Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Fall15 TP
Fall15 TP
Company Profile:
Specialty Steel Treating Inc.
Ion Nitriding of Ferrous
and Titanium Alloys
for Gear Applications
Nitrocarburizing Gears Using
the ZeroFlow Method
in Large-Volume Production
Inductive Fixture Hardening
and Tempering Process for
Dimensionally Accurate Parts
Advanced Robotics Combined
with Eddy Current Testing Offers
Verification Methods
for Heat-Treated Gears
Optimizing Case-Depth
Uniformity in the Vacuum
Carburizing Process
Update 08
Quality Counts 14
Metal Urgency 16
Hot Seat 18
Fall/Winter 2015
Q&A 56
Fall/Winter 2015
thermalprocessing.com
Booth #701
Stronger
Visit our website to learn more about our induction heat treating equipment!
Booth #303
FEATURES
Fall/Winter 2015
22
26
36
42
30
46
22
26
INDUCTIVE FIXTURE HARDENING AND TEMPERING PROCESS FOR DIMENSIONALLY ACCURATE PARTS
30
36
42
ADVANCED ROBOTICS COMBINED WITH EDDY CURRENT TESTING OFFERS VERIFICATION METHODS FOR
HEAT-TREATED GEARS
46
By Ed Kubel
Specialty Steel Treating Inc., a family business specializing in precision-controlled heat treating, provides its customers with
exceptional service and is a leader in the industry with the highest heat-treated product quality and a vision for new
opportunities and change.
By Dan DeVries
Advancements in robotics have paved the way for cost-effective, nondestructive eddy current inspection of nonsymmetrical,
complex components that previously required multiple test stations.
Air cooled
heat exchanger
OPERATING COST
TEMPERATURE
Evaporative
$$
85F
Chiller
$$$$
Air Cooled
Evaporative cooling
tower with outdoor
mechanical room
105F
65F
RULE #2.
Use hybrid systems to save energy
Chiller
(mechanical
refrigeration)
AIR-COOLED
CHILLER
AIR
M
"FREE COOLER"
AIR-COOLED HEAT
EXCHANGER
AIR
M
AIR
M
Evaporator
Termostatic
Control Valve
PUMP
HEAT
LOAD
Booth #415
RULE #3.
Get some expert advice. Make it pay to go green!
call
800-525-8173
Fax: 248-969-3401
3232 Adventure Lane Oxford, MI 48371
www.drycoolers.com
ISO 9001:2000
DEPARTMENTS
Fall/Winter 2015
Volume 4 / Number 2
UPDATE
QUALITY
COUNTS
By Jim Oakes
08
14
METAL
URGENCY
By Fred Specht
HOT
SEAT
By Jack Titus
Q&A
Dennis Beauchesne
INDUCTION TEMPERING
LPC, OIL-MARQUENCHING,
AND GAS HEATING
General Manager
ECM USA Inc.
16
RESOURCES
EQUIPMENT 52
18
56
Cover photo: Advanced Heat Treat Corp.
MARKETPLACE 54 AD INDEX 55
Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions is published semi-annually by Media Solutions, Inc., 266D Yeager Parkway Pelham, AL 35124. Phone (205) 380-1573 Fax (205) 380-1580 International subscription
rates: $105.00 per year. Postage Paid at Pelham AL and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions magazine, P.O.
Box 1210 Pelham AL 35124. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503 RPO West Beaver Creek Richmond Hill, ON L4B4R6. Copyright 2006 by Media Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage-and-retrieval system without
permission in writing from the publisher. The views expressed by those not on the staff on Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions magazine, or who are not specifically employed by Media Solutions, Inc.,
are purely their own. All Update material has either been submitted by the subject company or pulled directly from their corporate website, which is assumed to be cleared for release. Comments and
submissions are welcome and can be submitted to editor@thermalprocessing.com.
What
Are
YouYou
Headed?
WhatDirection
Direction
Are
Headed?
Up to 5,500 lbs.
Operating Atmosphere
Controls
Applications
Uniformity
Intuitive,
User-friendly,
Touch
Screen HMIBrazing,
Low
Pressure
Carburizing,
Hardening,
Annealing,
Better thanSolution
10F Aging, Sintering, Tempering
Hot Zone
Maximum
Load Size
orlbs.
Metal
UpGraphite
to 5,500
Convective
Heating
Operating
Atmosphere
Up to 1400F
Carburizing,
Inert, Vacuum, Reducing
Controls
Uniformity
Hot Zone
Graphite or Metal
Convective Heating
Up to 1400F
Vacuum
Quenching
Up to 10-5 torr
Vacuum
Quenching
ih02154seco1.indd 13
www.secowarwick.com
Brazil China India European Union USA
2/18/15 9:11 AM
www.secowarwick.com
Brazil China India European Union USA
Ed Kubel
Managing Editor
Thermal Processing for
Gear Solutions magazine
editor@thermalprocessing.com
(800) 366-2185 x205
PUBLISHER
Chad Morrison
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
EDITORIAL
Molly J. Rogers
EDITOR
Ed Kubel
MANAGING EDITOR
SALES
Chad Morrison
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Mike Barker
CIRCULATION
Teresa Cooper
MANAGER
Kassie Boggan
COORDINATOR
Jamie Willett
ASSISTANT
ART
Shane Bell
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Michele Hall
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
DETLEV BARTKNECHT
TEKIN DAMIRGI
DAN DEVRIES
AYMERIC GOLDSTEINAS
WILFRIED GOY
MARK HEMSATH
MACIEJ KORECKI
JAN MASSHOLDER
LESZEK MALDZINSKI
JIM OAKES
TOMASZ PRZYGONSKI
EDWARD ROLINSKI
FRED SPECHT
JACK TITUS
MIKEL
WOODS
VerticalS.
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Chad Morrison
VICE PRESIDENT
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OPERATIONS
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UPDATE
personnel. This enables the Solar staff to get to know its customers better
and answer any questions. Solar Atmospheres is one of the only vacuum
heat treating companies with this capability.
Another feature is its resource section where technical documents,
industry articles, and news are available for viewing or downloading.
Solars staff has been published in many magazines, newspapers, and
associated journals, and they continue to prove why Solar is one of
the most experienced and innovative heat treating companies in
the industry.
To learn more about Solars quality and performance standards, visit
its Why Solar Atmospheres section to peruse the quality programs,
certifications, and policies that help make Solar Atmospheres a leader in
the heat treating industry.
Companies wishing to submit materials for inclusion in UPDATE should contact the editor, Molly J. Rogers, at editor@thermalprocessing.com.
Releases accompanied by color images will be given first consideration.
UPDATE
Heat Treat Doctor Publishes Second Volume
on Atmosphere Heat Treatment
Dan Herrings latest book, Atmosphere Heat Treatment, Volume II, focuses on furnace atmospheres, quenching practices, testing, safety, conservation, maintenance,
and specification compliance. Together with Volume I (2014) that emphasized
fundamental principles, materials, metallurgy, applications, and equipment, these
volumes serve as a comprehensive resource on the subject of atmosphere technology
as conducted in furnaces and ovens. It affords insights into practices and procedures
used throughout the heat treatment industry. Together with its companion work,
Vacuum Heat Treatment (2012), Herring has provided a well-rounded introduction
to this multi-faceted subject.
These works offer the heat treatment industry a unique perspective on atmosphere
heat treatment. They are intended to provide the reader with practical advice, a
diverse set of application examples, and a wide range of technical and engineering
information necessary to make informed decisions about why and how to heat treat.
What makes these books unique is that they are written in such a way that engineers, metallurgists, heat-treat operators, supervisors, managers, quality and production engineers, or just about anyone interested in thermal processing or manufacturing
can become skilled in the art and science of atmosphere heat treatment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: WWW.HEAT-TREAT-DOCTOR.COM
Booth #443
to better serve our global customers, and I am confident that Marcello will
lead our metals organization to expand Houghtons market leadership.
Boldrini joins Houghton from Momentive, a $7-billion global specialty
chemical company where he held the position of executive vice president
and chief marketing officer. He was previously the senior vice president
and general manager for Momentives global Phenolic Resins business.
Prior to Momentive, Boldrini held several leadership roles at Ashland
Inc., including managing director of Europe, based in Milan, Italy, and
managing director of Asia, based in Singapore, for the electronic chemical
division. He then held the roles of vice president of M&A and business
development for Ashland, vice president and general manager for the
global Specialty Polymers and Adhesive Division, and vice president of
global product management, marketing and business development for the
Performance Materials Group. Early in his career, he held commercial and
business leadership roles in Europe at Quaker Chemical and Unichema.
Boldrini holds an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Milano and
an M.B.A. from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
Thermo-Calc
DICTRA
TC-PRISMA
thermalprocessing.com | 13
Three-gas analyzer
SUMMARY
An oxygen probe plus NDIR control creates an opportunity to maintain the most accurate carbon control levels by
adjusting the controller calculation. When performed in real
time with the carbon probe, variations are quickly accounted
for, delivering precise control and leading to proper metallurgical results with reduced labor and furnace time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Oakes is the vice president of
thermalprocessing.com | 15
Image 1: Solid bar is heated progressively using a series of induction coils to austenitizing temperature prior to quenching and tempering.
Image 2: Channel coil uses a separate lower-frequency power supply to heat multiple parts at the same time while
parts are moved forward on a conveyor.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fred Specht is the vice president of sales for North America for Interpower Induction USA. To learn more about Interpower
Induction USAs products and services, visit www.interpowerinduction.com or stop by the Interpower Induction Booth #243 at the Cobo Center in Detroit
at the ASM Heat Treat Expo & Conference on October 20-22 to view and discuss the latest in induction heat treat technologies.
MULTIPLE TEMPERS
ONE NADCAP REPORT
Heat Treating Services:
Carburizing, Carbonitriding, Hardening
Marquenching for Distortion Control
Nitriding/Ferritic Nitrocarburizing
Induction Hardening
Gleason Press Quenching
Flame Hardening
ISO/TS 16949:2009
ISO 14001:2004
ADDITIONAL MANUFACTURING
SERVICES AVAILABLE
thermalprocessing.com | 17
NATURAL GAS
OIL QUENCHING
Coal
Natural
Gas
Nuclear
Hydroelectric
All
Renewable
Except
Wind
Wind
Misc.
Petro
2014
39
27
19
2.6
4.4
2015
30
30
Table 1: Distribution (%) of energy in U.S. by generating source. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
EFD Induction
Worldwide
Gear hardening
The benefits of induction heating
www.efd-induction.com
HOT SEAT
elements, electrical isolation, and related maintenance could be a
thing of the past. Heating can be done using electric elements or
natural-gas radiant tubes made of traditional materials. Insulation
can be ceramic, so carbon can be burned out just as in todays endocarburizing furnaces. As for quenching, the entire two-chamber
system can be designed for vacuum pressures, but not the extremely
low levels associated with traditional vacuum furnaces.
The development of the multichamber vacuum furnace could be
tied to the decade between 1975 and 1985. Major vacuum furnace
suppliers developed their own versions of two- and three-chamber
furnaces. Most three-chamber systems consisted of a gas quench
at one end and an oil quench at the other with a graphite-lined
vacuum hot zone in the center. Some furnaces had an oil quench
and loading vestibule in lieu of a gas quench and operated as a
straight-through system. LPC, or vacuum carburizing, played a
minor role in the process in early multichamber furnaces, as they
were primarily used for air hardening and high-speed steels in the
attempt to displace salt-bath heat treating. Hot zones were designed
to operate as high as 2,400F. In all cases, the oil quench chamber
was evacuated to remove oxygen from the quench oil and purge the
air prior to moving the load to the graphite hot zone, which was
continuously kept hot. After 1985, multichamber vacuum furnaces
began to lose their popularity due primarily to high cost and the
beginning of the demand for six-bar HPGQ to accommodate new
hotwork die steels.
Marquenching is the go-to process to control distortion in oil
quenching. The process involves quenching into oil where the oil
temperature is held at just above the Ms (martensite start point)
of the alloy. Parts are held in the oil until their core reaches the
oil temperature, after which martensite transforms uniformly
during post wash and cooling. The oil has a maximum operating
temperature, and with atmosphere furnaces, the major issue with
oil quality is sludge caused by oil oxidation. This is not an issue
with AFC-Holcrofts LPC/UBQ, because oxygen is precluded from
being present above the oil. The advantage of marquenching is
emphasized in Figures 1, 2, and 3, which show how surface carbon
affects the Ms point for 1320 and 1321 manganese steels [1]. The
Ms point decreases with increasing carbon potential.
As for LPC, when using a furnace that incorporates a ceramiclined hot zone and has no cold spots (as found in existing vacuum
furnaces), all of the acetylene is available for carburizing, which
improves efficiency and reduces the need to account for the surface
area of the workload.
CONCLUSION
Figure 3: Isothermal transformation diagram for AISI 1321 manganese steel carburized
to 1.2% C. Austenitized at 1,700F. Ms = 130F
Based on these observations, it makes sense for the next generation of carburizing systems to go back to integrating the advances of LPC and
the wide application range of modern marquench oils.
REFERENCE
1. J. F. Boyce and R. Grange, Transformation of Austenite in Carburized 1320 and 1321 Steels, (unpublished USS Research Laboratory report).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jack Titus can be reached at (248) 668-4040 or jtitus@afc-holcroft.com. Go online to www.afc-holcroft.com. He is also the
current Hot Seat columnist in Gear Solutions magazine. AFC-Holcroft will be at Booth #627 at the ASM Heat Treat Expo at the Cobo Center in Detroit
on October 20-22.
GLOBAL MANUFACTURER
OF INDUSTRIAL FURNACES
VISIT
AT FNA
ASMS
HEAT BOOTH
TREAT 2015
VISIT
USUS
ATTHIS
THISYEAR
YEARS
SHOW:
#143-145
OCT. 20-22, 2015: BOOTH 420
Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing Neutral Hardening Oil Quenching Gas Quenching Carbonitriding Annealing
8920 58th Place, Ste 100 Kenosha, WI 53144-7822
T. 262.605.4810
F. 262.605.4814
WWW.ECM-USA.COM
COMPANY PROFILE
Specialty Steel Treating (SST) was founded by Donald Cox in 1956 in Warren,
Michigan, and began operations in a 4,000-square-foot plant with one furnace.
Today, it has six facilities five located in Michigan and one in Connecticut.
The company has grown to over 250,000 square feet of operating space in its
59-year history. Michigan facilities are located in Fraser (corporate headquarters)
and Farmington Hills, and the Connecticut plant is in East Granby.
SST MISSION
COMPANY GROWTH
During its 59 years in business, the company has grown and expanded numerous times. From its beginning in Warren, Michigan, the
first move was to a larger 12,000-square-foot facility in 1960 still
in Warren. The next expansion was in 1967 to a 30,000-squarefoot facility in Fraser. Due to the growing business, this building
was expanded to the maximum size allowable by the property. In
1969, the plant in East Granby, Connecticut, was opened at the
invitation of Sikorsky Aircraft seeking a quality heat treating source
in the region. In 1979, SST opened the facility in Farmington
Hills, Michigan, at the request of Ford Motor Company to process
ring and pinion gears for the company. Between 2006 and 2011,
SST opened three additional facilities in Fraser due to its process
capabilities and position in the taper-bearing market.
SST entered the vacuum carburizing arena in 2003 and is now
a crucial supplier to the aerospace industry for certain critical
programs and challenging part configurations.
PROMISING FUTURE
As a family business, SST has been successful for several generations. Today, the third generation is deeply involved in the operation and success of the company, and the fourth generation has
begun their journey within the company to continue the level of
growth and success that was started almost 60 years ago.
The same philosophy will be ingrained into each generation
to come: respect all those who work for the company, respect and
serve its customers with exceptional service, and continue to be a
leader in the industry with the highest quality, best service, and
a vision for new opportunities and change, said Sosnowski.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Mark Sosnowski at (586) 293-5355 or at mark@sst.net. To learn more about Specialty Steel Treating, visit www.sst.net.
Advantages
Booth #738
AS ISO
9001:2008
9100C
Heat Treating
Nondestructive Testing
registered
Nadcap Accredited for Heat Treating at our Souderton, PA, Hermitage, PA, and Fontana, CA facilities. Nadcap Accredited for Nondestructive Testing at our Hermitage, PA facility only.
VACUUM PROCESSING
outer quenches
Figure 4: Four individually controllable quenches of fixture-hardening machine enable shape corrections via cooling conditions
A new inductive hardening and tempering process combines the benefits of induction heating and hardening
with the benefits of a press hardening process.
INDUCTIVE FIXTURE
HARDENING
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Hardening
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Tempering
Stage 8
Figure 1: Inductive mandrel-hardening process stages: (1) part placed on holding device, (2) inductively heated to
900C, (3) workpiece driven onto the calibration mandrel, (4) quench part, (5) place inductor around calibration
mandrel, (6) temper part, (7) gap appears between part and mandrel, (8) remove part from mandrel
Stage 4
Power
60 kw
Frequency
Cycle Time
Surface Hardness
650-720 HV1
0.3-0.6 mm
Core Hardness
320-420 HV1
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Hardening
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Tempering
Accuracy:
Circularity
< 0.05 mm
Parallelism
< 0.05 mm
Tapering/Rectangularity
< 0.05 mm
INDUCTIVE MANDREL-HARDENING
PROCESS
Stage 8
!!!"
thermalprocessing.com | 27
INDUCTIVE PRESS-HARDENING
PROCESS
Washing
Machine
Tempering
Furnace
A layout of a conventional furnace is shown in Figure 5. Main components are a rotary hearth furnace for carburization followed by a
conventional fixture hardening machine for already heated work28 | Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions
Load &
Unload
System
Inductive Fixture
Hardening and
Tempering Machine
Transport
System
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Goy studied electrotechnology at the Technical University of Darmstadt. In 1985, he started his career as a
design engineer of metallurgical induction furnaces at Leybold Heraeus GmbH (now ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH) in Hanau. In 1992, he became a process
and engineering calculation engineer for metallurgical processesin the R&D department. Since 2005, Goy has been with EMA-Indutec GmbH in Meckesheim,
Germany first, as head of process development and commissioning and today, in the management department for technology and R&D.
Dipl.-Ing. Detlev Bartknecht is also with EMA-Indutec GmbH. For more information, call +49 6226-788-0 or email sales@ema-indutec.com.
EMA is part of the Aichelin Group. For more information, contact sales@aichelinusa.com or visit Booth #655 the ASM Heat Treat Exhibition on October 20-22
at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan.
Booth
#1932
Services
Gas Carburize
Vacuum Carburize
Press & Plug Quench
Vacuum Heat Treat
Neutral Hardening
Gas Nitriding
And much more
Quality
Accreditations
TS 16949
AS9100
Nadcap
ISO 9001
Woman Owned Business
www.sst.net
Quick Overview:
Since 1956, Specialty Steel Treating has evolved to become the
leader in precision heat treating and operates in six (6) different
facilities totaling over 200,000 square feet of manufacturing
space. As a company we pride ourselves in process
innovation, supply chain management and customer
service with keeping quality and integrity to our
customers the number one priority. We are proudly
serving the aerospace, automotive, off road truck
and bus and medical markets along with several
other niche segments.
info@sst.net
586-293-5355
thermalprocessing.com | 29
Reliable furnace equipment design and innovative ZeroFlow control offers heat treating with lower gas
consumption and the lowest emissions in gas nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing.
Retort-based nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing have been around a long time. Modern day
challenges include providing known, repeatable hardness and surface case structures with
the lowest possible investment and cost. While
combining these factors may be difficult for
equipment manufacturers, experience in designing equipment for challenging applications helps
ensure meeting customer requirements. Here is a
detailed look at Seco/Warwicks use of advanced
automation, ZeroFlow control technique, and
reliable furnace equipment designs for the production of gears for diesel engines used in trucks,
buses, construction machines, boats, and other
industrial applications.
30 | Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions
AUTOMATED, HIGH-VOLUME
SYSTEM DESIGN
DESIGN FEATURES
ROLE OF CONVECTION
Historically, most gas nitriding (or nitrocarburizing) has been performed in a retort-style
chamber. This enables holding the ammonia
at an elevated temperature and controlling its
release only via a controlled exhaust. Seco/
Warwick has decades of experience with these
retort systems, including horizontal retorts,
vertical pit retorts, and bell-type vertical
retorts. All of these furnaces have common
Gas nitriding (and the related nitrocarburizing) is a complex process. While there have
been many process advancements in this area
over the years, the combination of various
gas reactions and understanding equipment
design still present a challenge. Convection
plays a significant role in nitriding and nitrocarburizing.
Using dense workloads is the most costeffective way to heat treat. Getting the workload up to temperature is important, but
because gas nitriding is a fairly low temperature process (below 600C), radiation does
not play a significant role in heating a dense
load. Also, because nitriding reactions at the
metal surface are temperature dependent, all
parts must be at the same temperature so that
they have the same time-temperature history.
This requirement makes equipment design
critical. Figure 3 shows a typical flow schematic of a convection system performing well.
The equipment designer must make trade-offs
between cost, performance, productivity, and
quality. However, for gas nitriding, it is not
thermalprocessing.com | 31
Over the years, much has been learned about nitriding (and nitrocarburizing), mainly that nitriding potential must be adjustable to control various reaction kinetics that occur at the steel surface. To control
and mold the desired nitrogen transport into the steel, methods
were developed to adjust or maintain the nitriding potential, which
is always changing if no control method is used. Initially, dissociated
ammonia (75-percent hydrogen and 25-percent nitrogen) was used
[2] and its percentage adjusted together with simultaneously flowing
raw ammonia gas into the retort. As nitrogen became less expensive,
only nitrogen was flowed with raw ammonia gas as a dilution method
to adjust nitriding potential [3]. These processes worked (although
they created a more complex non-equilibrium process), and the extra
gases used were not a major concern. Today, using extra process gas
is a concern and is an added expense.
Use of less ammonia means less storage and less ammonia emissions
as well. Seco/Warwicks advanced systems offer less gas use, lower
emissions, good convection design, and high-quality construction.
A retort-based system also offers options to add cooling and to use
vacuum to speed purging air and save on using expensive gases.
20 BAR QUENCH
VACUUM FURNACE
Booth #743
SSQ-IQ SERIES
Get fast, forceful gas cooling with Solar Manufacturings SSQ series
of vacuum carburizing furnaces. Its high performance internal
quench system with direct-exit, sliding radiation baffles is the least
restricted gas flow path on the market for superior hardening at quench
pressures up to 20 bar.
HORIZONTAL
CAR BOTTOM
VERTICAL
BOTTOM LOADING
HCB VBL
SOLAR
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IQ
P 267.384.5040
W
EXTERNAL
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EQ
solarmfg.com
THE MENTOR
MIQ
thermalprocessing.com | 33
CASE HISTORY:
PROCESS AND
RESULTS
NH3
N2
80
70
heating
(100%NH3)
60
50
Stage I
490-530C
40
Stage II
530C
30
20
cooling
(100%N2)
ZeroFlow p
process
100%NH3
10
0
REFERENCES
90
Consu
umption of NH3 & N2 [m3]
20
40
60
80
100
Time [h]
Figure 5: Process-gas consumption for nitriding at 530C and creating a gamma prime + alpha ( + a) layer
Michigan
Wisconsin
China
England
India
C and N distribution, %
4120
N
2
0
0,00
0,05
0,10
0,15
0,20
0,25
0,30
0,35
0,40
Figure 6: Nitrogen and carbon diffusion at the surface in 4120 alloy steel
WEVE CREATED A
MONSTER.
Applied Process Inc. makes bigger parts, better.
www.appliedprocess.com
thermalprocessing.com | 35
APPL056 MonsterParts_ThermProcMag_3.75x9.875_FA.indd 1
8/15/14 5:03 PM
Figure 3b: Cross section of the gear teeth shown in Figure 2 at 500x, etched using nital
Figure 4: Microindentation hardness profile in the nitrided layer of the gear shown in Figure 2
Case depth,
mm
Case depth,
in.
90
0.013-0.025
0.0005-0.001
70
0.025-0.051
0.001-0.002
50
0.051-0.010
0.002-0.004
30
0.051-0.102
0.002-0.004
25
0.051-0.010
0.002-0.004
thermalprocessing.com | 37
Figure 5: Plasma nitriding of the AISI 4340 alloy-steel gear used in the power industry. Mechanical masking/
segmented fixturing covers a portion of the outside diameter of the gear to perform selective hardening.
Stop-Off Paint
50
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Figure 6: Cross section of the gear teeth shown in Figure 5, etched with 3% nital: (a) 50x, b) 1000x
of such a gear after plasma nitriding. A very long nitriding cycle (>200
h) is required to achieve a 1-mm-thick case depth [14]. Despite long
nitriding process times, avoiding excessive compound (white) layer
thicknesses in the nitride layer structure is easily achieved because
of the nature of the process low partial pressure of nitrogen and
sputtering [15]. A side effect of the sputtering in long nitriding cycles
is the deposit of nitrides. This is from the dusty plasma visible on top
of the gear tip, as you can see in Figure 8 [2]. The deposit is easily
removed by light mechanical cleaning.
GAS NITRIDING
Gas nitriding of gears enables forming layers with the same depth
and structure as in plasma nitriding. However, this requires good
process control to avoid formation of an excessively thick compound
layer containing porosity in long cycles. Also, selective treatment in
gas nitriding is difficult because it requires copper plating for local
protection from nitriding.
Titanium alloys have specific properties, such as a high strength-toweight ratio, as well as low magnetic susceptibility and low thermal
and electrical conductivities [16]. Ion-nitrided titanium alloys also have
excellent tribological and corrosion-resistant properties [17]. Therefore,
nitriding is used for parts used in the most demanding applications.
The process is carried out at a temperature between 680C 900C,
typically in pure nitrogen or a mixture of nitrogen with argon. Gear
shafts in the as-nitrided condition used in aerospace applications are
shown in Figure 9. It is not possible to do selective hardening of titanium products as is done with ferrous alloys due to the high chemical
reactivity of titanium toward nitrogen [2]. Nitriding a titanium part
imparts a gold or yellow color attributed to the presence of a thin
(meaning few microns) titanium nitride (TiN) film, which is very
hard. The layer underneath, composed of Ti2N and Ti-Al-V nitrides, is
about 10 m thick (see Figure 10). The diffusion layer below the nitride
layer cannot be etched easily due to its high corrosion resistance, but
its thickness is determined from a microindentation hardness profile
(see Figure 11). Hardness in the diffusion layer diminishes relatively
quickly even though total nitrogen penetration reaches 30-40 m in
a typical nitriding cycle.
CONCLUSIONS
Figure 10: Cross section of gear teeth shown in Figure 9, at 200x, etched using
Kroll reagent
Figure 11: Microindentation hardness profile in nitrided layer of the gear shown in Figure 9.
The first microindentation hardness measurement was taken at the surface.
enables using the process as a final operation, thus reducing manufacturing costs. Another benefit is the ability to apply mechanical masking for selective hardening of the product. Ion-nitrided titanium alloys also have excellent tribological and corrosion-resistant properties.
REFERENCES
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Dr. Edward Rolinski received his M.S. in manufacturing technology in 1970 at the Warsaw University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland. Upon
receiving his doctorate for his research on phenomenon in the ion nitriding process in 1978, Rolinski continued his academic career, teaching physical metallurgy and
surface engineering, and received his ScD (habilitation) for studying plasma nitriding of titanium in 1989. He has also worked on the plasma nitriding process at MIT with
Professor Nick J. Grant and with Professor Ken H. Jack at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1989, he moved to the United States and eventually joined the staff at
Advanced Heat Treat Corp. where he is the vice president of technology, solving technical problems and developing technologies. He has published numerous articles and
co-authored two books.
Tekin Damirgi received his B.S. in engineering technology in production and metallurgy. From 1980 to 1995, he was a research engineer at Specialized Institute for
Engineering Industries at Bagdad, Iraq. From 1997 to 2001, Damirgi worked at Meritor Automotive Inc./Heritage of Rockwell Technology, Fairfield, Iowa, as a material
conformance engineer. Since 2001 to present, he has been working at Advanced Heat Treat Corp. in Waterloo, Iowa, as a chief metallurgist, developing new process
instructions and recipes for nitriding ferrous alloys and titanium alloys for different applications and developing gear nitriding specifications through custom design
engineering.
Mikel S. Woods has been the senior VP of sales and marketing at Advanced Heat Treat Corp (AHT) for the last three years, after assuming the director of sales and marketing
position for seven years. Prior to AHT, Woods was program manager at HUSCO International (Waukesha, Wisconsin) and senior/staff auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers in
Milwaukee. He has an Executive M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Iowa. At AHT, Woods has co-authored
publications on ion nitriding, gas nitriding, and ferritic nitrocarburizing, and he has played an active role in obtaining several grants associated with plasma nitriding.
production facilities
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Advancements in robotics have paved the way for cost-effective, nondestructive eddy current inspection of
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Eddy current is a nondestructive testing technique proven for use in heat treatment and
material structure verification. Modern multifrequency eddy current instruments can test
for conditions such as misplaced case, shallow
case, short heat, short quench, and delayed
quench.
Gears, bearings, axles, shafts, and other
components are heat treated to develop the
required strength and durability. Heat treatment is a critical process in the manufacture
of powder metallurgy components to produce
42 | Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions
ADVANCED ROBOTICS
CONSIDERATIONS
Easy to reconfigure
nondestructive testing and development of eddy current systems development. Criterion NDT specializes in providing engineered eddy current
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The acetylene vacuum carburizing (AvaC) process helps to ensure consistent part quality and to improve the
manufacturing costs in producing gears.
Over the past few decades, the vacuum carburizing process has been proven to produce
superior part quality. In addition, the use
of vacuum technology for carburizing has
the most potential to improve the manufacturing process by reducing both processing
time and the number of manufacturing steps
required to produce a part [1]. These savings
are achieved by increased productivity, resulting in lower part costs and reduced total cost
of ownership.
Lower part costs are also achieved by optimizing the case-depth uniformity of parts
during the vacuum carburizing process. For
this, the carburizing process and influenc46 | Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Process Development
Begins
Process Introduction to
Industry
Process Limitations
Uncovered
Ultra-high-pressure
carburizing techniques
developed using natural
gas, 100-percent methane,
and propane
Combination of low-pressure
carburizing equipment
designs using acetylene achieve
production vacuum carburizing
with over 95-percent up-time
reliability
Various vacuum
carburizing method
patents issued
Lower carburizing
pressures and various
gas introduction methods
are adopted to attempt to
reduce soot formation
Modular-designed batch,
semi-continuous and
continuous vacuum carburizing
furnaces become integrated
into manufacturing and become
a viable alternative to the use of
atmosphere furnaces
Limitations of existing
vacuum equipment
identified
Equipment limitations
improve with the
introduction of new
vacuum integral oil quench
batch equipment
Plasma carburizing
becomes a popular
alternative to vacuum
carburizing
Changes in material
chemistry make gas
quenching an economical
alternative to oil quenching
thermalprocessing.com | 47
SINCE 1970
Anneal
Straightening
Quench & Temper
Flame Hardening
Carburize
Solution Anneal
Normalize
Shot blasting
Carbide Removal
Cryogenics
Stress Relieve
Vacuum Heat Treating
Solution Treat and Age of Aluminum/Aerospace Specifications
MEMBER
205-681-8595
PVHT.COM
48 | Thermal Processing for Gear Solutions
Decreased cycle times due to higher carburizing temperatures and increased carbon
diffusion rates
Highly efficient due to low gas consumption
Higher temperatures
Parts are typically quenched after obtaining the specified case depth.
Goals for quenching with reduced distortion include:
Uniform heat extraction over the entire surface of the part
Uniform heat extraction on every part within one load
Material- and part-adapted timing to control the quench intensity
25%
MORE
Booth #622
ASK US
HOW
COMPOSITE RADIANT TUBES
REFERENCES
ENGINEERED SOLUTIONS
CONCLUSION
>
Booth #733
800-547-1527
www.AjaxTocco.com
thermalprocessing.com | 51
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Gas 2100F. ........................................................... REF #103
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24W 40D 18H Despatch Gas 650F ......................... REF #103
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EQUIPMENT HERE!
For more information,
contact Thermal Processing
for Gear Solutions at:
800-366-2185
thermalprocessing.com | 53
MARKETPLACE
ISO 9001-2000 REGISTERED
SINCE 1970
Anneal
Straightening
Quench & Temper
Flame Hardening
Carburize
Solution Anneal
Normalize
Shot blasting
Carbide Removal
Cryogenics
Stress Relieve
Vacuum Heat Treating
Solution Treat and Age of Aluminum/Aerospace Specifications
205-681-8595
MEMBER
PVHT.COM
think
outside
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54 | Thermal Processing
www.inductoheat.com
FEA computer modeling
Single part process monitoring
Single-shot, scanning, tooth by tooth
Single-coil dual-frequency technology
Wide range of gear & bearing diameters
Hypoid ring, spiral bevel, worm and pinion gears
AD INDEX
COMPANY NAME
PAGE NO.
AFC-Holcroft......................................................................................... 7
Ajax-Tocco Magnethermic.................................................................51
ALD Thermal Treatment....................................................................45
Applied Process.................................................................................35
Avion Manufacturing.........................................................................38
BOS Services Company............................................................. 38, 54
Custom Electric Manufacturing......................................................IBC
DMP CryoSystems............................................................................ 17
Dry Coolers, Inc...................................................................................3
ECM-USA, Inc...................................................................................... 21
EFD Induction....................................................................................19
847-202-0000
duffycompany.com
Inductoheat...................................................................................1, 54
Inex.....................................................................................................50
Ipsen USA........................................................................IFC, 10-11, 54
Lucifer Furnaces, Inc........................................................................54
Orton Ceramics -- TempTab..............................................................32
Penna Flame Industries...................................................................15
Pinson Valley Heat Treating...................................................... 48, 54
Seco/Warwick..................................................................................5, 9
Solar Atmospheres..................................................................... 25, 54
Solar Manufacturing.........................................................................33
Specialty Steel Treating....................................................................29
Steeltech Ltd......................................................................................BC
Stor-Loc..............................................................................................54
The Heat
Treating
Doctor
VOLUME 2
www.heat-treat-doctor.com
thermalprocessing.com | 55
Q&A
DENNIS BEAUCHESNE
GENERAL MANAGER, ECM USA INC.
process that was needed to produce the required
case depth on manual-transmission parts. The
first known high-volume furnace was a two-cell
vertical system installed in France in 1991 with
gas quenching in a separate cell. Two additional
vertical furnaces were installed, one in 1992 and
one in 1993 with four cells each. This was the
beginning of high-volume systems with internal
automation and high-pressure gas quenching.
After several years, manufacturers in the U.S.
caught on, quickly implementing vacuum carburizing in major automotive programs for fiveand six-gear automatic transmissions along with
driveline components starting in 1999 and 2000.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on ECM USA products and services, visit www.ecm-usa.com or call (262) 925-6321.
Booth #744
LIGHTWEIGHT FIXTURES
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