Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wis., launched a plan to upgrade its heat-treating capabilities with a move to low-pressure carburization and high-pressure gas quenching. Partnering with ECM Technologies, the plan incorporates completely automated Nano vacuum heat-treating systems, which incorporate 20-bar nitrogen gas quenching with low-pressure carburizing (LPC). The Nano will operate several different carburizing hardening, and spheroidizing processes simultaneously. This change is a departure from Mercury’s traditional atmospheric carburization and oil quench system.

The system uses all CFC workload fixtures and ECM’s advanced automation fixture tracking to maintain a precise cycle count to know fixture life. This improvement for Mercury significantly reduces energy consumption and process cost per piece. In addition, the vacuum process takes the company’s heat treatment to near-zero emissions for drivetrain components processed within the system.

Mercury Marine manufactures recreational marine propulsion engines. A division of Brunswick Corp., the company provides engines, boats, services and parts for recreational, commercial and government marine applications.