Jake McCann is a process metallurgist working in the business since his graduation from Iowa State in Materials Engineering. Jake has a vast knowledge of heat treating from his experience and education, but Jake is an industry leader especially in surface hardening of various steels using induction, carburizing, and nitriding. Within the nitriding category, Jake is a subject matter expert of both plasma (ION) nitriding and gas nitriding, including recipe generation to create the nitride case and microstructure evaluations of the material post processing. On top of his extensive research in ion-nitriding and metallurgical practices, Jake also accepted a temporary job assignment to learn from a leading PhD researcher in the field.

Jake has given webinars and in-person seminars on heat treating, hardness testing, and induction to prospective customers and various technical groups for Advanced Heat Treat Corp. As gas nitriding of stainless steel has gained in popularity, Jake has become a leader in this process, and he continues to make new discoveries. For example, Jake was crucial in the incorporation of a new type of nitriding AHT calls “S Phase,” a low temperature stainless steel nitriding process.

On a regular basis, he works with new and potential customers to solve issues, particularly with case depth or compound zone and strategizes new methods to incorporate mechanical masking methods for part protection during ion-nitriding. Jake constantly provides expertise, but what truly sets him apart is his character. He is a fantastic coworker who always brings positivity and passion.