SECO/WARWICK

What have we learned these past six months? Well, for starters, everyone misses being face-to-face! Yet many heat treaters have taken this time to be flexible and innovative, building their intellectual fitness, so to speak.

This article, a Heat Treat Today Original Content piece, highlights some of the major themes which digital opportunities provide to heat treaters. You may note that some of these opportunities are still being offered; please reference company websites to confirm.

“COVID-19 came along… [but] it forced me to look into other projects which may be even more interesting. And I decided to build my intellectual property.”

-Harb Nayar, president of TAT Technologies, LLC on Heat Treat Radio

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Signs of life pre-April 2020 seem to be coming back, though many people are still reckoning with the work constraints. This past quarter, and even into Q3, heat treaters have seen a remarkable initiative to make learning online available. Heat Treat Today did a select study* of what a few of the most recent, heat treat specific events had to offer. The results of the examination demonstrates trends in the types of themes which heat treaters can improve their “intellectual fitness.”

Summary

A few themes stick out as key content: the fundamentals, quality control, additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing, and maintenance concerns.

These themes were made available to heat treaters in the form of three main presentations: session or lecture format; panel discussion; round table. All platforms engaged in some form of online sessions which colored more lecture/seminar styled with scholarly professionals to addresses given by industry leaders or technical insiders. Larger, lengthier events, such as Furnaces North America and SECO/WARWICK’s e-Seminar incorporated panel discussions in addition to single-speaker sessions. Truly unique was the announced “round table” access at the Ceramics Expo Connect’s session on September 24th, “How to Improve Your Ceramic Products Material Properties Through Raw Material Optimization?”

Within these structures, a few presenters took advantage of the digital opportunity to offer case studies and live demonstrations of certain methods and processes. At the e-Seminar, multiple opportunities for this included “Symptoms of a Burner Issue – How to Solve It” and “Revealing the Secret of Carburizing,” while Buehler’s Wilson Hardness Days (WHD) event promises “live demonstrations of DiaMet software.” Only a few of the events examined offered the opportunity to submit questions before the presentation occurred. Many sessions in this online forum were pre-recorded well in advance, so this might contribute as to why soliciting questions before the presentations wasn’t as widespread.

Four Themes of 2020

The Fundamentals

This one is not surprising. “The Fundamentals” refers to any overview, back-to-the-basics type of session that hits major ideas in the industry which might refine practices, but does not challenge or recreate heat treating theory/practice. An example of this is the technical session on day one of the FNA: “The Importance and the Proper Way to Monitor Polymer Quenches” to be given by Keisuke Kuroda of Idemitsu Lubricants America.

Hubbard-Hall’s webinar on cleaning titled “Optimizing Cleaning in Heat Treat Processes” promised to cover “the influence of contaminations in different heat treatment applications,” something that may not be as exciting as nitrogen gas quenching, but is still essential to know. At WHD, the event notes that “Machine Calibration and Servicing” will be a guaranteed part of the webinar on hardness testing.

Quality Control

Not to be confused with “The Fundamentals,” this theme encapsulates topics about implementing new theory and improving or refining current practice.

At the Ceramics Expo Connect, a session on “Powering a Mobile Future: The Role of Ceramics in Taking Solid State Batteries from Theory to Practice and Improving Lithium Ion Models” demonstrated this theme. If you attend the e-Seminar, you may have heard the panel “Maintenance in the Age of Industrial 4.0 Description,” which also falls into this theme. At a more particular level, Buehler will introduce the new Rockwell Tester at their event.

Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing

At the cutting edge of industry development, these young applications in the heat treat world have been getting a lot of attention, with other forward-thinking topics on the horizon as well (like IoT and Industry 4.0). Buzz a constant buzz of these processes were apparent, particularly in the FNA 2020 schedule.

One of the technical session at FNA 2020 will be given by Dan Herring, the Heat Treat Dr., titled “Will Additive Manufacturing Add or Take Away Heat Treating?” At the e-Seminar, “3D Printing—Revolution or Evolution” was the title of one provocative panel discussion.

Maintenance

This is another big theme, and rightly so: maintenance concerns can cause problems with the heat treating process which could result in poor results, or dangerous outcomes.

FNA 2020 will be dealing with maintenance questions a lot over the next few days. On a micro-scale, Hubbard Hall’s webinar will be addressing these questions: “How closed cleaning machines contribute to cost efficiency and sustainability” and “How companies overcome specific cleaning challenges.”

Other Themes

“Troubleshooting” and “adapting to COVID-19” also stood out as recurring themes, though many sessions were concerned with these in relation to quality and future planning. Additionally, “COVID-19” in particular was considered during multi-day events as it related to pivoting one’s business strategy whereas single-day events focused on topics which are periphery to COVID-19 like “supply-chain” and “future of heat treat.”

Ok, But Does This Mean Anything?

Heat treaters are adaptive, responding to changes. But beyond picking up the latest item on the block, heat treaters want to make sure that their operations are reliable and excellent, hence the heavy focus on “The Fundamentals” and “Quality Control.” Testing new ideas and refining maintenance strategies are implemented, but it seems that this is typically after heat treaters know that they are performing with excellence in their day-to-day.

Further information on these events can be found on the company websites.

*The study focused on five of the most well-publicized and widely circulated events in the heat treat industry in August and September of 2020. The study is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather a case study of trends which may serve to be indicative of larger trends in the heat treat industry.