FNC is a process performed on carbon steel bar stock or parts. Carbon and nitrogen are diffused into the steel, creating a “white layer” which creates a protective seal. This will benefit parts in applications where there is increased wear, fatigue, distortion, or corrosion.
Isothermal anneal is a two-stage process involving austenitizing the material, first at preferred temperature and subsequently cooling to and holding at a specific temperature to complete the transformation. This process is used for achieving specific microstructures and hardness in certain grades of steel that are not possible with normalize, or full anneal processes.
Normalizing is a heat treatment process where steel is austenitized (heated above a critical temperature), held for a specified time, and then cooled in air.
This is a two-step process that involves removing contaminants from the surface of the steel such as scale, stains or rust. Once the contaminates are removed from the steel, the part is submerged in hot oil, which displaces any water from the surface of the steel creating a rust preventative layer.
The quench and temper process provides strength and toughness throughout the part being processed. It is a two-stage heat treat process that includes hardening and tempering.
This process is used in applications where the tensile strength, fatigue resistance and impact strengths are of the utmost importance. Quench media can include oil, polymer, water, gas, or salt.
Sawing is needed for steel grades that are prone to cracks during the forging process. Cutting bar stock to specific weights or lengths reduces cracking and subsequent stresses on the steel while being forged.
Sawing is needed for steel grades that are prone to cracks in both shearing and further forging operations.
Shearing is done to convert steel bars into billets to be formed into forgings. This process is known to be quicker and less expensive than traditional sawing methods.
Scale on parts must be removed for proper machining and increased tool life. Shot blast cleaning removes scale from any of the heat treat processes by impinging the parts’ surface with hard steel shots.
Spheroidize Annealing is a low temperature process that produces spheroidized carbides. For a given grade of steel, a spheroidized microstructure provides the lowest possible hardness compared to others. With the low hardness, a spheroidized microstructure lowers the flow resistance in a material which is ideal for cold formation.
Operations such as rough machining and cold forming can generate residual stresses in parts. If not removed, these stresses can release themselves in an uncontrolled fashion causing dimensional issues. In stress relieving, parts are taken to and held at an appropriate temperature to relieve the residual stresses created in the prior operations.
Operations such as rough machining and cold forming can generate residual stresses in parts. If not removed, these stresses can release themselves in an uncontrolled fashion causing dimensional issues at subsequent operations. This process is required on welded material to keep them stress-free.
The coating process starts with proper surface preparation of the parts by immersing them in a series of chemicals. Phosphate and lube coating of parts are performed to facilitate cold forming operations. Phosphate coating also produces base for rust preventive material. Phosphate and lube coating is suitable for several types of low carbon and low alloy steels.
Zinc phosphate coated material can also be dipped in oil to create a protective layer on the steel. This provides rust prevention for an extended period.
