HEAT TREATING SERVICES
As part of our commitment to meet our clients’ needs, ITD provides Austemper Heat Treating Services. Austempering is a form of heat treatment that allows for greater tensile strength, more consistent hardness, and lower distortion in comparison with conventional treatments.
Heat Treatment Process
Heat treatment improves the mechanical properties of materials by improving their strength, hardness, and ductility. In some applications, it provides stress relieving capabilities, and increases the material’s stability and resistance to deformation. Heat treatment modifies a material’s grain structure, enhancing its performance for specific applications. ITD focuses on austempering, a process that reduces distortion and increases strength and toughness
Our process is AIAG CQI-9 compliant, with a 36″ wide continuous mesh belt having the capacity of up to 1000 lb/hr. This means that parts can pass through the furnace from loading to quench in the same orientation. This allows for hand loading of difficult parts and eliminates the need for a separate loading conveyor. Parts pass through a furnace running between 1500 and 1700℉, before quenching in molten salt at a temperature range between 590 and 710℉. This process results in a bainite structure with significantly higher tensile strength and yield strength in comparison to conventional quenching and tempering.
Heat Treatment Equipment
To ensure that we continually provide high-quality products, competitive pricing, and on-time delivery, ITD consistently acquires the best laboratory equipment. Our current inventory include equipment such as:
- 3 Wilson Instrument Rockwell Hardness Testers
- IBG Eddy Liner (Eddy Current Tester)
- GX41 Olympus Compact inverted Metallurgical Microscope
- PAX-IT Digital Image Management and Image Analysis System and Digital Microscope Camera
- LECO Spectra System 1000 Grinder/Polisher
- LECOPR-25 Semi-Automatic Mounting Press
Advantages of Austempering
Austempering provides the following benefits:
- Less Distortion
- Greater Ductility
- Clean surface, Resulting From the Salt Quench.
- Uniform and Consistent Hardness
- Tougher and More Wear Resistant
- Higher Impact and Fatigue Strengths
- Resistance to Hydrogen Embrittlement
The austempering process increases strength and toughness while reducing distortion.
Heat Treating Applications
ITD’s heat treating services apply to a broad range of applications, with particular focus on the automotive industry. Metals generally fit the following profile:
- Material used: SAE 1045 to 1095, 4130, 4140, 5060, 5160, 6150,
- Material thickness between 0.008 and 0.150 inches,
- Hardness requirements needed in between HRC 38-52,
- Materials prone to distortion.
Additional metal types may be a fit for ITD’s heat treatment services. Please contact us to see if we can be of service.