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Vacuum Heat Treat for Lean Environments

Vacuum Heat Treat for Lean Environments . Jeff Michael 4/8/05. Vision Statement. Create a solution for a low cost small batch Vacuum Heat Treat unit to improve the speed and economics of the process. Goal and Objective.

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Vacuum Heat Treat for Lean Environments

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  1. Vacuum Heat Treat for Lean Environments Jeff Michael 4/8/05 Leaner Heat Treat

  2. Vision Statement • Create a solution for a low cost small batch Vacuum Heat Treat unit to improve the speed and economics of the process Leaner Heat Treat

  3. Goal and Objective • Create an economical Vacuum furnace that can internalize the heat treat process of small lot manufacturers • Create commercial furnace designs that use energy more effectively • Small localized furnace; eliminating queue time build up as the typical large furnaces do Leaner Heat Treat

  4. Today’s Situation • Today’s typical Small Vacuum furnace has a size of 3 meters cube with working zone of 0.8 meters cube • Many small parts will fit into one load • Forces large queues and wait time for small lot manufactures • Many small manufacturers sublet H.T. further increasing lead time and transportation costs Leaner Heat Treat

  5. Today’s Situation • Furnace loads are not full and the NRG (energy) is wasted • Much of the NRG goes into the furnace not the parts • Part Quality suffers quenches are not consistent; shadowing effects or lot size effects Leaner Heat Treat

  6. Today’s Situation at Star • Small self built hardening vacuum furnaces are now 15 years old • Still have the best distortion control available • Tempering takes 20 hours; queues build; total time is 72 hours Leaner Heat Treat

  7. How Did Star Get Here? • Vacuum Furnaces are environment friendly • Customers are demanding shorter lead times • Energy prices are going up Leaner Heat Treat

  8. Available Options • Build our own • Advantage: Keep Technology confidential;Build another business opportunity • Disadvantage: Research issues; manpower issues; expensive • Wait for industry solution • Disadv;Time to solution • Alliance with partners Leaner Heat Treat

  9. Recommendation • Build an Alliance of technology providers; assess DoD needs; Design, build and implement economical units • Let’s take advantage Vacuum Technology at low investment costs with the best Distortion control • What to do next • Identify partners and start relationships Leaner Heat Treat

  10. Wear coatings • Coatings designed for wear require • Hardness • Non-reactivity to workpiece or mating surface, achieved by: • Inertness at operating temps • Lubricity • Coating choice must be appropriate for tool system and customer Leaner Heat Treat

  11. Hard Chrome coatings • Electroplated Chromium (Ep Cr) • Generally thick, 0.001 - 0.020 inch or more • Micro-cracked • Cu strike, Ni underlayer, then Cr • Low deposition temps Leaner Heat Treat

  12. Commercial PVD coatings • Vacuum, line-of-sight process • Normal deposition temps ~450 deg C • Typical thickness 2 - 10 microns (0.0001 - 0.0004 inch) • Very hard (4x Ep Cr), very dense • Designed for cutting, forming applications Leaner Heat Treat

  13. Typical PVD properties Leaner Heat Treat

  14. Experience at Star • Paul Rudnik (Gold Star) • BIRL/Northwestern University • Projects dating back to 1992 • DARPA • TACOM • EPA Leaner Heat Treat

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