HEAT TREAT 2019 – 30th HEAT TREATING SOCIETY CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

SECO/WARWICK Group will showcase their broad array of heat treating solutions. The group will exhibit the wide portfolio of  roller hearth and rotary retort furnaces as well as a wide variety of vacuum furnace technologies. These vacuum technologies include Vector, the all-purpose vacuum furnace; CaseMaster Evolution, a high-efficiency, integral quench vacuum furnace; UniCase Master, a true single-piece flow hardening vacuum furnace for high-volume gear manufacturers; as well as nitriding furnace. SECO/WARWICK is in booth 1209. SECO/VACUUM is in booth 1207.

SECO/WARWICK Group invites you to attend our speeches:

Nitriding, Its Growth and Tribological Benefits for Surface Engineering

Day/Time/Room: Tuesday, October 15, 2019: 9:00 am 251A (COBO Center)

Speakers: Mark Hemsath , SVT VP of Sales & Marketing & Prof. Daniel H. Herring, The HERRING GROUP Inc.

Description: Nitriding is here to stay. Various nitriding methods, their history and processing options are compared in this review.

A critical question is, “Why has the nitriding field grown so rapidly in recent years?” The answer is complex, but this paper considers the question by looking at two factors: tribological properties of nitrided layers and advances in equipment and processes which have improved reliability, repeatability and flexibility.

Nitriding has a rich history spanning over 100 years. It is the nitrided surface itself that is largely responsible for increased interest. The surface engineering that is possible along with its predictable and relatively distortion-less results are huge factors in its growth.

Two nitriding technologies have become dominant in recent years: gas and ion. Gas nitriding has gone from simple atmosphere furnaces using single or two-stage processes, to advanced vacuum purged equipment that can carefully predict and control nitriding potential. Ion (plasma) nitriding has progressed from plasma heating in cold wall vacuum furnaces to the use of hot wall technologies and pulsed plasma. Both processes and their advances are discussed as each offers engineers choices that result in properly nitrided parts capable of meeting the most stringent requirements.

The Future of the Integral Quench Furnace

Day/Time/Room: Tuesday, October 15, 2019: 9:40 am, 251C (COBO Center)

Speakers: Mr. Mark Hemsath , SVT VP Sales & Marketing, Prof. Daniel H. Herring , The HERRING GROUP, Inc., Mr. Tomasz Przygonski , SECO/WARWICK S.A.

Description: The heat treat industry is constantly advancing and carburizing is no exception.. Atmosphere gas and low-pressure vacuum carburizing are well known, well-established and distinct processes. However, rarely do these two technologies compete in the same commercial space. Gas carburizing in integral (sealed) oil quench furnaces is the workhorse of the industry while low-pressure carburizing produces the absolute best quality. Combining the best of both methods will result in a more competitive future!

The changing workforce and the demand for global competitiveness in manufacturing (higher quality, repeatability, lower part unit cost, flexibility, predictive maintenance, on-demand operation, sophisticated process control) are the motivating factors behind combining the best of both atmosphere and vacuum carburizing technology into a single piece of equipment whose total cost of ownership makes the technology competitive.

Engineers have been struggling for years to find an alternative to the use of endothermic gas and/or nitrogen-methanol system to create and control a carrier gas atmosphere. The future demands no endothermic gas be used.

After several years of research, a practical solution has emerged, been tested, and equipment deployed, and this paper provides some of the extensive results, features, motivation and plans for the next generation of integral quench furnace.

Advanced Distortion Control for Heat Treated Components

Day/Time/Room: Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at 4:20 pm in Room 251B (COBO Center)

Speaker: Tom Hart, SVT Product Manager

Description: Material distortion is an undesired characteristic observed when a produced component requires a thermo-chemical heat treatment process followed by a rapid quench to obtain desired mechanical and metallurgical properties with uniform case depth and hardness profile.  Due to the distortion taking place during this process, the manufacturer is faced with the costly choice of leaving excess material on a machined component before the heat treatment process, only to be removed after the heat treatment process by post heat treatment manufacturing methods.  When steps are taken to reduce material distortion (prior to hard machining operations), manufacturers can significantly reduce costs and subsequently speed up the overall manufacturing process.

This paper will discuss the unique method of distortion control for heat treated and quenched components by use of a 4-Dimensional High-Pressure Gas Quench (4D HPGQ) technique.  This system has the ability to quench a single component without fixturing versus either a free quench or complex press quench approach.  The 4D HPGQ process results in components being individually quenched in an identical manner while having minimal distortion in relation to the green component.  4D HPGQ systems are easily integrated into machining centers improving lead time and costs associated with traditional heat treatment processes.

Triple Chamber Vacuum Furnace Systems – The Low Pressure Carburizing Workhorse

Day/Time/Room: Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 10:20 am in Room 251C (COBO Center)

Speaker: Don Marteeny, SVT Technical Director

Description: Multi-chamber vacuum furnace systems have become the system of choice for high throughput, highly precise low pressure carburizing (LPC) applications over the past two decades. Compared to traditional gas carburizing in continuous or batch integral quench atmosphere style furnaces, LPC run in modern vacuum furnaces reduces carburizing gas consumption while providing more consistent results when considering case depth, surface hardness, and core hardness. Multi-chamber furnaces provide this level of precision while also maintaining the high production level required in automotive or aerospace applications. Multi-chamber vacuum furnace systems come in a variety of different configurations ranging from manufacturing cells with separate heating and quench chambers to semi-continuous multi chamber systems. To understand the potential benefits of these systems, two sample applications are presented using a triple chamber semi-continuous vacuum carburizing system. Both oil and gas quenching capabilities are considered. The results of these two studies show the semi-continuous, triple chamber design is capable of similar, if not, superior results while providing increased productivity and increased uptime when compared with other, more traditional multi – furnace or continuous furnace systems.