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Recipé for Success: Automotive Components One
of the key things that sets Heat Treatments apart is the
level of expertise and experience within the lab team. As trained
metallurgists, with over 45 years combined experience in
the trade, Adam Walmsley, Ivan Mitchell and Gopal Reddy
are tasked primarily with providing metallurgical quality
assurance of Heat Treatment’s processes and services.
The team also provide crucial advice and support during
the specification phase of a products life cycle. In previous
issues of Celsius we have looked at what is required in
terms of cold and hot work tooling. In this issue we look
specifically at what is required for components used in
the automotive industry. As these components are usually
safety critical or are an integral part of an expensive
assembly, the material they are made out of and the heat
treatment process used needs to be considered carefully. The
following table provides a guide to material and heat treatment
processes for common automotive components. Please note
that it is a generalised guide only and for motor sport
applications and / or problematic components, it’s
a good idea to call the technical team at Heat Treatments.
Contact (09) 621 0020
Automotive
|
| Application |
Main
Properties Requird |
Suggested
Material & Heat Treatment |
| Crankshafts |
Fatigue
resistance, high strength |
4140
nitrided or EN39b carburised (allow for distortion) |
| Camshafts |
Wear
resistance |
4340
H&T 35HRc |
| Con-rods |
Fatigue
resistance, high strength |
1045
or 4140, sometimes nitrided for extra durability |
| Flywheels |
Strength,
moderate wear resistance |
1045
or 4140, sometimes nitrided for extra durability |
| Drive
Axles |
Torsional
strength |
2767
H&T to 45HRc |
| Gearbox
Internals |
Wear
resistance, fatigue resistance, low distortion during
hardening |
EN39b
carurised |
| King
Pins |
Wear
resistance and strength |
EN39b
carburised or 4340 induction hardened |
Mark
Your Diaries The turkey
is in the furnace and the beers are in the cryogenic chamber … so
take note of the following dates!
| Monday
20 December |
Final
day for work accepted for heat treatment
HTL Pick-up Service finishes |
| Tuesday
21 December |
HTL
Delivery Service finishes |
| Wednesday
22 December |
HTL
Closes at 2.00pm |
| Wednesday
5 January |
Heat
Treatments opens with skeleton crew |
| Monday
10 January |
Machine
Shop operational with skeleton crew
HTL Pick-up / Delivery Service commences |
| Monday
17 January |
HTL
fully operational |
Genuinely
urgent heat treatment equiries during the shut down period
are to be directed to (09) 626 6090
Did You Know
• The
cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 moves only 50 feet for each
gallon of fuel it consumes. • When
steel is heated above a certain temperature it loses its
magnetic properties and a magnet will not stick to it,
this temperature is the called the ‘curie point’. • Heat
Treatment’s gaseous Nitreg nitriding technology provides
the ability to surface harden components with minimal distortion,
thus avoiding expensive corrective hard-finishing operations.
In addition it also is significantly more environmentally
friendly than toxic salt-bath and other processes used
by many heat treaters.
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