Heat treaters like precision. When asked to achieve a given hardness value after heat treating a piece of steel, there is comfort in designing a recipe that achieves this hardness and then, by control of process and equipment variability, repeat the process and results time after time.

Ferritic-nitrocarburizing (FNC) processing is becoming a more common alternative to coating processes that require improved mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion, often on plain-carbon and low-alloy steels.

Advancements in nonferrous metals processing could not only save energy in their manufacture, but also provide significant energy savings through the use of lightweight metals.

The CHTE at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts has been working on a one-of-a-kind research project aimed at better understanding the mechanical properties and microstructural features of steels that have been gas tempered and induction tempered.