Extractive metallurgy is an area of our science that deals with the process and methods of gathering and isolating metals from their ores (i.e., natural mineral deposits) and in some instances refining them.

Sometimes learning more about a common heat-treat phenomenon can yield a deeper understanding of the underlying principles involved.

As heat treaters, it is critical to be able to justify the purchase of new heat-treatment equipment to management by being able to prepare a return-on-investment (ROI) analysis.

The heat treatment of steel often involves heating a component part into the austenite region (aka austenite phase field) in order to perform a thermal treatment such as normalizing, hardening, case hardening, etc.

The heat treatment and performance of high-temperature superalloys, and Inconel® 718 in particular, has always been of interest to The Doctor.

Heat treatment plays an important and – most would agree – critical role in gear manufacturing.

Having the right tools in our toolbox or knowing who to call and rely on makes any job go easier, faster and better.

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.

Just how clear is your crystal ball? Over the past two years, The Doctor has had the good fortune of interacting with a large number of industrial clients and industry professionals from all over the globe.