David Pye

If the material is low on hardness or even totally soft, it is usually incorrect material. This can have occurred either by selection at the merchant or mixed at the purchaser’s operation.

This blog series is designed to help you troubleshoot your heat-treatment problem. It will show you how to be effective, efficient and logical in your troubleshooting and help you determine if the problem is process, material, design or control.

David Pye's series on normalizing forged aerospace components concludes with part 5.

The next question to be asked is, "How do we cool after normalizing?" The generally accepted method of cooling is to “cool in still air and free from drafts.” While this is a general statement and a generally accepted practice, it does not ensure a repeatable and consistent final metallurgy.

It is just short of 110 years since the tragic sinking of the unsinkable ship, the RMS Titanic.

The forging of a steel component to arrive at a rough shape prior to machining is a procedure that has been adopted almost from the time that man discovered iron. Forging is a not only an ancient craft, it is a science in the manipulation of steel into a predetermined shape that is roughly the final shape of the component to be manufactured.

A second consideration would be to purchase a simple notebook. Every metal that you process, draw out a sketch and add the analysis from the test certificate.

The study of heat treatment and the metallurgy of metals is perhaps the oldest science known to man-kind. If one thinks about that statement, you realize that there was a time that humans used only stone for weapons and digging. Then came the age that carried man into the world of metals.

We continue David Pye's blog series on the causes and effects of distortion.

As every heat treater – captive or commercial – knows, distortion will occur. The heat treater must recognize the many reasons why distortion occurs. This applies to both ferrous and nonferrous materials.