The cool thing about this treasure trove of technical information is that we are able to track what visitors look at – including articles that were posted in the early 2000s. Perhaps more importantly, we are able to track this activity so that we know which articles are still popular years after they were originally posted.

So what were the most-viewed articles (based on page views) on our website in 2021? Inquiring minds want to know.

7. Factors to Consider in Ceramic Drying and Firing (published August 2017)

Drying is a necessary step in the processing of all ceramic products and components, whether it takes place as a separate step or is a preliminary step in the firing process. However, problems ranging from simple cracking to catastrophic steam explosions can occur if ceramic products are not dried uniformly.

This article, supplied by L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc., can be read here.

6. Seven Common Causes of Refractory Failure (published September 2017)

Refractory materials and lining reliability are key to increasing the performance of kilns, furnaces, fired heaters, incinerators and reactors across a range of industries. Not only can the right refractory lining optimize production yield and minimize energy costs, but it can also enable consistent high performance of a furnace over the lifecycle of the refractory lining, in some cases for as long as 20 years.

Read this article from Morgan Advanced Materials here.

5. Comparing Induction Hardening, Case Hardening (published August 2015)

Reducing fleet consumption in the automotive industry or service-free lifetime operation of components in offshore oil rigs all depends on the quality of the components used. The heat treatment – here the surface hardening – plays an important role for keeping geometrical dimensions as small as possible and boosting the component’s resistance to ever-increasing loads at the same time.

This article, from SMS Elotherm, can be read here.

4. Methods of Cooling an Induction Process (published December 2017)

Many factors should be considered when choosing a system for cooling an induction process, including cost, space availability, existing utilities, energy and water usage, equipment location, potential freezing, reliability and maintenance. This article introduces the various methods typically used to cool an induction system.

Read the article, supplied by Dry Coolers, here.

3. How to Maximize Burner Efficiency (published June 2016)

Because energy costs are a major factor for many industrial processes, it makes sense to carefully analyze how the natural gas is being used and whether the system is running at peak efficiency. This article details how to maximize burner performance.

Read the article from Honeywell here.

2. How Long Should My Thermocouple Last? (published March 2020)

The most commonly asked question designers and manufacturers of thermocouples receive is: How long should my thermocouple last? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is quite complex and is dependent on a host of variables, not all of which may be obvious.

Read the article from Cleveland Electric Laboratories here.

1. Understanding the Jominy End-Quench Test (originally published in September 2001; re-published and updated in July 2019)

Without fail, this feature is always at the top of our annual most-popular list. This year it wasn’t even close. This article, written by James Marrow, had more than five times as many page views as #2.

The Jominy end-quench test is used to measure the hardenability of a steel, which is a measure of the capacity of the steel to harden in depth under a given set of conditions. This article considers the basic concepts of hardenability and the Jominy test.

Read it here.

So there you have it. If you’re looking for good evergreen content on our website, these seven articles are a great place to start. And keep in mind that there’s a lot more where these came from. Enjoy!