Induction Heat Treating Benefits

Dish Rags, Pretzels and Bullets – (don’t forget about the plumbing either)

Or, why would I want to choose induction heat treating and what would the benefits be ?

Hi everyone ! I just wanted to take a few minutes to explain more about the benefits of induction heat treating and why you would want to choose induction heat treating. First of all, there are a lot of different kinds of heat treating that are done in a variety of different ways. “But how can I figure out what kind of heat treating I’ll need ?”  – you say. Most of the time, the material that you are working with will dictate the type of heat treating that is needed – but not always. An equally weighted factor is also what the end user (your customer?) needs. That’s where our decades of experience comes in – we can look at what you have and will be happy to tell you what you might need.

The biggest difference between induction heat treating and all the other types of heat treating out there is that with induction, you can focus the heat treatment to a specific area of a part, while leaving the rest of the part physically and metallurgically unchanged. Huh ?

I know what you’re thinking…”What is this guy talking about ? If I’m going to get a part heat treated, why wouldn’t I want the whole piece treated ?”  ( I can read minds ya know – so be careful). And no, it’s not time for coffee yet.

Let’s look at a simple axle shaft for an example. Now an axle shaft will have all kinds of forces acting on it. There will be rotational torque loads on the shaft, residual surface stresses, it will want to flex – kind of like wringing out a sponge or your favorite dish rag (c’mon – admit it – I know you have one !) and it will even have frictional wear areas. With induction heat treating, you can strengthen the specific areas most important to increasing the longevity of the shaft while still allowing it to do all the other normal things that shafts do. Or think of it another way – what lasts longer ? – a dish rag that you twist and can go back to it’s original shape or a pretzel rod that is hard all the way through and if pressured too much – will snap ?

Did you know that with induction heat treating, we can even soften particular areas of metal ? Also known as induction annealing. Why would you want to do that ? Well, say you’re the military and you’re making ammo for some kind of gun. With induction annealing, we can soften one end of the casing so you can crimp in the projectile in while still allowing the rest of the casing to maintain the desired rigidity. Pretty neat stuff.

It really depends on a variety of factors as to why induction heat treating can be beneficial. It may or may not be what you need – that’s the real key here. Maybe you need a dish rag or maybe your application calls for a pretzel. Heck maybe you need a hard and crunchy cookie (gears ?) or you really need a cookie soft on the edges for those of you with teething issues. (sorry another crude attempt at making a gear joke) Well what happens if you accidentally drop all those things down the sink while you’re drinking that coffee you got after you started reading this and now you’ve got to do some plumbing work ? No problem – with induction brazing – we can help you reconnect those fittings too ! Did I mention leak free ?

John Bode
Sales
Zion Industries