Hubbard-Hall
Heat TreatToday is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to editor@heattreattoday.com.
Heat TreatRadio host, Doug Glenn, talks with Thomas Wingens, president of WINGENS LLC – International Industry Consultancy, about the growing popularity of ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) and whom this process would benefit most. Listen and learn all about FNC and how it might be a help to your production process.
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
Doug Glenn (DG): We want to welcome Mr. Thomas Wingens who is from WINGENS LLC – International Industry Consultancy. Thomas is no stranger to Heat TreatRadio. Thomas, you’ve been here before and, in fact, you’ve got one of the more popular Heat TreatRadio (as far as downloads). It’s one of the ones we did several years ago, actually, on megatrends in the heat treat industry. But, anyhow, Thomas, welcome back to Heat TreatRadio.
Thomas Wingens (TW): Thankful to be back, Doug.
DG: If you don’t mind, Thomas, let’s start off very briefly and give the listeners a brief idea of your history and your current activities in the heat treat industry.
TW: My name is Thomas Wingens. I am an independent consultant to the heat treat industry for 10 years now. I have been in the heat treat industry for over 30 years. As a matter of fact, my parents actually had a heat treat shop and I was born and raised above the shop. We had various heat treat processes in our shop. Vacuum heat treating we started in the early ’70s, but also atmosphere heat treating and nitriding.
Nitriding – I am also familiar with this, now for over 30 years. I work with different companies and manufacturers on the one hand, but also other commercial heat treat shops (like Bodycote and Ipsen). I am a metallurgist by trade. I studied material science.
Today, I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with my family (not far away from you, Doug), and we really enjoy it here.
DG: It’s very obvious you’ve got heat treat in your blood. You were born and raised in Germany, but you’ve been here in the States for quite a few years now. You’re well acquainted, and I think this is important, with not only the European technology that we’re going to talk about today – which is ferritic nitrocarburizing – but you’re also familiar with the U.S. market. It gives you a good “in” in both of those markets and so a good perspective to share with our listeners.
This episode is basically going to just cover FNC, ferritic nitrocarburizing. We want to start at the basic level and work down through a few questions for anyone interested in what it is, how to do it, and that type of thing. If you don’t mind, FNC 101.
What is ferritic nitrocarburizing?
TW: It is aligned with carburizing and nitriding into fusion treatment. It is thermal process diffusion, not a coating. As it is ferritic, it means it is not austenitic. So, we’re not heating parts as high as we would do with carburizing or carbonitriding, which is more the range of 950 Celsius; nitriding in general is operated in a temperature range of 500 Celsius range and ferritic nitrocarburizing is in the 560 – 590 Celsius range. We are not austenitic, and that makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to distortion. We are treating with FNC parts which are ready to build in. It is the final step, very often. That is a huge difference. We can do this because we do not experience any distortion.
FNC Image Source: Paulo
DG: So, you’re doing it at a lower temperature range, we don’t have to worry about distortion and things of that sort, and it is, more or less, the final step.
TW: It is. Like nitriding, the nitriding is taking place in the 500 – 540 Celsius, and usually the nitriding takes longer; it is up to 90 hours very often, so deep case nitriding is very popular for some applications. The rise and the popularity of FNC is that we can achieve results very fast. First of all, we are at elevated temperature versus nitriding as we are operating at 580 – 590 degrees Celsius.
But there is also the carbon content. The additional carbon, in conjunction with the nitrogen, also accelerates the diffusion. We are achieving faster diffusion layers with FNC than with nitriding. So, shorter cycle times means lower costs and faster turnaround. Instead of having 24 or 90 hours cycle times, we often have 4-6 hours.
DG: Let’s do the comparisons again of the processes. You’ve got nitriding which is probably the lowest temperature process, but it’s a much longer cycle. If we’re moving up in temperature, probably ferritic nitrocarburizing would be next. It’s going to be a much shorter cycle because you’ve got the addition of carbon as well, which is helping diffusion into the metals. Then you’ve got nitrocarburizing or carburizing, both at much higher temperatures. In fact, when you get to carburizing, you need to worry about distortion, I would assume, correct?
TW: Exactly. That makes a big difference because it is not the final step after carburizing or carbonitriding which is taking place at 950 degrees Celsius, or, if you go into a vacuum furnace with LPC, you can go even higher (up to 1000 Celsius). Nevertheless, you’re in the austenitic field. When your part is cooler when being quenched, you transform from austenitic to martensitic, and then you get distortion associated with quenching and the ensuing transformation. That means you need to grind the parts to have finished parts. That’s not the case with nitriding or nitrocarburizing or FNC.
DG: As an example, can you list off some parts that typically go under FNC? What are people typically ferritic nitrocarburizing? What types of parts?
TW: Due to the fact that we have a couple of micron layer only, (that means you don’t have huge parts, for the most part), you are doing .3mm up to 3 or 6mm for deep case for windmill gears. With the size of the part, usually the surface treatment layer is growing as well, so it really depends on the wear.
Nitriding certainly can be applied on large parts and it is done on very large parts, meaning 7 meter long extrusion screws and such; but it is because of the wear. The work technique you have on a very unique surface layer with nitriding and nitrocarburizing is formed from friction. When you have chemical wear, when you have fatigue wear, you get a couple of things. One of them is you have compressive stresses that are holding up to some degree of fatigue, and then you have, of course, a high surface hardness of 1200 vickers. You have a very high surface hardness and then if you have galling or pitting where metal on metal is wearing. The nitriding layer is very supportive here. But also, the chemical resistance is a very big factor.
A big part of the success of FNC is the combination with post oxidation. That is a big part because the combination of ferritic nitrocarburizing with post oxidation leads not only to a mechanical strong surface with compressive stresses, it also has a very high corrosion resistance. That combination is a wonder combination for several automotive parts. A lot of components have been hard chrome plated in the past. So you have several ball pivots, ball joints, in the car. When you have an older car with chrome plated ball pivots, you maybe have heard an itchy noise, when the car makes a noise when you go over a curb or when you go up and down. That is very often due to the fact that these ball joint pivots are corroded and were chrome plated. That is a huge application. That became the standard in the automotive industry. Every ball joint is now FNC and post oxidized.
The other application that you see a lot is if you have a pneumatic trunk lift piston. The piston, you remember, has been hard chrome plated so that you have the chrome finish. You will see in a newer car, in the front hood, you have a gas piston that is FNC treated and post oxidized. Everything that is exposed to corrosion, which are so many parts on the automobile, even the light building of the body. This is something to mention.
[blockquote author=”Thomas Wingens, WINGENS LLC – International Industry Consultancy” style=”1″]A big part of the success of FNC is the combination with post oxidation. That is a big part because the combination of ferritic nitrocarburizing with post oxidation leads not only to a mechanical strong surface with compressive stresses, it also has a very high corrosion resistance. [/blockquote]
All of these components I’m mentioning here are body parts predominantly and have nothing to do with electrification or with internal combustion drive trains. They are not impacted by that, so we will not see any change here in the future. A lot of under body components, where there is stone chipping and all the corrosion, people are tending to use FNC and black oxide because they can make it on thinner sheet metal part with compressive stresses so they have higher strength built in and they have the corrosion protection on top of it. It’s a good combination. And, of course, it’s virtually distortion free. You may see that on some parts, due to very high compressive stresses, there is a buildup on the corners, but other than that, it is virtually distortion free and that’s a big, big plus of FNC.
DG: That explains why it is growing in popularity. I think that’s one thing you and I talked about earlier; there seems to be within the last, I don’t know, five years for sure, it seems like you’re hearing a lot more about FNC than you used to hear about. Nitriding is still popular and carburizing is still popular, but you’re hearing a lot more about FNC, primarily because of the things you said. Are there any other reasons, or is that primarily it? Cost savings and good qualities.
TW: If you look back, Doug, in the early days, in the beginning of the early nineties, I was running our nitriding department in our heat treat shop, and I had this little shaker bottle where it can determine the disassociation of ammonia and that determined the nitrogen potential. The outcome was mediocre, to tell you the truth. We did not clean the parts, we just put ammonia on it, and we had no way of controlling it other than the time and the temperature, so the outcome was a big variation. That’s why it was limited. You could not find anything in the aerospace industry. Nitriding was not accepted in aerospace at all. Even in the automotive industry in the nineties, you did not find anything nitrided. It was only used on tooling applications, and such.
But with the controls you have today, with the probes and sensors, you can determine everything, and you can see exactly what’s going on. That has been a big factor. There is the reproducibility of the layer you achieve and that is only possible with the good controls that you have and a better understanding of the process.
And, it is very important to mention, the cleaning of the surface. There is no other heat treat process which benefits from good cleaning than nitriding and nitrocarburizing or FNC. That makes a huge difference because you’re operating at a lower temperature and you don’t necessarily get rid of all the impurities and the ammonia gas, which, speaking of the process, really relies on the surface cracking of the material to dissociate in. We have seen a huge impact if parts are not cleaned well on the different surface layers of FNC where we have missed the wide layer in total and such, so that is a big difference.
DG: And the cleaning, I assume, besides just particles, I assume we’re talking about removal of grease and chemicals and things of that sort so that there can be good diffusion.
TW: Exactly. The surface has to be active. The chips and the dirt to remove, that’s the easy part, but you have, sometimes, salts and residue from cutting and forming, especially the forming agents, sulfur phosphate, which are very hard to remove, especially for parts that are often FNC treated, like deep drawn parts or cheap metal components that are cut and there we see a big difference if they’re not cleaned well.
DG: Run our listeners through a typical FNC process. How does it happen?
TW: I think it’s important to mention, as we haven’t done it yet, that we have three different processes. We have salt bath nitriding or nitrocarburizing, gas, and plasma. Each process has pros and cons.
The salt, there is a [cleaning] process or…QPQ, there are a lot of names out there for salt bath nitrocarburizing. It is wonderful in that you just dunk it in, it’s quick. The problem is the cyanide salts. You have to carry it over, you have to clean it, you have to appropriately handle it, store it, and not everyone likes to do that. Other than that, you have wonderful mechanical results with salt bath nitrocarburizing.
And then there is the plasma process. The plasma is excellent for certain geometries, not so much for bulk. You can place the parts in the furnace; it’s wonderfully clean and environmentally friendly. Everything is good. The problem is twofold: it is hard with bulk loads, it’s not as flexible on various parts and the other is with the post-oxidation, you cannot do it with plasma because it technically doesn’t work, so you need the… of gas nitriding in the plasma furnace to have the oxidizing part of the process, if you wish to go that route.
Having that said, the most widely accepted process is gas nitriding and gas nitrocarburizing. Everyone knows that in pit furnaces this is one of the arrangements. You put the parts in the furnace either vertically pit or modern now love horizontal arrangements, so if there is a loader you just have a batch. Then you either purge with nitrogen gas or with a newer equipment that have a vacuum pump, so they have a vacuum purge system and instead of flushing with a lot of gas that draw a vacuum, they heat up the load and the convection to 580–590 degrees Celsius. That can be done with so called “pre-oxidation process.”
Some people, especially if you have higher alloy chrome 4140 – “chrome alloyed” steels – they’re better to nitride if they are pre-oxidized on the way up. Other than that, you would nitrocarburize ammonia gas, when you do gas nitriding, in conjunction with either endogas or CO2 gas. Both, in combination, over a cycle time of 1 hour to 4 hours, soaking time and process time, and then you cool down with gas. Not with the ammonia. A lot of people make that mistake. They heat up with ammonia or maybe even cool down with ammonia, but that is not correct. Depending on, of course, what you’re trying to achieve, the best way is to flush it out because you have different disassociation processes going onto the surface and you have whatsoever surface combination nitrides if you don’t do it properly.
DG: Are we gas cooling with nitrogen then?
TW: You’re better off cooling with nitrogen. Or you go interrupted cooling and then you oxidize on your way down, then you have this so called post oxidation. You cool down to 300 – 350 C, and you have an FEO to layer which is dense, which is important. You don’t want to have a flaky one or rough one, you want to have a dense oxidized layer as a surface and then you continue to cool. That is basically the recipe of FNC.
DG: I didn’t ask you before, and I should ask you: metals with which you can nitride or FNC, are they basically all steels? Are there some steels you can’t do it with? How about aluminum? Titanium? What can you do FNC with and what can’t you do it with?
TW: I would say that nitriding is applied to a much broader spectrum of steels and even other alloys, let’s say. People even do titanium and nickel alloys and try to put in nitrogen surface, calling it nitriding. That is much broader. FNC with nitrocarburizing is typically done with low carbon steels or carbon steels rather than high alloy steels. That is why we have sheet metal parts very often. So, low carbon or plain carbon steels.
DG: And that’s maybe another reason, Thomas, why it’s become a more favorable process, right? You can get some of the mechanical properties out with less expensive materials. Is that safe to say?
TW: Yes, that can be part of it. But you should have a pre-hardened material, that’s important. You need some carbon content in to have some hardness which sustains the high hardness of the surface. It’s all prehard metals, for the most part. Not necessary, but it certainly helps if you have some strength in the sub-strength which is supporting the hard layer. It truly depends on your application. But, you’re right: you can save on the materials to some degree and still get the mechanical properties that you’re looking for, especially in combination with the carbon.
DG: Two final questions that maybe will help some of our listeners who are thinking about moving into the FNC direction. The first question is, Who are the companies, and I know we can’t be exhaustive here, but who are some of the companies that actually manufacture this type of equipment that they could speak to? And secondly, What are some of the things that companies ought to be asking themselves before they decide to go down the FNC rabbit trail, if you will?
So, first a list of companies if you have them. We’ll try to be more exhaustive in our transcript of this. If we miss any here, we’ll list them in the transcript. But if you could rattle off a few that you’re comfortable with.
TW: There are the plasma people, that is RÜBIG GmbH & Co KG and Eltropuls and PlaTeG. On the salt side, you have HEF Group, Degussa, and Kolene. On the gas nitriding, you have Lindberg/MPH and Surface Combustion. On the horizontal, very recently over the last 20 years, a very popular design is a horizontal vacuum perch retort nitriding and nitrocarburizing furnaces. There you seen Ipsen, a German company called KGO, but also you have SECO/WARWICK with some proprietary designs (zero flow is also a good concept), and lately Gasbarre came into this business and Solar as well; they have the vacuum purge nitriding firms.
DG: I want to back up a little. On the salt bath companies you mentioned several, I also know Ajax Electric, also Upton Industries. I don’t know if they do FNC units, but I’m assuming that they do. There are a lot of other companies.
TW: Salt bath is unique to salt. There are only two, or three maybe, companies left in the world who supply these salts. It’s more popular in Japan, by the way. Anyway, it’s not as big as the gas process.
DG: So, I’m a company thinking about maybe converting from some other surface hardening process over to FNC. What kind of questions should I be asking myself?
TW: It all starts, of course, with the product and the application. Then you need to understand the wear and the corrosion methods. That has to be well understood. If that leads to FNC being the most suitable solution for this application, you need to understand the details of how you want to build up the surface layer, the thickness of your diffusion layer, the compound layer, the wide layer on the top and if you want to do post oxidation, so you will also need to do the oxide layer, which by the way, very often needs to be polished at the end, as well, to increase corrosion resistance. These kinetics need to be well understood and the wear and what you want to achieve with this.
Then, of course, you have to see the design. If you have sheet metal components which are cut, the cutting corner usually receives a higher layer and then the corners themselves that built up due to stresses, so there are a couple of minor things that need to have attention. Then, of course, you need to have an expert who really refines the process, and that has to be done in conjunction with good controls. There are two or three companies in the market. UPC is one of them. Oh, I forgot to mention Nitrex, a big brand.
DG: UPC is part of Nitrex, but they also do the process.
TW: Right. Very important. Somebody who really understands the nitriding and the control part of it. UPC Marathon, they have very good controls. SSI also has the probes. There is STANGE in Germany as well. You have two or three companies which have good knowledge in the controls and the probes and how to control this nitriding process. Then you can build up your desired layer system. In the layers, you have a diffusion, then you have a compound, a white layer, and then maybe you have an oxide layer on top and that needs to be well understood. And, of course, as mentioned before, it is essential to have parts cleaned thoroughly and if you maybe need a polishing afterwards. Then, of course, how you put them in the furnace (placement) so that the gas can uniformly penetrate the parts. These are the essential things.
DG: There you have it, folks. That’s FNC 101. Those are the basics in ferritic nitrocarburizing from Thomas Wingens. Thank you, Thomas. I appreciate it very much. I know that if people have questions, you, specifically, would be more than happy to help them out. The company again is WINGENS LLC – International Industry Consultancy. Thomas, www.wingens.com.
TW: That’s it!
Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Today publisher and Heat Treat Radio host.
Maciej Korecki Vice President Vacuum Furnace Segment SECO/WARWICK (source: SECO/WARWICK)
A tool manufacturer has ordered a retort furnace with vacuum purging for oxidation. While oxidation is primarily used in demanding industries such as automotive and aviation, the technology is increasingly widespread among tool manufacturers.
The retort furnace for the oxidation process operates under a nitrogen and hydrogen mix, then under steam. This furnace can be adjusted to the individual needs of the client, providing the appropriate final hardness and color of the workpieces. According to the supplier, the solution will also enable tempering after vacuum purging.
“Innovations originate . . . also from using the knowledge of our partners and listening to what they want to say,” said Maciej Korecki, vice president of the vacuum segment business at SECO/WARWICK. “We are glad that we can deliver another furnace and increase the production capacity of our partner.”
State of Industry 4.0 in the North American Heat Treat Market: What’s Being Done and Who’s Using It?
What is “Industry 4.0” and how is this new technology being used in the heat treat industry? Industry experts spoke with Heat Treat Todayabout their involvement with this cutting-edge application of technology. To learn how you can implement Industry 4.0 at your plant, read what experts have to say about the problems, solutions, and the future of Industry 4.0.
In this Heat Treat Today Original Content article, Peter Sherwin at Eurotherm, AymericGoldsteinas at Ipsen, Robert Szadkowski at SECO/WARWICK Group, and Dan Herring at The HERRING GROUP, Inc. bring varied perspectives as they tackle this topic.
“I think IoT should be better applied – period!”
– Peter Sherwin, Global Business Development Heat Treatment Executive, Eurotherm
Industry 4.0 and “the internet of things” (IoT) were hot topics in the crammed online chatrooms of this year’s heat treat events. But exactly what are these technologies in the world of heat treat? What are the current applications that three leaders in Industry 4.0 have applied? What are some problems and solutions that this new tech brings? And lastly, what is the future of Industry 4.0?
This article will begin by explaining and defining a few prominent technologies before answering each of these questions. Then, read a few thoughts from The Heat Treat Doctor® as you think about application to your heat treat process.
What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
Basically, the term “Industry 4.0” refers to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. See the chart for a breakdown of major topics of the first three industrial revolutions.
Infographic of the four industrial revolutions. Source: Heat Treat Today (images ref. 11)
The idea of new communication is sometimes referred to as cyber-physical connections. This is occurring right now! For example, a sensor (cyber) can monitor a furnace (physical) and send information about the furnace’s conditions to a central data sorting location (connection) for a human to synthesize and respond. The Fourth Industrial Revolution – Industry 4.0 – refers to how the communication between the physical world and the digital world are seamlessly connected.
Click the image to learn more
A key feature of Industry 4.0 is the internet of things (IoT), but other technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and machine learning also play a part. Let’s define a few of these Industry 4.0 terms that you will see later in the article:
IoT: refers to the physical networking of objects via internet-supported software. Similarly, the “industrial internet of things” (IIoT) refers to these systems supporting industrial purposes, like synthesizing information from furnace sensors on a central app.
artificial intelligence (AI): machines which can process and perform complex directions in a way that mimics natural intelligence.
augmentedreality (AR): digital enhancement of a real-world environment. Think of phone apps which can portray a digital overlay on a video feed, like Snapchat lenses.
virtual reality (VR): digital experience that may be interactive with the real-world environment, or completely simulated.
machine learning: an extension of AI, machine learning describes the result of computer algorithms which modify their performance based on repeated input.
While engineers have been pursuing these new applications for several years, COVID-19 has been a driving factor for businesses to pursue technical options in their daily operations due to limits on travel and physical contact.
[blockquote author=”Robert Szadkowski, VP of Aftermarket Sales, SECO/WARWICK Group” style=”1″]Remote acceptance testing is a highly requested service today. I could say that the financial rationale for such action has always existed, while the epidemiological threat has been the catalyst for change. It is a win-win action.[/blockquote]
According to Aymeric Goldsteinas, project development manager at Ipsen, customers are becoming more willing to implement Ipsen’s Industry 4.0 endeavors, even cloud-based solutions, a willingness that was not present just one decade ago. So how is the heat treat market responding?
Current Applications
We asked suppliers how they implemented Industry 4.0. What follows is how they responded.
Ipsen | PdMetrics
PdMetrics Dashboard Source: Ipsen USA
Ipsen launched a software system in 2016. The company continues to develop and improve its predictive maintenance capabilities to service many of their current customers.
Part of the system’s customer appeal, said Aymeric Goldsteinas, product development manager at Ipsen, is that it can “minimize high-cost events and maximize furnace up-time.”
This is done by using sensor technology and gathering data in their PdMetrics database, which then anticipates future furnace problems. This reduces unplanned downtime and could help heat treaters avoid scrapping loads of high-value parts.
From a consumer perspective, this IoT technology solution leads to improved part quality and part performance.
How it works: PdMetrics assigns a variety of sensors to each system in the heat treat process. For example, a quench system sensor checks vibrations, cooling motor temperature, and water temperature.
Source: Ipsen Harold Click the image to read 5 case studies on PdMetrics.
On Ipsen’s client digital dashboard via PdMetrics, Goldsteinas showed the heat treating systems depicted with a green-yellow-red gauge to portray the working condition of that system. Green indicates that the system is well-maintained, yellow indicates a system needs to be maintained soon, and red means that maintenance is needed immediately. This easy-to-use display is also an example of how Industry 4.0 technologies create user-friendly experiences and cut out excess human input.
This product was used by an aerospace manufacturer to update their systems, integrating this software with their heat treatment process. The results were noticeably increased efficiency of parts and less unplanned downtime. The company was able to schedule maintenance at off-peak hours and plan for future needs by using the platform’s ability to identify maintenance trends, deteriorating conditions, and more.
Check out the post to the side to see how a heat treater was able to save thousands to tens of thousands of dollars with PdMetrics system.
While this company has set the pace with their early adoption of IoT in the heat treat industry, it is worth noting that other companies also offer similar products.
In 2013, Eurotherm began their transition to IoT technologies.
“One of our first true cloud-based solutions focused on improving the efficiency of the calibration process,” said Peter Sherwin, global business development heat treatment executive of Eurotherm. He continued, “This system connects third-party calibration providers with their end-customers and provides an enterprise-wide web view of the calibration status (via dashboards) and access to reports. The smart-tablet app provides an easy-to-follow workflow for conducting a compliant calibration and produces an instant report along with the associated QR-code label.”
Referring to their web-based systems and use of cloud platforms, Sherwin said, “along with our parent, Schneider-Electric, we have developed a range of edge-computing solutions to allow simple transfer of data from the plant-floor to cloud-based advisors and visualization software.”
Sherwin says that their systems are being used globally. “Our enterprise calibration platform,” he shared, “is being utilized by several partner companies as well as in Schneider Electric GSC (Global Supply Chain) Manufacturing plants worldwide.”
Sherwin also noted a variety of IoT applications that Eurotherm provides:
A cloud-hosted digital services platform, EcoStruxure™ Manufacturing Compliance Advisor uses asset compliance to “reduce testing costs, increase productivity and be audit-ready with a robust scheduling and testing process.”
A system called EcoStruxure™ Machine Advisor “allows OEMs to track, monitor and fix equipment remotely.” Additionally, operators can predict and execute maintenance schedules, which improves machine availability.
On a mobile device, EcoStruxure™ Augmented Advisor combines “contextual and local information… creating a fusion of the physical, real-life environment with virtual objects.”
Case in point: “An OEM machine manufacturer in the ceramics industry helps customers reduce their energy consumption by 30% by leveraging our IoT software,” Sherwin shared.
SECO/WARWICK | Remote Factory Acceptance and Activation Tools
Remote Control Source: SECO/WARWICK
Recently SECO/WARWICK publicized the fact that they successfully conducted several international and remote factory acceptance tests. Two customers from China, one from South Korea, and one from Mexico all participated. Each customer was able to remotely approve the furnace construction and performance work of their new furnaces while the furnaces were still on the shop floor in SECO/WARWICK’s European manufacturing facility. No customer engineers were involved on-site at the factory.
Recordings from individual cameras, sensors and viewfinders were downloaded to secure servers and made available to customers. The tests were successful, and the adopted procedures guarantee the reliability and completeness of the data, according the company report.
The company has been using these technologies for “internal device supervision for at least ten years,” according to Robert Szadkowski, VP of Aftermarket Sales at SECO/WARWICK. “In our work,” he continued, “we use remote supervision tools and applications, we report overall equipment efficiency (OEE) indicators, and we conduct optimization processes in terms of batch queuing or energy factor consumption.”
Szadkowski at SECO/WARWICK remarked that for most systems, distance furnace commission is very likely. He explained, “It starts at the stage of making arrangements regarding the expected technical and technological parameters, continues throughout the production and commissioning period, and then during the warranty and post-warranty period. The participation of the customer, the end user of the furnace, in the acceptance tests is required, as is training of the operating personnel […]. There are exceptions to this when dealing with high-risk systems, but for many systems this would be perfectly acceptable.”
Still, Szadkowski noted that “this will be primarily a challenge to our ideas and internal acceptance, rather than to technical limitations.”
C3 Data | End-User System Compliance
Finally, the C3 Data application for furnace compliance is an example of an interrelated, stream-lined, digital solution that provides customers with clear, “real-time” data.
Digitizing data ahead of time integrates testing processes. The system scheduler allows compliance tests to be planned ahead of time. Digitizing the calibration data allows for technicians to scan QR codes attached to test instruments and test sensors to access that data as they test for compliance.
When compliance is tested, the results are immediate for the technician and the quality assurance manager (QAM). The technician uses a portable device to complete these tests, scanning the test instrument and the test sensor, and then inputting the stabilized temperatures from the test instrument and the furnace instrument. In twelve seconds, a technician can complete a system accuracy test (SAT); watch the video above to see the SAT Additionally, the system automatically populates paperless reports to be signed and sent to the QAM. This allows the quality assurance manager to check the reports in real time.
Similar to earlier products, a digital dashboard depicts furnace compliance data. The graphic visualizations allow users to quickly evaluate which furnaces are in compliance, and, if not, why.
Problems // Solutions
Businesses have experienced a few problems with integrating the technology. But there are solutions.
Aymeric Goldensteinas Product Development Manager Ipsen Source: padtronics.com
The first problem is data storage. Like all storage, data storage is finite, and therefore costly. The use of interrelated systems that require high volumes of data to flow between sensors and central systems necessitates investment on the front end for storing data. Additionally, having limited bandwidth to keep digital communication lines open can cause blackouts and connectivity issues. But after acquiring storage, there are practices to use that storage as efficiently as possible.
A solution that Ipsen implements to alleviate this active/working storage stress is “the frequency rule.” This rule establishes a rate of data movement to allow data to move across system memory.
A second issue is privacy/security. It is necessary that the heat treater’s product or process data is properly secured, and while the supplier has certain responsibilities to mitigate this issue, heat treaters should be aware of ways to safeguard their intellectual property. One option, which Ipsen suggests, would be to purchase a unique VPN to ensure better data security. Some companies, including Ipsen, use a stand-alone system that works independent of the PLC, which ensures proprietary data is kept private while following secure industry software standards.
A third issue is user acceptance or, simply put, how comfortable you are with 4.0 technologies. If a heat treater is not comfortable with the technology itself, then Industry 4.0-related tech can be more difficult to implement. On the flip side, suppliers — regarding all processes — must be ready and able to meet the customer’s demands for new products, as Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor®, has indicated. (Ref. 5) An example of digital demands is the AMS2750F requirement that paper chart recorders be replaced with digital data acquisition systems by June 29, 2022.
User acceptance relates to the final problem: relationship with the supplier. While not a bad thing in and of itself, if your relationship with your supplier is not good, then it will be a challenge to develop an effective Industry 4.0 solution process. Be sure you develop an open, communicative relationship with your supplier so that they can offer you unique solutions for your plant’s operation.
The Future of Heat Treat
Here are some interesting applications that people in the industry are looking to with the progression of Industry 4.0:
1. Increased Servitization
Robert Szadkowski Director, Vice President of the Aftermarket Sales Segment SECO/WARWICK Source: Robert Szadkowski
Szadkowski at SECO/WARWICK emphasized that these rapid changes to heat treat systems makes it likely that the servitization — the selling of services rather than products — of the heat treat industry is likely to develop in the near future.
“I am strongly convinced,” Szadkowski wrote, “that sooner or later the servitization will cover the heat treatment industry. When looking at the potential benefits, it’s basically inevitable. The customer, user of the furnace, will be able to focus on their core business instead of worrying about the operation of the furnaces. The manufacturer of the device will be keenly interested in ensuring that its furnace works flawlessly (so that the availability is as high as possible) and brings business benefits to the user. What’s more, with a correctly prepared PaaS (Product as a Service) contract, the OEM will also be interested in improving the operating parameters of such a device after delivery.”
He continues that “Such solutions have existed in the industry for years, e.g. the Rolls-Royce model of selling aircraft engines known as Power-by-the-Hour. The benefits are on both sides; both parties can focus on what they are best at and what is their core business, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Both parties are interested in long-term cooperation, not a one-off transaction. In light of global problems with access to service engineers, including maintenance staff, the shift of responsibility for the operation of devices from the user to the manufacturer is a natural direction of change.”
There are a few hypotheses revolving around the use of AR service glasses. SECO/LENS augmented reality is currently being explored. This would help in providing remote field service support to the heat treater.
Ipsen’s Goldsteinas has also noted several benefits. He explains the application working by connecting a customer or field service engineer who is at the site with an expert from Ipsen or another service provider. This remote assistance wherein an informant is able to see a problem and give first-hand direction is a common example used to describe the benefits of AR. This application could, for example, decrease the down-time if a furnace were to unexpectedly fail.
Additionally, Goldsteinas envisions training sessions that are conducted in mixed reality. Using virtual reality with an oculus — a type of goggle that digitally enhance or recreate a digitally interactive, environment — companies could reduce training time by recreating experiences, like meetings or practical training sessions, that could be collaborative or solitary. Mixed reality devices like the HoloLens may also be integrated for similar purposes. (Watch video to the right to see examples of Microsoft’s HoloLens and other enhanced reality examples.)
The future could also involve virtual collaboration in the form of an augmented reality meeting room to allow employees from across different Ipsen facilities to discuss and interact with the same content in real-time
3. Efficient Cloud Capabilities
Peter Sherwin personally foresees that attention to the Cloud’s abilities and security will be leveraged in new ways: “An example of this is looking at some of the cost-effective modern-day instrument SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] offerings that can provide an on-premise hub for certain applications while managing security policies for linking to cloud based IoT offers.”
4. Increased Systemwide Application
Specifically looking at IoT technologies, Sherwin shared, “I think an expanded view of IoT that encompasses automation across the enterprise (termed as Intelligent Automation or Hyperautomation) is more useful if you really want to achieve significant returns on investment [of IoT technologies]. IoT solutions can improve speed and reduce costs across sales, operations, maintenance, quality, service and administration.”
Advice: To Use or Not To Use
Dan Herring The Heat Treat Doctor®
Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor®, has written about Industry 4.0 and how thinking about seven considerations in any continuation of or change to one’s heat treating process is essential. Ask yourself:
Do I understand what I want to accomplish metallurgically?
Can I predict the outcome of the heat treatment operation?
Can I build repeatability into the process?
Am I using state of the art heat treating equipment?
Am I aware of changes to manufacturing operations?
Am I compromising on quality?
Do I know the costs?
At the end of the day, noted The Heat Treat Doctor®, heat treaters need to know that what they are doing is being done the right way, the first time with the best procedures and processes for their particular operation.
Reflections on The Heat Treat Doctor®
Peter Sherwin of Eurotherm commented on the seven-part advice of The Heat Treat Doctor®, noting, “I think it is very appropriate to look at the value of IoT through the seven considerations that [he] outlines. Building these solutions requires heat treat know-how and an understanding of the data to be captured in order to provide valuable solutions. Value is unlocked in the following categories:
“Right first-time quality improvements. A good heat treater will have quality costs <1% of turnover. The MTI suggests that the cost of quality (all activities) can hit $750k for a decent-size heat treat operation. The knock-on [effects] of poor quality impacts customer satisfaction through delayed deliveries and costs in rework/rejects.”
“Maintenance. These costs can fluctuate – but lets assume a well run plant with fairly modern equipment has costs around 5% of turnover. Significant purchase/cost savings can be made via remote support as well as an understanding of remaining useful life of key components (and avoiding panic purchases).”
“Energy. Again this can fluctuate, but let’s say 10% of turnover. Modern efficient solutions (gas or electric) can significantly reduce the cost of energy and this can be further optimized via IoT solutions.”
“Labor Costs. Say an average of 20% of turnover. Some of the modern XR offers (Extended reality – covers AR, MR, VR etc.) can definitely speed up training, help retention of knowledge, and reduce the time and costs in troubleshooting as well as aiding remote support.”
“It won’t be too long before IoT offers enhanced decision support to heat treaters to aid making profitable decisions,” Sherwin concludes.
Concluding Thoughts
Peter Sherwin Global Business Development Heat Treatment Executive Eurotherm
Whether we like it or not, Industry 4.0 related digital integration is becoming essential rather than simply a better option. Again, the recently published AMS2750F revision highlights this shift for heat treaters.
[blockquote author=”Peter Sherwin, global business development heat treatment of Eurotherm” style=”1″]I think it is important that we use IoT where it can truly bring value and don’t view it as a silver-bullet for everything.[/blockquote]
That does not mean you need to scramble to jump on the bandwagon, but strategically assess your position, your operations, and your options to identify what option is best. Look to other examples in the industry and heat treating tech insiders to inform these new, powerful realities.
Read/Watch More:
Pascal Bornet, Ian Barkin, Jochen Wirtz, Intelligent Automation. Suggested by Peter Sherwin at Eurotherm.
Lindsay Glider, “Rockwell Automation’s 4-Step Guide to Starting Your Digital Transformation Journey,” com (13 October 2020). https://tinyurl.com/yynfoufs.
GEBERIT Group, a European leader in sanitary products, will expand their annealing capabilities with two vacuum furnaces at their production plant in Ozorków. Both furnaces have larger working spaces than the standard: 900 x 900 x 1200 mm (HxWxL) to 900 x 900 x 2400 mm. These changes will allow the manufacturer to double the efficiency of the furnaces in one technological process.
As GEBERIT builds its independence by investing in heat treatment processes, some of the processes that they had carried out in traditional atmospheric furnaces will now be performed in these modern Vector vacuum furnaces supplied by North American SECO/VACUUM‘s parent company, SECO/WARWICK.
SECO/WARWICK Vacuum Furnaces Source: secovacusa.comSławomir Woźniak CEO SECO/WARWICK Source: secowarwick.com
“We chose the SECO/WARWICK Vector furnaces,” commented Mirosław Spasiński, head of the Technical Department of GEBERIT in Ozorków, “due to the guaranteed quality and efficiency but also the high cleanliness of the surfaces of the processed details, which is very important to us, as the elements are displayed in open GEBERIT sanitary installations, thus aesthetics play an important role.”
“An individual approach to the furnace design” notes Sławomir Woźniak, CEO of SECO/WARWICK Group, “is a project that requires expert engineering knowledge. [Our] engineers have the knowledge and experience that are needed to adjust the technology and its parameters so that it ensures the safety and failure-free operation of the device, but above all that the solution meets the expectations and needs of the client.”
Heat treater ALP Aviation is increasing its production capacity and expanding process capability with a vacuum furnace. The furnace is dedicated to low pressure carburizing of transmission components for helicopters and other aircraft.
Sławomir Woźniak CEO SECO/WARWICK Source: secowarwick.com
The new vacuum furnace is configured with horizontal charge loading, a maximum cooling gas pressure of 15 bar of argon and nitrogen, and a 900mm x 900mm x 1200mm (W x H x L) charge area.
This Vector vacuum furnace is the heat treater's 4th installation in a 13-year cooperation with SECO/WARWICK, the parent company of North American-based SECO/VACUUM. "Our 13-year relationship with ALP AVIATION continues to be of mutual benefit on all technical and managerial levels," says Sławomir Woźniak, CEO of SECO/WARWICK Group. "[We provide] the technology, equipment and process knowledge which has enabled our client to grow their business. Our Group values working close to the customer."
Global commercial heat treater HTA Group (HTA) ordered a vacuum aluminum brazing furnace. It will operate within a tight temperature tolerance of +/- 3° C, as dictated by AMS2750F, allowing HTA to continue to provide accredited heat treatment processing services to the global aerospace industry.
With three locations in Australia and one in the United States, HTA will be using this furnace to braze aluminum parts for applications where the use of brazing flux is not permitted due to corrosion. This is the seventh furnace -- and the 3rd vacuum brazing furnace -- that SECO/WARWICK will be providing to HTA.
"Our team of experienced heat treatment professionals appreciate working with SECO/WARWICK experts and technologies," said Norm Tucker, director at HTA Group. "We demand high quality, precision solutions due to the stringent requirements of the aerospace applications that we work with."
The vacuum aluminum brazing system has been designed with 6 temperature control zones in order to meet the temperature requirements of +/- 3° C as specified by the AMS2750F pyrometry specification. Additionally, the furnace provides the deep vacuum and perfect temperature uniformity to meet the Class 1 requirements of the pyrometry specification. The powerful high vacuum system will be equipped with a large diffusion pump and built to accommodate loads up to 800 x 800 x 1600mm (W x H x D). The furnace will be equipped with an external gas cooling system, which will both accelerate the process and improve the part quality after brazing.
Keith Boeckenhauer Managing Director SECO/WARWICK USA
A Virginia manufacturer of high-quality plumbing tube recently commissioned a new heat treat furnace, expanding the plant’s capabilities to include aluminum extrusions. This is the first new aluminum processing equipment installation at the plant.
The supplier, SECO/WARWICK, noted that the vertical orientation of the work being heat treated is what differentiates this from others. The design allows the customer to maintain an efficient, semi-continuous process with little downtime between batches by staging loads in the drywells. The major benefit of this design is that it will allow the manufacturer to drop extrusions into the quench within 10 seconds after heat treating and soak.
Keith Boeckenhauer, managing director of SECO/WARWICK USA, commented that the company "has patented many standard processes related to aluminum heat treatment and controlled atmosphere brazing, [and is able. . .] to apply innovative designs to custom requirements."
The furnace was designed and built in Pennsylvania.
One of the leading global power, aviation and renewable energy providers has selected a vacuum furnace hot zone replacement. The replacement and modernization of this hot zone is to be updated in a 20+ year old furnace. Once the furnace is updated, it will be installed at the client's facility in Hungary, Europe.
The supplier, SECO/WARWICK, replaced the hot zone of a horizontal vacuum furnace so that it could be integrated with the new, technologically advanced materials in the industry.
Between science and business, the evolution of heat treatment is taking large strides. A global heat treat solutions manufacturer and a Polish laboratory hardening plant are developing modern solutions to metal treatment needs.
