A. H. Griebel, J. M. Tartaglia, Stork Climax Research Services, Wixom, MI
Case hardening specifications, which seem unambiguous to the specification author, can often be interpreted differently by others. This can lead to confusion and, ultimately, the resulting case may not be what the designer or user had wanted. Terms like “case depth”, “pattern length”, and even “hardness” can be interpreted differently by different people. Preventing ambiguity is key to getting what you want from a (carburizing or induction heat treating) operation. This talk presents some guidelines for writing case hardening specifications (without making assumptions about the interpretation) so that everybody from the product designer, the manufacturing engineer, the heat treater and the buyer have the same understanding of what is to be delivered and how it is to be verified. The presenters will also discuss actual examples of specifications with various interpretations, and offer improvements in the specification to avoid confusion.
Summary: This presentation is written from the perspective of authors who are both experienced metallurgical engineers from commercial heat treating equipment manufacturers and commercial metallurgical engineering and testing firms. The presentation is intended to provide some helpful information about suggested and ambiguous specification authoring for case hardened parts.
