Technical Sessions

Vacuum furnaces with metal hot zones used for high-temperature processes rely on gas cooling to reduce cycle time. Gas inlet and outlet openings cause significant heat losses during heat-up and dwell time. Additively manufactured inlet and outlet components were developed to minimize energy losses while maintaining cooling performance.

Discover how modern vacuum furnace technology is driving greater efficiency, increased throughput, and improved manufacturing performance.

Vacuum environments are not without molecules, and contaminants. Helium is commonly used as a method of leak detection, but if we can see what particles are in our chambers, a whole new world of knowledge opens up about what is happening in our furnaces, including leaks and outgassing.

Steel hardening by quenching often causes unpredictable distortion, driving costly post-heat machining, especially for precision components. 4D High Pressure Gas Quenching as compared to press quenching will show how clamp-free, uniform gas quenching dramatically improves dimensional control, repeatability, and cost by reducing or eliminating post-hardening operations overall manufacturing.

Vacuum furnaces with metal hot zones used for high-temperature processes rely on gas cooling to reduce cycle time. Gas inlet and outlet openings cause significant heat losses during heat-up and dwell time. Additively manufactured inlet and outlet components were developed to minimize energy losses while maintaining cooling performance.

This presentation explores thermal debinding and vacuum sintering processes used in powder metallurgy and binder jet 3D printing. It highlights binder removal techniques, wax trap technologies, and vacuum furnace design considerations that improve process efficiency, contamination control, and final part quality in aerospace, medical, and advanced manufacturing applications.

Hot Isostatic Pressing enhances material quality by eliminating porosity and enabling integrated heat treatment. Advances in thermal management improve control, cycle time, and repeatability. However, evolving applications demand tighter pyrometry standards beyond AMS 2750/1. This work highlights how improved process control supports higher performance, productivity, and reliability across modern manufacturing.

An industrial overview of high-temperature solution nitriding (HTSN) for martensitic stainless steels; process fundamentals, furnace and quenching considerations, resulting microstructures, and hardness response. Attendees will learn how HTSN can produce deep hardened cases and where it may offer practical value for heat treaters.

This work investigates tailored PVD coatings for forming tools. Coating composition, structure, morphology, and thickness were optimized to meet specific wear conditions. The developed coatings provide high hardness, oxidation resistance, thermal stability, and low friction, enabling improved performance compared with conventional coatings.

Brett will present a short technical presentation regarding the advantages of Cast-Link Belt compared to Mesh Link belts. There are significant differences in energy consumption and carbon footprint. Brett will highlight those differences and make the argument for Cast-Link Belts.

Internal ammonia dissociation enables precise control of nitriding potential, improving compound layer uniformity, repeatability, and load consistency. By eliminating external dissociators, it reduces ammonia consumption, energy use, and system complexity while maintaining compliance with AMS 2759/6 for high-performance industrial applications.

Heat Treatment is rapidly adopting AI-driven processes and reorganizing its operations around digitalization. The biggest shift isn’t in the traditional heat-treat parameters for D6 tool steel or braze nickel alloy. It involves how work is done, who does it, and how AI enhances every stage of the heat treatment process.

Discover how AI is transforming heat treat operations beyond the furnace. This session showcases real world tools that automate order entry, generate audit-ready certifications, and deliver proactive operational insights, helping shops eliminate manual work, reduce errors, and protect margins.

This 30-minute session is designed to be the most pragmatic conversation you’ve had all year. We are going to look at the 'Frontier' not as a Silicon Valley dream, but as a practical business tool. We’re going to look at how the early adopters are already winning—not by replacing their furnaces, but by automating the digital paperwork that slows us down.

Review designed to help industrial thermal process industry members understand flame detection fundamentals and technology selection criteria for industrial combustion and burner management applications.

Atmosphere measuring sensors have evolved over the years for accuracy, consistency, and longevity. This discussion will cover sensors used to measure atmospheres and how these sensors can be used in a systematic approach for troubleshooting atmosphere issues and helping develop processes.

Heat treatment operations are becoming more complex, while experienced operators are harder to find. This session explores how simplifying control systems and improving operational visibility supports faster decision-making and more consistent operations across operators, maintenance teams, and managers.

This talk will compare the quench oil testing and reporting requirements for NADCAP, CQI-9 and AMS 2759-G. Attendees will understand why each test is performed and why the test is performed.

Real-time observations show current performance but ignore historical context and long-term trends, since setpoints and process variables show us only the current snapshot. Leveraging historical data, advanced analytics, and AI/ML enables deeper insight, revealing patterns, detecting drift, and explaining not just what is happening, but why.

Robotic material handling is rapidly transforming modern heat treat operations traditionally dependent on manual loading and batch transfer. As heat treaters face increased pressure to improve throughput and working conditions while maintaining strict quality standards, automation has become a strategic investment beyond simple part movement (ex. part positioning, dunnage,…).

Discover how to use your induction power supply as a real-time sensor. By analyzing telemetry against a trained baseline, this method instantly detects misaligned parts, geometry shifts, incorrect alloys, or temperature variances, ensuring strict process compliance without adding external sensors.

Heat treaters face increasing pressure to meet AMS2750 and Nadcap requirements. This session examines the shift toward real-time compliance, focusing on data integrity, advanced measurement techniques, and AI-assisted approaches that improve process assurance, reduce audit risk, and strengthen confidence in heat treat operations.

The heat treating industry faces a growing shortage of operations leaders. This session explores why technical expertise alone does not create effective leadership and provides practical strategies for developing supervisors, managers, and future operations leaders from within before experience, knowledge, and leadership capacity walk out the door.

The heat treating industry is facing permanent shifts in labor, technology, customer expectations, and succession. Drawing on experience leading a heat treating company and working inside dozens of shops, this session challenges leaders to examine the decisions shaping their future and build a business prepared for the next twenty years.

Commercial heat treaters face rising environmental regulations, efficiency demands, safety concerns, and cybersecurity risks. Success requires balancing compliance, productivity, worker protection, and secure connected systems, with technologies like vacuum furnaces becoming increasingly important.

Metal and heat treatment electrical heating applications with Multitap SCR controllers to mitigate harmonics and improve power factor when controlling large electrical loads with high temp resistive heating elements such as SiC and MoSiO2 heating elements. Examples among others are Hot rolling preheating, hot isostatic pressing and vacuum furnaces.

This presentation will discuss high quality gas burner and radiant tube technology. High combustion efficiency is a key factor in reducing life cycle costs of industrial heating equipment. Patented flameless technology allows high efficiency with extremely low NOx emissions and also enables the use of both hydrogen and natural gas.

Many industrial heat treaters are navigating decarbonization, energy cost volatility, and operational resilience. This session explores hybrid electric/natural gas burner technologies and additive-manufactured sintered metal combustion burner solutions that improve flexibility, efficiency, emissions performance, and future-readiness.

Not all graphite is the same. Incorrect graphite and CFC selection can reduce furnace and component life, and increase operational costs. Learn the most common mistakes made in heat treatment applications and the key factors that influence graphite and carbon fiber performance in high-temperature environments.

CFC Fixtures for Automotive Heat Treatment: Case studies, advanced coatings, and specialized services - Nippon Kornmeyer Carbon

Fluidized beds/bath are an underexploited technology in thermal processing that offer clean, uniform, and moderately fast heat transfer. When combined with modern engineered ceramic media, they offer a competitive alternative to oil, polymer, salt, and gas quenching for heating, quenching, austempering, martempering, tempering, as well as thermochemical surface treatments.