Metal Heat Treating Service
Visit our various capabilites pages to learn more about the services we can do for you!
- Capabilities
- Heat Treatment of Forgings
- Solution Annealing
ThermTech offers both a “Quick Quench” batch furnace and some pit furnaces for Solution Annealing both Cast and Wrought Aluminum Alloys to the T4 temper condition.
- Annealing
We can process parts sized up to 40” high x 43” wide x 67” long in our automated quench line that has the fastest quench speeds and parts even bigger than that in our other equipment.
- Stress Relieving
The stress relieve step will help with machinability, but, primarily keep major distortion down to a minimum as opposed to machining a highly stressed as-forged component.
- Normalizing
Normalizing is one of the simplest heat-treatments that can address refining (or normalizing) the microstructure and equalizing the effects of the range of temperatures the material has been subjected to during the forging operations.
- Water Quench Hardening
ThermTech offers water quenching capabilities to achieve both the hardness and mechanical requirements needed on low alloy steel forgings.
- Polymer Hardening
ThermTech is a pioneer in the abilities to polymer quench large section sizes of forgings that require superior mid-radius hardness and mechanical properties for forgings needed by the fracking companies components.
- Oil Quench Hardening
ThermTech is very experienced in processing forgings for oil quench hardening. We are familiar with hardening 4140, 4142, 4145, 4150, and 4340 alloys.
- Marquench Hardening
We have come across several customers who perfer their forgings be marquenched in molten salt to minimize the risk of cracking during the quench operations and to minimize distortion on long, thin products.
- Austempering
ThermTech has the ability to austemper forgings when the mechanical properties of the product require greater toughness via tensile and yield mechanical properties.
- Straightening
ThermTech has 3 mechanical presses including a 200 ton unit that is capable of straightening hardened forgings in various shaft or long bar configurations.
- Blasting
ThermTech offers a large 36 cubic-foot tumbleblast machine for blasting most of our forgings that require that step.
- Mechanical Testing
Over the past several years the requirements for mechanical testing has greatly increased within the forging community based on more critical applications in both the fracking and mining industries.
- Solution Annealing
- Heat Treatment Of Castings
- Casting Stress Relieving
ThermTech has run very large loads of stress relieving of castings on our car-bottom furnace that is 15' long x 7' wide x and 4' high.
- Sub-Critical Annealing
The sub-critical annealing process typically produces a microstructure where existing pearlite dissolves into the ferritic matrix which lowers hardness and strength while improving machinability.
- Normalized Heat Treatment
Gray iron and ductile iron castings are typically normalized to move the carbon from being locked in carbides or graphite into more of a pearlitic microstructure.
- Full Annealing
The full annealing process involves taking a casting to a temperature above the critical eutectoid temperature in the 1475F-1650F range for a length of time commiserate with the cross section size and then slow cooled to promote a ferritic microstructure.
- Solution Annealing Heat Treatment Process
Solution Annealing stainless steel castings is a process which takes the carbides that have precipitated in the grain boundaries and dissolves then into the surrounding matrix.
- Water Quench Hardening
Many steel foundries cast low carbon or low alloy steels that require a severe water quench to adequately achieve the proper martensitic microstructure and hardness requirements.
- Polymer Quench Hardening
Polymer quench hardening of steel castings like 4130, 15B41, 1045, and 5130 is the proper way to balance the necessity for rapid quench rates while minimizing the risk of quench cracking the castings.
- Oil Quench Hardening
Steel castings made from alloys in excess of 0.40% carbon content can typically be oil quench hardened to achieve their desired mechanical or hardness requirements.
- Austempering Ductile Iron (ADI)
In addition to austempering ductile iron we are also capable of austempering gray irons and several alloys of steel castings.
- Carbon Restoration
To insure that the steel castings are capable of achieving full surface hardness during subsequent hardening processing the castings may require a carbon restoration of their surfaces and we have several furnaces capable of doing this.
- Vacuum Solution Annealing & Homogenization
Most importantly to our customers we are able to run impellars and pump units where minimal oxidation occurs on internal surfaces making clean-up faster and cheaper for them.
- Blasting
Currently ThermTech blasts several thousand pounds of castings a day through our 96" diameter table blaster and our 36 cubic-foot tumbleblast unit.
- Mechanical Testing
Most austempered ductile iron castings have mechanical requirements due from either industry standards such as ASTM-897 or customer specifications.
- Casting Stress Relieving
- Machined Parts & Stamping
- Stress Relief Heat Treatment
A stress relief will help reduce the possibility of more abrupt changes in geometry after subsequent machining.
- Sub-Critical Annealing
Sub-critical annealing is an ideal way to remove these stresses to allow subsequent forming operations. The temperature ranges for this process typically range from 1250F to 1400F.
- Normalizing
Normalizing machined components helps create a homogenous microstructure which helps improve uniform machinability done post normalizing.
- Full Annealing
This process involves heating the parts above the critical temperature and slow cooling them in order to create a microstructure both more refined due to recrystallization and softer and more ductile regarding hardness and mechanical properties.
- Water Quench Hardening
Stampings made from low carbon steels like 1035, 1040, 1045, & 1050 typically require water quenching for full hardness response, especially, if they are formed from heavy gauge thicknesses.
- Polymer Quench Hardening
This furnace can quench pins and machined barstock that have large cross-sections that have a hard time achieving good core hardness properties when quenched in oil.
- Oil Quench Hardening
ThermTech has several internal quench atmosphere furnaces that are ideal for oil quench hardening a wide variety of sizes of 4140, 4150, & 4340 materials.
- Marquench Hardening
Many machined components have intricate details or section size changes that lend themselves to being crack-prone.We watch for problem jobs like this and we can run them through our neutral hardening salt furnace with molten salt quench to avoid cracking.
- Austempering
Between our neutral salt bath furnaces and our larger austempering furnaces we have the capabilities to austemper a wide variety of stamping and machined components.
- Carburizing Steel
Machined components made from such alloys as 4320, 8620, and 9310 are typically carburized to increase the surface hardness of the machined surfaces and to increase the core hardness.
- Case Hardening / Carbonitriding
Carbonitriding can be performed on both heavy gage stampings and low alloy machined components. Typically the case depths needed are in the 0.003" to 0.020" range due to the low hardenability of the steels involved.
- Gas Nitriding
Gas Nitriding is the process in which Nitrogen and Ammonia are diffused into a steel product at a low temperature to produce a hard case without the need for quenching from a higher temperature.
- Flame Hardening
ThermTech flame hardens a wide variety of crane wheels and sheaves for the crane and mining industries. We have both polymer and oil quenching capabilities.
- Vacuum Heat Treatment / Carburizing
ThermTech offers low pressure vacuum carburizing for a wide variety of machined components for both the petrochemical, automotive, and medical fields.
- Vacuum Carburizing - LPC with Oil Quenching
Our newest furnace allows us to offer oil quenching after a low pressure carburizing process done in vacuum.
- Straightening
Many machined components whether they are through hardened or carburized require straightening after heat-treating. We have three mechanical presses with the largest having pressures up to 200 tons.
- Blasting
ThermTech has the capabilities to shot-blast very large machined components up to 96" in diameter and 5000 pounds.
- Deep Freezing / Cryogenic Treatment
We have two pieces of cryo-treat equipment which are both capable of temperatures of -300F below zero.
- Mechanical Testing
Several people in our Quality Department maintain the specification library, write part number specific processes and manage the sub-contracted mechanical testing to insure your parts are exceeding the mechanical requirements for your application.
- Stress Relief Heat Treatment
- Tool & Die
- Vacuum Annealing
Reasons for needing a vacuum anneal can range from a machined detail that was missed prior to hardening and weld repair of the tool.
- Vacuum Solution Annealing
Vacuum solution annealing insures the parts are in the correct condition for subsequent age hardening or being in the proper phase for optimum corrosion resistance.
- Tool Steel Hardening
One of our core competencies is vacuum hardening of tool & die jobs. We have 5 vacuum furnaces that are capable of hardening several grades of tool steels such as A-2, A-6, A-8, A-10, S-7, D-2, H-11, H-13, M-2, M-4, M-42, T-15, and DC-53.
- Stainless Steel Heat Treating
Several tool steels require oil quenching to either fully transform their microstructure to a fully martensitic phase or to comply with an industry or company's technical specification.
- Vacuum Stress Relieving
A vacuum stress relief of molds allows a more uniform looking textured surface during subsequent usage. We can handle a die or mold up to 36" wide x 32" high x 72" long with a total piece weight of 10,000 pounds.
- Marquench Hardening
Several tool steels such as A-10, A-6, & S-5 may require liquid quenching for the parts to achieve full hardness.
- Oil Quench Hardening
Some Tool and Die materials like S-5, 52100, O-1, & O-6 require oil quench hardening. ThermTech has several furnaces capable of hardening these materials with the largest being 36" wide x 42" high x 72" long.
- Water Quench Hardening
Some tool and die parts are made from low alloy tool steels like W-1 & L-6 materials. These tool steels require water quench hardening in order to achieve full hardness.
- Deep Freezing/Cryogenic Treatment
To transform the retained austenite found in these materials after hardening it is typically necessary to deep freeze or cryo-treat them to -300F below zero.
- Gas Nitriding
Gas Nitriding is low temperature diffusion heat-treatment process that can increase the lubricity, corrosion resistance, and surface hardness of certain tools and dies run with this process.
- Carbon Restoration
Often several tool steels supplied in the as-cast conditions definitely need a carbon restoration due to the high carbon content of those materials and the natural de-carburization environments of the casting processes.
- Jig Tempering
To straighten out a material post-hardening when they are at their most brittle we employ a process involved fixturing the part during the tempering operation where the material has more ductility and takes a set to a straighter/flatter configuration.
- Straightening
Tool & Die products shaped in cylindrical form require straightening by mechanically pressing the parts with some localized heat put on an area to prevent gross cracking due to the brittleness of the material involved.
- Blasting
Should the tooling require blasting we typically employ a hand-blast operation to make sure care in handling is used to avoid damaging critical edges and over-blasting intricate details on the tool.
- Vacuum Annealing
- Gear Heat Treatment
- Stress Relieving
Stress Relieving gears is beneficial for gears that will undergo subsequent nitriding and have been subject to heavy grinding or machining stresses that may cause distortion in the nitride process.
- Full Annealing
Sometimes rough gears or gear-blanks require full annealing prior to any heavy machining or forming operations so the hobs are able to move the material to form the splines and teeth properly.
- Carburizing Gears
ThermTech offers several internal quench endothermic atmosphere carburizing batch furnaces for your gear needs.
- Surface Hardening
Gears made from plain carbon steels like 1017, 1018, and 1020 materials and low alloys such as 1117 & 12L14 require ammonia additions at the end of the carburizing process to increase the surface hardness of splines and teeth.
- Marquench Hardening
ThermTech has the unique capability of Carburizing gears and quenching them into molten salt to help minimize distortion. We have two furnaces capable of marquenching gears in furnaces with load sizes of 36" wide x 48" high x 72" long.
- Gas Quenching
ThermTech does have the ability to Vacuum Carburize gears using LPC (low pressure carburizing) with gas quenching in a furnace with the working dimensions of 36" wide x 32" high x 72" long.
- Oil Hardening
The newest furnace in ThermTech's arsenal is a Seco/Warwick LPC Vacuum Carburizing furnace with integrated oil quench capabilities.
- Gas Nitriding
Gas Nitriding is the process in which Nitrogen and Ammonia are diffused into a steel product at a low temperature to produce a hard case without the need for quenching from a higher temperature.
- Deep Freezing/Cryogenic Treatment
ThermTech offers two deep freeze or cryogenic units that are both capable of cooling parts down to -300F below zero. The largest of these units is 50" square by 30" deep.
- Flame Hardening
ThermTech has three flame hardening units including one that can handle gears up to a maximum size of 45" in diameter or 2500 pounds.
- Straightening
ThermTech has several employees skilled at straightening long, splined gear bars, racks, and pinions. We have three mechanical presses and several other straightening apparatus.
- Blasting
For large gears and pinions we offer blasting on our 96" diameter table blaster. For smaller gears we offer a small five cubic foot rubber belt tumble-blaster.
- Stress Relieving
- Weldments
- Stress Relieving
ThermTech can handle weldments up to 15' long x 7' wide x 4' tall. Our typically weight capacity is 6500 lbs, but, given a 24 hour warning we can handle parts weighing up to 12,000 lbs.
- Blasting
We can handle parts up to 96" in diameter and 40" high. We use 330 hardened shot which is aggressive and will remove all the scale formed by stress relieving.
- Stress Relieving
- Aluminum Heat Treatment
- Solution Annealing
ThermTech has an automated furnace that is excellent for the quick quenching of aluminum alloys that require a water quench solution anneal to the T-4 or T4 condition.
- Age Hardening
ThermTech can age harden several varieties of Aluminum to the T-6 or T6 condition. We've aged smaller diameter tubes up to 12' lengths and can handle many varieties of parts up to 60" in diameter to 80" tall.
- Deep Freezing/Cryogenic Treatment
We have the ability to cool parts from 32F to -300F and can work with you on purchasing dry ice if your parts are to be transported for several hours and require them to remain cool.
- Straightening
We have several experienced people on staff that can both mechanically and physically straighten a variety of Aluminum castings and wrought products.
- Full Annealing
Sometimes you need your Aluminum alloy as soft as possible for bending or forming reasons. ThermTech can provide you with full annealing of your material to the T0 condition.
- Stress Relieving
Stress Relieving can help minimize the distortion seen by the part due to the machining stresses that can be built up by the manufacturing of the part. Contact us for a quote. We can handle a wide variety of sizes for this process.
- Solution Annealing
- Investment Castings
- Stress Relieving
Many times the end usage of Investment Castings don't require any hardening of the material for the parts to work, however, the parts may require a stress relieve to remove any stress caused by the casting process so the parts maintain their tolerances.
- Normalizing
ThermTech offers Normalizing capabilities for Investment castings made of steel. We have the ability to run them in either Atmosphere or Vacuum furnaces.
- Full Annealing
Due to the Investment casting process several alloys of materials require a full anneal prior to any subsequent hardening process to minimize the risk of cracking.
- Carbon Restoration
Due to partial or total surface decarburization that stems from the investment casting process a procedure known as carbon restoration is used to restore the proper carbon content at the surface of the parts in question.
- Water Quench Hardening
Several types of low alloy investment castings require water quench hardening in order to achieve the proper hardness or mechanical properties. These alloys usually are plain carbon steels such as 1018, 1020, 1030, 1035, 1040, & 1045 materials.
- Polymer Quench Hardening
ThermTech has a atmosphere furnace measuring 36" wide x 36" high x 72" long that has an associated Polymer quench located with it.
- Oil Quench Hardening
Several alloys such as 4140, 4145, 4150, and 4340 that require oil quench hardening for increasing their hardness or mechanical strength are easily made by the investment casting process.
- Marquench / Salt Hardening
ThermTech offers a small batch marquenching system with two different molten salt quenches set at different temperatures for the marquenching of investment castings.
- Austempering
ThermTech offers both small and large batch capabilities for Austempering steel and iron investment castings.
- Vacuum Heat Treat
ThermTech has four vacuum furnaces that are capable of running investment castings in both 300 series stainless steels and super-alloys for Vacuum Solution Annealing.
- Vacuum Hardening
Tool Steels and martensitic stainless steels such as 410, 416, 420, and 440 are materials that are easily made via the investment cast process.
- Vacuum Oil Quenching
We also offer a Vacuum oil hardening furnace that can oil harden alloys requiring high temperature austenizing temperatures in excess of what is normally achievable in a normal atmosphere furnace.
- Blasting
Due to most of the investment castings we process being on the small size (less than 5 lbs each) we offer both hand-blast and a rubber belt tumble-blast options to properly and quickly turn around any cleaning requirements.
- Stress Relieving
- Heat Treatment of Forgings