Low-pressure carbonitration developed for case hardening
November 25, 2015
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, reports that its engineers are now working on low-pressure carbonitration, a process for the case hardening of low-alloy steel with methylamine. Together with researchers of Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart, they found that methylamine and dimethylamine process gases cause a good enrichment of the surface layer with carbon and nitrogen. The steels hardened in this way are suitable for structures such as the Bosch high-strength auto components shown here.
At temperatures between 800 and 1050°C and total pressures below 50 millibars, the surface of the component to be hardened is enriched with carbon and nitrogen from methylamine and subsequently hardened by quenching. The project is aimed at studying the fundamentals of low-pressure carbonitration and developing this process to maturity in cooperation with research and industry partners.
"Low-pressure carbonitration combines the advantages of low-pressure processes with those of atmospheric carbonitration," says project leader David Koch. Conventional atmospheric carbonitration damages the surface of the components treated by oxidation. This can be prevented by low-pressure processes. In addition, a more homogeneous hardness profile is generated in the component, in particular in complex component geometries.
Up to now, low-pressure carbonitration has been carried out nearly exclusively with ammonia as a nitrogen donor, and ethyne or propane as a carbon donor. The KIT scientists have now studied other gases and gas mixtures for suitability. When using methylamine for low-pressure carbonitration, only one gas instead of two is required, and the usually applied two process steps can be reduced to one. Compared to the use of ammonia as nitrogen donor together with a carbon donor, methylamine alone reaches a higher nitrogen enrichment in the surface layer. As carbon enters the surface layer in parallel, the process duration is shortened considerably. Methylamine also allows for carbonitration at much higher temperatures, which additionally shortens the process duration. Moreover, the degree of utilization of methylamine as a process gas is better, so that less is needed.
The results for low-pressure carbonitration with methylamine have been published in HTM – The Journal of Heat Treatment and Materials.
https://www.kit.edu/english
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, reports that its engineers are now working on low-pressure carbonitration, a process for the case hardening of low-alloy steel with methylamine.
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Lindberg/MPH ships aluminum immersion holding furnace to automotive supplier
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Lindberg/MPH, Riverside, Mich., announces the shipment of an electric immersion aluminum holding furnace for a leader in the automotive parts industry to maintain aluminum at the required temperature for die casting. The aluminum holding capacity of the furnace is 2400 lb.
This furnace utilizes Lindberg/MPH patented board lining and high-efficiency immersion tubes/heaters. Dual air-over-oil lifting tanks ensure smooth opening and closing of the fill well cover. A cast fill well was added to the furnace shell using a castable virtually inert to aluminum. A pneumatically lifted, insulated center chamber cover saves energy and a multi-colored stack light indicates molten metal level. A safety disconnect switch to de-energize power to the heating elements was also included.
In addition to melting and holding furnaces for nonferrous alloys, Lindberg/MPH is a leading manufacturer of standard and custom industrial heat treat furnaces, including pit, box, IQ, and belt type for the ferrous and non-ferrous markets.
www.lindbergmph.com
Lindberg/MPH, Riverside, Mich., announces the shipment of an electric immersion aluminum holding furnace for a leader in the automotive parts industry to maintain aluminum at the required temperature for die casting.
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Buehler introduces fully automated hardness tester
November 24, 2015
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Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., an ITW company, created the fully automatic Wilson VH3300 Vickers/Knoop hardness test system to meet virtually any requirement in the area of automated precision micro hardness testing. The VH3300 is equipped with patent-pending collision protection technology, a high-speed sample stage, and DiaMet universal testing software. The new system features a six-position test head with up to three indenters and three zoom objectives, an automated X/Y sample stage available in two sizes (180 x 180 mm as standard) and a powerful image analysis system. A high-resolution digital camera provides up to 2000× magnification. The entire system is controlled through the DiaMet hardness automation software to ensure high accuracy acquisition and analysis of test data. A wide range of test loads from 5 g to 60 kg (depending on configuration) renders the sturdy system suitable for a wide variety of applications. A purpose-designed collision protection system helps to avoid accidental damage to the indenters and objectives due to operator errors. The VH3300 hardness testing system provides a superior, high capacity testing platform capable of performing 150 make-and-measure indents per hour using the fully automated test program. For more information, visit www.buehler.com or email [email protected].
Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., an ITW company, created the fully automatic Wilson VH3300 Vickers/Knoop hardness test system to meet virtually any requirement in the area of automated precision micro hardness testing.
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One Minute Mentor: Hardening Type W1 Tool Steels
November 19, 2015
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W1 steels are capable of hardening to high surface hardness and soft core which is useful in some shock applications. They are low cost tool steels with fair to good wear resistance as carbon content increases. As they are water quenched and have poor dimensional stability, their use is limited to fairly uniform sections with minimum amount of stress risers; in other applications quench cracking can occur. The graph shows an isothermal transformation diagram for a W1 steel.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels -> Heat Treating of Cold-Work Tool Steels—Low- and Un-Alloyed Water and Oil Hardening Steels -> Water-Hardening Tool Steels
W1 steels are capable of hardening to high surface hardness and soft core which is useful in some shock applications.
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Air Liquide agrees to acquire Airgas for $13.4 billion
November 18, 2015
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Air Liquide, Paris, and Airgas, Radnor, Pa., announce an agreement under which Air Liquide will acquire Airgas for $143 per share for all outstanding shares of Airgas, representing a total enterprise value of $13.4 billion. In the transaction, Airgas will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Liquide.
Combining Air Liquide and Airgas will bring together two highly complementary businesses to deliver greater value, service, and innovation to customers in North America and around the world. In the United States, Airgas' leadership in the packaged gases business and associated products/services, and Air Liquide's strong footprint in complementary activities, will increase the scope and competitiveness of the combined companies' product offerings.
This acquisition gives Air Liquide a greater presence in the U.S. market, the largest for industrial gases worldwide, and will ideally position Air Liquide for future growth. In addition, there is potential for further growth using Airgas' footprint to accelerate the deployment of Air Liquide's technologies.
The combination builds on Air Liquide's longstanding track record of successfully operating in the United States, and will benefit from Airgas' unmatched national presence and its more than one million customers in the United States, as well as from its leading customer-facing platform, including e-commerce and telesales capabilities. The combined entity will be able to better serve customers with the most advanced multi-distribution networks in the United States, and more competitive product offerings thanks to an integrated upstream-downstream model.
The acquisition will reinforce Air Liquide's global leadership position, increasing Gas & Services sales by around 30%. Upon completion of the acquisition, the combined company will be the leader in North America, complementing number one positions in Europe, Africa/Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. It will also be number one in Industrial Merchant and Large Industries, and co-number one in Electronics, worldwide.
The combined company will continue to implement an innovation strategy that combines scientific expertise, industry-leading technology and customer insight to bring new products and services to market. It will also improve existing offerings and open new markets, in particular by leveraging digital technologies. In addition, this combination will create new opportunities for employees as part of a leading global organization that is ideally positioned for growth.
www.airliquide.com
Air Liquide, Paris, and Airgas, Radnor, Pa., announce an agreement under which Air Liquide will acquire Airgas for $143 per share for all outstanding shares of Airgas, representing a total enterprise value of $13.4 billion.
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Can-Eng receives contracts for continuous mesh belt furnace systems
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Can-Eng Furnaces Intl. Ltd., Niagara Falls, Ontario, recently received four contracts for the design, manufacture, and commissioning of its 6000 lb/hour continuous mesh belt atmosphere furnace system. They are designed to provide atmosphere hardening and tempering of high-volume fasteners, and include computerized loading, a mesh-belt controlled-atmosphere hardening furnace, oil quench, pre- and post-wash, and enhanced part tracking.
Furnaces are integrated with a state-of-the-art combustion system that features advanced burner technology. All are fitted with modern radiant tube heating that provides improved efficiencies and reduced emissions.
Can-Eng's Level 2 automation tracks product status and collects detailed process data that is used for continuous process improvement, equipment diagnostics, processing cost analysis, and inventory management.
The systems are fully compliant with the requirements of AIAG CQI-9 Heat Treatment System guidelines.
www.can-eng.com
Can-Eng Furnaces Intl. Ltd., Niagara Falls, Ontario, recently received four contracts for the design, manufacture, and commissioning of its 6000 lb/hour continuous mesh belt atmosphere furnace system.
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ISTFA 2015 breaks attendance records
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The International Symposium for Testing & Failure Analysis (ISTFA) 2015 took Portland, Ore., by storm last week with record attendance and fun new events. This year's event attracted over 775 attendees and 101 exhibits worldwide. It included 18 tutorials, 14 technical sessions including 65 platform and poster presentations, four user groups, a new panel discussion, a fascinating plenary talk, and three pre-conference education short courses.
The technical program had a robust line up of talks including 93 oral and poster presentations as well as a panel discussion and four user groups. Kicking off the event, attendees heard this year's keynote speaker, Dr. Albert Yu-Min Lin, talk about his search to find the tomb of Genghis Khan using non-invasive techniques.
The sold out, sought-after "Tools of the Trade" tour was held on November 2 for an intimate group of pre-qualified ISTFA attendees. As part of the tour, attendees received special demonstrations from 10 exhibitors and their equipment followed by a networking reception.
The social event at the Punch Bowl Social was a fun evening of old-school video games, karaoke, and more. Commenting on the social event, Rick Livengood of Intel Platform Engineering Group says, "This was truly a memorable event, one of the best I can remember. It's no small thing, either—social events are where the real networking takes place." With 74 exhibitors in over 100 exhibits and dedicated hours over two days, most exhibitors found that ISTFA was a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with existing customers and potential new leads.
ISTFA 2015 Contest Winners
The photo contest was open to all members of the failure analysis community and sponsored by the Membership Committee of the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society (EDFAS). See the 2015 Photo winners now.
A video contest was held based on a 3-minute (or less) video about an exciting result or a scintillating artifact. The winner was determined by the failure analysis community as a celebration of their filmmaking skills and failure analysis prowess. The winning video was submitted by Kevin Sanchez of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France.
The Best Poster winner is Valentina Korchnoy from Intel Israel Ltd.
ISTFA 2016 will be held November 4-8 in Fort Worth, Texas. Interested authors should visit the ISTFA event website for more information about abstract submissions due April 17, 2015. 

2016 exhibit floor space is filling up fast and the Tools of the Trade tour spaces are almost sold out for a third year! Interested companies who want to reserve a booth space should contact Christina Sandoval, Global Exhibition Manager, at 440.338.5151 ext. 5625.
The International Symposium for Testing & Failure Analysis (ISTFA) 2015 took Portland, Ore., by storm last week with record attendance and fun new events.
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Solar Atmospheres breaks ground to house 48-foot vacuum furnace
November 17, 2015
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Solar Atmospheres of Western Pa., Hermitage, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a facility to house its newest addition, a 48-ft long vacuum furnace with a diameter of 6.5 ft. and a load capacity up to 150,000 lb. In the beginning of the new year, the behemoth furnace will be assembled within the newly constructed 18,000 sq. ft. building. The furnace temperature will be uniform to within +/- 10°F (per AMS 2750 E) between the production temperature ranges of 300 and 2250°F with a maximum operating temperature of 2400°F. Rapid vacuum pump down to the low 10-6 Torr range will be attained by utilizing three Edwards booster pumps, three Stokes roughing pumps, and three 35-in. Varian diffusion pumps. Fast and uniform cooling will be achieved by three 300 HP variable speed drive blower motors. Finally, a unique insulation pack will be installed into both load cars, to help reduce normal atmospheric (dew point) contamination.
This $10 million dollar plus project will complement the other large U.S. patented dual bottom load car vacuum furnaces (one 36 ft. vacuum furnace, three 24 ft. vacuum furnaces, and one 12 ft. vacuum furnace) that are currently in production, along with ten mid-size vacuum furnaces.
According to Bob Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres of Western Pa., "It is truly hard to believe that only 15 years ago we bought an empty 16,000 square foot building with a vision to expand Solar's customer base into western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio. After three building expansions, extensive investment, and hiring 50 extremely talented and dedicated employees, Solar will soon be operating within an 80,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility. The markets served will continue to be primarily quality aerospace and nuclear vacuum heat treating and brazing of large components."
www.solaratm.com
Solar Atmospheres of Western Pa., Hermitage, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a facility to house its newest addition, a 48-ft long vacuum furnace with a diameter of 6.5 ft. and a load capacity up to 150,000 pounds.
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Metallurgical High Vacuum announces ISO-9000-2008 certification
November 16, 2015
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Metallurgical High Vacuum Corp., Fennville, Mich., announces that it has been awarded certification for its quality management system in conformance with the International Quality System Standard ISO-9000-2008, with a scope for Design and Manufacture of High Vacuum Mechanical Pumps and Rebuild of Mechanical Pumps. This was granted by American Systems Registrar LLC. which is accredited by ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board.
"ISO 9000 is the internationally recognized series of quality management system standards issued to date in 180 countries," says Geoff Humberstone, MHV President. "Certification is especially important to our strategic business plans, since MHV has been a vital partner in the heat treating industry for 33+ years. This provides our customers with the confidence that our vacuum pump manufacturing and pump rebuilding services are at the highest level of quality."
MHV has pioneered the use of filters in new and rebuilt pumps to mitigate the effects of acids on pump life. The company currently has over 37 Stokes 412 units with MHV filtration now exceeding one million hours of operating lifetime.
www.methivac.com
Metallurgical High Vacuum Corp., Fennville, Mich., announces that it has been awarded certification for its quality management system in conformance with the International Quality System Standard ISO-9000-2008.
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One Minute Mentor: Effect of Ledeburite Carbides
November 13, 2015
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For ledeburitic tool steels (typical 8-12%-Cr cold-work tool steels and high-speed steels) the interaction of carbides with the matrix must be taken into account, especially when these carbides are strongly oriented after plastic deformation (rolling, forging) of the pre-material.
The longitudinal direction of the carbides is usually parallel to this forming direction. Different authors suggest that the orientation of forming is the preferred direction of change in length caused by hardening. For the tool maker it is important to take this behavior into account.
Results from investigations of a ledeburitic cold work tool steel are shown in the graph. The micromechanical interactions between carbides and the matrix cause an inhomogeneous change in length during austenitizing as well as during quenching. Finally, an elongation in the longitudinal direction and a shrinking in the transverse direction remain.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels -> Tool Steels -> Distortion in Tool Steels -> Nature and Causes of Distortion
For ledeburitic tool steels (typical 8-12%-Cr cold-work tool steels and high-speed steels) the interaction of carbides with the matrix must be taken into account, especially when these carbides are strongly oriented after plastic deformation (rolling, forging) of the pre-material.
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