One Minute Mentor: Nitrogen-Expanded Austenite
July 7, 2017
Source:
The graph shows hardness-depth profiles of nitrided AISI 316. A profile for carburizing is shown for comparison.
Lines obtained by fitting a sigmoidal function are given to guide the eye. The hardness values measured directly at the surface (with the same load) were 1585 HV for KN = 2.49; and 1417 HV for KN= 0.293.
The effect of the nitriding potential is also reflected in the hardness-depth profiles. A smooth decrease near the surface is followed by a sharp drop at a position close to the transition from γN to γ. Nitrogen-expanded austenite is very hard, and the transition from the hardened case to the (soft) core occurs within a few microns.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Low-Temperature Surface Hardening of Stainless Steel ⇒ Gaseous Low-Temperature Surface Hardening of Austenitic Stainless Steel
The graph shows hardness-depth profiles of nitrided AISI 316. A profile for carburizing is shown for comparison.
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Featured Paper from Heat Treat 2017
Source:
Mr. Pete Kerbel , Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, IL
Today's competitive environment often requires one to do more with less – to make equipment last longer and run more efficiently. As such, there are several factors that go into making your equipment run to the best of its ability. With our industry becoming more demanding, there has never been a better time to ask the question: "Where, and in what, do I invest my money with aging equipment?"
This paper offers a close-up look at what is possible when weighing different options for upgrading an aging vacuum furnace, focusing on the many factors that go into choosing the right upgrades and repairs for both your equipment and process requirements.
Specific topics covered include:
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The three factors you should always consider before replacing a hot zone
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What is required for data acquisition?
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The role preventative maintenance plays in extending your equipment's life span
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How much is too much to invest in aging equipment?
View Abstract
Today’s competitive environment often requires one to do more with less – to make equipment last longer and run more efficiently.
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Nitrex awarded contract for turnkey nitriding system by European auto components supplier
July 5, 2017
Source:
Nitrex Metal Inc., St. Laurent, Quebec, announces that a European automotive components supplier has awarded it a contract for the supply of a turnkey nitriding system with potential-controlled Nitreg technology. The project involves the replacement of an old gas nitriding furnace with a modern system that will improve operational efficiency, offer superior gas and energy consumption, meet environmental objectives, and ensure an employee-friendly work environment.
The new system will nitride a variety of H11 and H13 aluminum extrusion dies for manufacturing automotive structural components supplied to most major vehicle manufacturers. Entirely custom and tested recipes based on Nitreg technology were developed for the application, enabling consistent uniformity and repeatability of results. Other priorities for the customer were conservation of resources, as well as environmental compliance and noise reduction. In contrast to the previous nitrider, the Nitrex system is programmed to work with a low consumption of gasses and electricity. Auxiliary hardware such as the effluent neutralizer helps comply with environmental regulations, while a silencer fitted on the cooling blower controls noise exposure for better working conditions.
The furnace has working dimensions of 47.25 inches diameter by 59 inches high (1200 x 1500 mm) and a load capacity of 6600 pounds (3000 kg). Delivery is scheduled for the third quarter of 2017.
www.nitrex.com
Nitrex Metal Inc., St. Laurent, Quebec, announces that a European automotive components supplier has awarded it a contract for the supply of a turnkey nitriding system with potential-controlled Nitreg technology.
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Ipsen Atlas integral quench batch furnace helps ThermTech meet growing demand
July 3, 2017
Source:
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that heat treating firm ThermTech recently purchased another Atlas integral quench batch furnace for carburizing, carbonitriding, and neutral hardening while supporting business from the oil and gas and heavy equipment industries.
As the economy continues to pick up, the company needed to expand its existing Ipsen atmosphere line to keep up with increased demand. Based on the strong performance from the Atlas atmosphere furnace and ancillary equipment installed in 2015, ThermTech recently purchased another Atlas integral quench batch furnace.
"We have worked with several major providers of heat treatment equipment, but Ipsen is among the best for providing support after equipment is purchased," said Mary Springer, Vice President of ThermTech. Supported by Ipsen's global ICS (Ipsen Customer Service) Team, ThermTech has received installation and startup assistance, as well as dedicated local support for all its equipment, regardless of the manufacturer.
In a shop where every furnace matters and uptime is critical to success, being able to receive the furnace in a short timeframe was also important. Ipsen offers companies significant time savings with reduced lead time on the Atlas, a modular platform. Overall, Ipsen's Atlas atmosphere line provides repeatable quality results. This includes achieving consistent, uniform case depth and uniform quench hardness because of the advanced quench system design.
www.IpsenUSA.com/ATLAS.
www.ThermTech.net
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that heat treating firm ThermTech recently purchased another Atlas integral quench batch furnace for carburizing, carbonitriding, and neutral hardening while supporting business from the oil and gas and heavy equipment industries.
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Bodycote awarded GM supplier quality excellence award for carburizing and nitriding
Source:
Bodycote, England, announces that its plant in Silao, Mexico, has been awarded the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2016. Bodycote's Silao facility provides low pressure carburizing (LPC) and nitriding services to GM's Silao Transmission Operations for transmission gears. Suppliers who receive this award have met or exceeded a very stringent set of quality performance criteria as determined by cross-functional teams across the entire GM organization.
Dan McCurdy, President of Bodycote's North America & Asia Automotive & General Industrial division, noted that this award reflects the hard work and attention to detail of Bodycote's team: "Consistency in high levels of quality and service is our aim, every day. That we achieve this consistency in quality and service is evidenced by this recognition as a top performing supplier. This means a lot to our Silao team and we are proud of their achievement."
Last year, Bodycote's plant in Livonia, Michigan, received the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2015.
www.bodycote.com
Bodycote, England, announces that its plant in Silao, Mexico, has been awarded the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2016.
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Cliffs Natural Resources to invest $700 million in Toledo hot briquetted iron plant
Source:
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, announces that it will invest $700 million for the development of its first hot briquetted iron (HBI) production plant, to be located at a site in Toledo, Ohio. Cliffs selected Midrex Technologies to design, engineer, and procure equipment for the new plant, which will have the nominal capacity to produce 1.6 million tons of HBI per year.
The Midrex process is a direct reduction of iron (DRI) technology. According to the Midrex website, the Midrex Shaft Furnace can use natural gas, or a syngas from coal, or coke-oven gas as its reductant. Plants commonly operate in excess of 8000 hours per year. The Shaft Furnace can process either oxide pellets or lump ores to produce HBI.
"Operation of the Midrex Shaft Furnace is uncomplicated and straight-forward. Iron-bearing material is are introduced into the top of a cylindrical, refractory-lined vessel, where it descends by gravity flow and is contacted by upward flowing reducing gas. The reducing gas, which is primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide, reacts with the iron oxide to reduce (remove the oxygen content) and carburize the material prior to discharge. From there the product can be discharged as CDRI, HDRI, HBI or any combination simultaneously."—Midrex website.
Cliffs anticipates breaking ground for the construction of the HBI production plant in early 2018, with the production of commercial tonnage of HBI beginning in mid-2020. Cliffs considers the brownfield site at the Port of Toledo a premier location for development due to its relative proximity to several future customers, as well as its logistics advantages, including affordable natural gas availability and access by multiple rail carriers.
According to Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, "Today's announcement marks a very important strategic milestone for Cliffs as we begin to implement our plans to be the sole producer of high-quality HBI for the EAF steel market in the Great Lakes region. We look forward to the strong margin and earnings potential this new product will generate for Cliffs shareholders.
"We thank Governor John Kasich, JobsOhio, and a number of local partners in the Toledo community for their efforts to help advance this project, including an offer of approximately $30 million in grants and other financial incentives. We will continue to work closely with the State of Ohio through the environmental permitting process."
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is a leading mining and natural resources company. Founded in 1847, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is recognized as the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the United States. It is a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from its mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. Cliffs also operates an iron ore mining complex in Western Australia.
http://www.cliffsnaturalresources.com
www.midrex.com
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, announces that it will invest $700 million for the development of its first hot briquetted iron (HBI) production plant, to be located at a site in Toledo, Ohio.
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NanoSteel launches 3D-printable tool steel for laser powder bed fusion
June 26, 2017
Source:
Nanosteel, Providence, R.I., announces the launch of its first product for the laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process. BLDRmetal L-40 is a case-hardening steel powder that provides high hardness and ductility (case hardness >70HRC, 10%+ core elongation) and prints easily on standard commercial equipment.
This alloy provides superior performance to M300 maraging steel and is an alternative to difficult-to-print tool steels such as H13. Expanding the potential of 3D printing in a wide variety of hard materials markets, BLDRmetal L-40 is designed for parts such as tools, dies, bearings, and gears. The capabilities of BLDRmetal L-40 were demonstrated by printing an eight-inch roll thread die set, which outperformed dies machined from D2 and M2 tool steels.
"We tried nearly every combination of material and conventional CNC machining process to create our dual-thread die sets, none of which could cut or grind the complicated dual-thread geometry," said Mark Doll, President and CEO of Perfect Lock Bolt America Inc., the only North American manufacturer of dual-thread fasteners that are resistant to self-loosening. "The NanoSteel solution delivers exactly what we are looking for, including excellent surface finish and flexibility, as well as strength and hardness for maximum die life. This is a welcome technological innovation to the fastener industry. We have been pleased with our testing and are slated to start production this year."
NanoSteel developed this high-hardness alloy through rapid iterative development at CFK GmbH, an industry-leading 3D printing service provider, whose expertise was instrumental in developing the die from concept to finished part.
"For us, the most important attributes of NanoSteel's BLDRmetal L-40 are that it is easily implemented and creates crack-free high hardness components. This sets it apart from the many other tool steels we have tested," said Dr-Ing. Christoph Over, CEO at CFK. "We are proud to be a preferred printing service provider for NanoSteel, which will allow us to continue to offer the most valuable products to our customers."
"Launching BLDRmetal L-40 after successfully producing the roll thread dies ensures the commercial viability of the new alloy for customers investigating additive manufacturing," said Harald Lemke, Vice President and General Manager of NanoSteel Engineered Powders. "We don't stop at material design, but create joint solutions with our customers, facilitating the process from material selection and prototyping to fully qualified production parts." Building off earlier products for binder jet printing, NanoSteel continues to expand its product family for additive manufacturing.
www.nanosteelco.com
Nanosteel, Providence, R.I., announces the launch of its first product for the laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process.
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Danieli to build JSW Steel “Plate Mill of the Future” in Texas for higher quality and precision
Source:
JSW Steel (USA) Baytown, Texas, has received preliminary Board approval, contingent upon securing governmental financial support, to proceed with a full-scale modernization project expected to take approximately 20 months to complete. The new state-of-the-art discrete plate mill will significantly increase product offerings while improving customer service with exceptional quality. "While perfecting the unique plate and contiguous pipe mill facility in Baytown over the last two years, our engineering teams have been concurrently working to design the 'Plate Mill of the Future,'" says John Hritz, President and CEO of JSW Steel (USA).
JSW (USA) has awarded the project to Danieli, a world leader in steelmaking technology. "Danieli is the perfect partner for the modernization because they have been in business for more than 100 years and understand the level of quality and precision that the project will require."
As part of JSW's vision for the future, the plate mill modernization is the first phase of a much larger project under consideration by the Board. The second phase includes the construction of a new state-of-the-art melting and casting facility in the United States, utilizing new technologically superior and eco‑friendly processes. A location has not yet been determined for the melting and casting facility. If fully implemented, the new melting and casting facility is expected to create 500 new high wage American jobs over the course of three years. It would also increase JSW (USA)'s ability to supply defense, as well as energy pipeline and domestic infrastructure projects, a goal of the Trump administration for both national security and economic reasons.
"This is the perfect time in U.S. history to implement our vision; we finally have an environment that supports the expansion and technological advancement of the domestic steel industry," Mr. Hritz added. "We feel this project is fully in sync with rebuilding the American infrastructure promoted by the Trump administration."
"With this modernization, JSW (USA) will become a low cost producer of exceptional, high quality plate and will be able to significantly increase market share in the ever-strong U.S. market," said Parth Jindal, Director, JSW (USA). "With the thrust on manufacturing back, JSW feels there is no better time to invest in the U.S. market. The JSW Group's consideration to invest in JSW Steel (USA)'s expansion represents a vote of confidence in the future of U.S. manufacturing."
www.jswsteel.us
JSW Steel (USA) Baytown, Texas, has received preliminary Board approval, contingent upon securing governmental financial support, to proceed with a full-scale modernization project expected to take approximately 20 months to complete.
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One Minute Mentor: Depth Profiles of Nitrided Stainless Steel AISI 316
June 22, 2017
Source:
The graph shows composition-depth profiles of nitrided stainless steel AISI 316 as determined with glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES). It shows that, approaching from the austenite "substrate" for all nitriding potentials, a relatively steep increase in nitrogen content is established, after which the nitrogen content increases smoothly toward the surface.
Particularly for the higher nitriding potentials, the gradient in the nitrogen content increases again on approaching the surface. This phenomenon is largely explained by the strong concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient of nitrogen.
The effect of the nitriding potential is also reflected in the hardness-depth profiles: a smooth decrease near the surface followed by a sharp drop at a position close to the transition from γN to γ. Nitrogen-expanded austenite is very hard, and the transition from the hardened case to the (soft) core occurs within a few microns.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Low-Temperature Surface Hardening of Stainless Steel ⇒ Gaseous Low-Temperature Surface Hardening of Austenitic Stainless Steel
The graph shows composition-depth profiles of nitrided stainless steel AISI 316 as determined with glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES).
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ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada completes $20 million finishing line at Quebec bar mill
June 21, 2017
Source: ASM International
ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada, Longueuil, Quebec, has inaugurated a new$20 million finishing line at its bar mill, to increase the facility’s annual rolling capacity from 400,000 to 500,000 metric tons.
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