EDITOR

Purdue Heat Treating Consortium

/ EDITOR

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. In this letter, Bethany reports on her visit to the September meeting of Purdue Heat Treating Consortium where industry leaders presented key technical and operations decisions in heat treating. The academic partnership encourages research into topics such as sustainability and technology alternatives. Read more of what Bethany learned from her attendance at this dynamic and forward-looking consortium in this letter, which first appeared in the November 2024 Vacuum print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

What heat treat issue do you need fixed? At Purdue Heat Treating Consortium’s (PHTC’s) September meeting, I witnessed industrial manufacturers targeting key technical and operations decisions in heat treat through an academic partnership.

Since summer of 2022, the research driven School of Materials Engineering at Purdue has positioned itself as a partner to industrial leaders in the Midwest. Their main goal: advance research of precompetitive projects.

I spoke with one member who commented on the beginnings of PHTC: “Some of the Midwest, I’d say, user companies . . . wanted a Midwest school and more research-oriented university. To have Purdue be able to fill that was perfect; that’s some place that we recruit from, where we know has a lot of depth of professors that would be able to contribute, and which has facilities that would be able to be a part of. So, it was a really good partner to make that change with.”

At the recent quarterly meeting, I sat amongst several dozen representatives from Amsted Rail, Caterpillar, Cummins, Rolls Royce, ECM USA, and other member companies as we settled in for a day of research presentations. Foremost in members’ minds was feasibility in real world application.

Topics included developing sustainable quenchant alternatives and identifying a method for greenhouse footprint analysis that would meet standards. The presentations of ongoing research were each met with intent nods of satisfaction, questions scrutinizing the data, and proposals on what specific direction industry players wanted to see examined.

Purdue Heat Treating Consortium’s (PHTC’s) September meeting where projects about developing sustainable technology were presented, as well as research topic findings

A mix of faculty and graduate students presented the five research topic findings. Guided by professors, the young people develop and execute research plans to address objectives determined by member voting at previous sessions. When I inquired what type of value this research held and the quality of the presenters, industry members were quick to speak highly of their abilities and the actionable research results.

Specifically, one member commented to me that the lifecycle work was proving to be helpful. Explorations like this give a “gauge of what we are able to meter on some of our own furnaces . . . and to have some common ways of describing emissions.” He continued, “that leads to either confirmation that we’re doing things right or to adjusting what we’re doing.”

Other topics that have been of interest address property variations when austempering certain materials and the quench oil work. Even when members may not apply all research results gained from the studies, ancillary work being done within a study — such as machine learning — offers additional value.

The group’s strength is collaborative action: as research objectives evolve, the academic contingent adapts. One paper was met with a peppering of cross-examination questions, the result being a large consensus as to the end value of this research. A plan to reconvene outside of regular sessions to provide industry testing data was determined, and industry members eagerly voiced their desire to contribute to this special moment.

Following presentations, the meeting came to a close. Voting members first determined which research to continue. Then, we toured the Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories at Purdue. The members witnessed various methods of metal 3D printing materials in action and handled printed parts of different alloy compositions.

Rounding out the day was an optional networking reception at a local pub and grill, Walt’s, where conversations around personal interests bled into reflections on research at PHTC.

My special thanks to Mark Gruninger, Managing Director for Industrial Consortia and Centers, and Mike Titus, Associate Professor of Materials Engineering and Technical Director of PHTC, for their invitation and warm welcome.

Contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com.

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Finding Curiosity

/ EDITOR

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. In this letter, Bethany ponders the variables that set leaders apart from the rest of the workforce. Are you a curious person? Does a pursuit of knowledge inform the approach you take to your place in the industry? Read more of what Bethany has discovered about the qualities of leaders in this letter, which first appeared in the September 2024 People of Heat Treat print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

Leadership is nothing new. The buzz continues as we each have to lead, or be led, in every capacity of life. Too easily, that buzz becomes white noise, truisms filling an otherwise empty page. And that’s actually okay. I don’t mean that it’s good to become numb to valuable information, but the talk around leadership is confined to finding different ways to identify old truths. What we emphasize from space to space can only encapsulate a portion of leadership.

But this summer found me preparing for a book study I was to lead. (Would recommend the read: Till We Have Faces.) The questions to orient the group were sent in June, and we looked forward to converging our thoughts in a discussion mid-August. As the day approached, I found myself wrestling with ways to lead in a way where the group would not be harnessed to my way of thinking, nor would the reins be so loose that the discussion wanders into flat silence.

Coincidentally, I came upon podcast episode #66 on Rust Belt Rundown, interviewing a chronic entrepreneur. One old truism that I heard afresh was this:

Be a facilitator: Stay curious, asking the right questions at the right time.

It got in my head. “How does one stay curious?” This I had attempted again and again — in management, giving interviews, teaching — with varying measures of success. But I hadn’t unlocked this mindset. I pondered this in light of the upcoming book discussion.

The day came. I reconsidered what the plan would be. And we talked. And the discussion flourished. Somehow, I had remained curious. Was it just that? And why now?

A book group is a good place to explore curiosity.

It seems that curiosity was more than a mindset to assume, neither was it just a practice of asking questions at the right time. Its power comes in conjunction with several other attributes of leadership:

  • Know your expertise. It is not impossible to lead others if one is not an expert, but the best mentors, leaders, teachers, and managers all know what they know (and what they don’t know). For myself, the discussion was more enjoyable since I didn’t have to wrestle with the onslaught of new ideas; I could stay curious and consider when to ask the right question.
  • Know your exit strategy. What is the end goal of your leadership? Perhaps, like how my book discussion was to bring a group to a deeper place of shared understanding for independent thought others empowered, as with training new hires on inspection machinery. Whatever it is, know what you as a leader want to see happen when you “exit” the situation. This will determine how you begin, how you endure, and (of course) how you exit.
  • Know your lifestyle goal. This comes in opposition to “exit strategy,” but often, the end game is to become something or do something sustainably for life. It may mean, as it did for me, a mindset to not solve a problem that someone is working through and letting them work through tests, failures, and ultimate success for themselves.
  • Never undervalue character. It doesn’t matter how successful you are. A leader without character is only a powerful person. You may make things move, but you will move more people against you than with you.

The last of these four qualities is often the one that catches my eye when the final 40 Under 40 honorees are announced in each September magazine edition (click here to see the 2024 awardees). Perhaps this is the result of so many intelligent people lined up in rows of accomplishments. But somehow still, that father quietly serving a local charity apart from his vocation or young woman being thrilled to take on challenges because it assures a better working environment for her team kindles a desire to follow. In this magazine edition, there’s also a special focus on Heat Treat Veteran MG TJ Wright, and his willingness to take responsibility for the lives of those whom he leads only makes his accomplishments glow brighter (perhaps to his chagrin).

Being a leader isn’t the result of reading about it and forcing oneself to fake a certain set of skills. While those helpful truisms and guideposts about staying curious and asking the right questions can be helpful to prescriptively recognize leadership, the roots of a leader are deeper. In this edition, you’ll see these roots in hunger to know the industry, commitment to take the first step (even if the step trips us or turns us backwards), and ever-conscious care to place your people first.

Contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com.

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EVs Are Up & Down, Does It Matter?

/ EDITOR

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. In this letter, Bethany reviews the recent dip in enthusiasm about electric vehicles (EVs) and raises some questions about what this means for the future of the industry. This letter first appeared in the August 2024 Automotive print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

How much do you care about whether or not electric vehicles (EVs) are being manufactured?

I have a family member who loves his Tesla. Honestly, it’s quite epic. The engineering is seamless; the ride is smooth. Out west, the incentives to buy, paired with the warm climate, made it a sensible move. Top it off with an at-home charging station and plenty of access to compatible charging stations in his city, and you’ve got it made.

The constant stream of new information about electric vehicles brings a juxtaposed vision of amazing technological realities alongside stubborn supply chain and infrastructure mishaps.

In Q4 2023, demand reached an all-time high, with 8.1% of all new vehicle purchases being EVs. Yet 2024 has seen turbulent lows (Q4 2024 market share lower than Q1 2020) and Hertz being caught $750 million in debt after a failed EV integration strategy. This has since tapered, though interest in hybrid grows rapidly.

With the narrow adoption of EVs, as well as the uncertain projections of the automotive industry based on Tesla’s movements, the impetus to learn more about heat treating components for this new technology may feel . . . less than imperative.

But there are two realities to consider.

1. New Tech Ebb & Flow

The slump in EV enthusiasm is often attributed to limited access to reliable charger ports.
Source: CanvaPro

Uncertainties abound with any new technology, especially one that carries the burden of contributing to decreasing carbon emissions. (At the current rate, sales will not allow the market to reach the Biden administration’s 50% EV sales goal by the 2030 target.)

EVs are losing traction in market demand: The excitement from early wave adopters seems to have come to an end. The long-anticipated second wave of users from the middle class may not happen this year. And grumblings about range anxiety, long charge time, high insurance and repair costs, and battery efficiency in cold weather environments continue to keep customers from the lot.

The biggest burden nationwide has been limited access to reliable charger ports, especially for non-Tesla drivers. The WSJ covered this problem in an LA case report, noting that almost half of non-Tesla chargers had one of these top three issues:

  1. Out of order
  2. Payment issues
  3. Connection issues between charger and vehicle

In the U.S., nearly half (46%) of current EV owners are likely to switch back to ICE, McKinsey & Company reported in June 2024. The culprits ranked by the full global set of responders indicated the following reasons for their hesitation.

  • 35% Charging infrastructure in public not yet good enough for individual
  • 34% High total costs of ownership
  • 32% Driving patterns on long distance trips too much impacted
  • 24% Cannot charge at home
  • 21% Needing to worry about charging is too stressful
  • 16% Changing mobility requirements
  • 13% Do not like the driving experience
Among other issues under discussion is the efficiency and sustainability of recycling batteries, and the reality is that EV sales are slowing, yet this is likely the natural lag before further improvements and a second wave adoption.
Source: CanvaPro

But to be fair, these are growing pain problems. The issue of access to charging stations is set to be alleviated within the next year as major EV automakers adapt to shared charging station technology. Car manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Ford, and GM signed an agreement that will allow their EV models to use the NACS charging stations developed by Tesla.

For dense, old cities where there is no room for a personal garage at the home and parking is first come, first serve — this is coming from someone who lives and drives in Pittsburgh — at-home charging solutions will need to be created, but it’s not impossible.

And the issue of clean electrification infrastructure, cost, and recycling batteries continues to be discussed, to varying degrees of success. So, while the reality is that EV sales are slowing, this is likely the natural lag before further improvements and a second wave adoption.

2. Heat Treating Is Inspired, Not Limited, by EV Advances

While going electric in your in-house heat treat operations may have you looking to integrate induction hardening for your gears and valves, the future of EV does not seem to impact the value of significant skills your department needs to learn across automotive heat treat. “When it comes to heat treating,” writes Rob Simmons, metallurgical engineering manager at Paulo, “innovations are rarely exclusive to EVs.” (Read his full article about processes and components here.)

It’s encouraging. We will still brace for change across the automotive industry because of new demands from the EV sector. Despite slowing demand, the increasing attention on hybrid vehicles will certainly keep us busy making vehicles lighter, more durable, and more efficient.

Contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com.

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Message from the Editor: What Are the EPA Scopes?

/ EDITOR

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. This letter first appeared in May 2024 Sustainability print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

In a 2022 episode of Heat Treat Radio, Justin Dzik, a business development manager at Fives North American Combustion, Inc., forecasted a shift in our industry: “If you go down far enough in the [EPA] scopes, obviously that includes processes for heat treatments of steel. Who knows how long that will take, but for sure, that is probably the future path in the next quarter century or so.” As Michael Mouilleseaux’s column on page 12 of this magazine demonstrates. [Read Michael’s column here. – Editor] Dzik’s prediction about the need for understanding environmental regulations shaping our future is not far off.

Later in 2022, I attended a technical talk on environmental regulations and how to calculate emissions in heat treat operations. Much of the talk was spent defining terms, which I was surprised by; where were all of the interesting graphs and action items? The presenter knew something that I did not: heat treat industry experts still needed to build a foundation of definitions to understand this topic, before making decisions.

Who Needs To Understand EPA Scopes?

Not everyone has studied environmental regulations in depth. Basically, if you aren’t the one responsible for tracking emissions and cutting emissions in your operations, you do not need to know these scopes. (If that’s you, you may stop reading and continue to the next column!)

However, if you either are (a) obligated to report GHGE (greenhouse gas emissions) at your site or are (b) responsible for cutting GHGE, or you want to have a stake in these conversations, this column is for you. Given that this whole magazine is about sustainable technologies, this is your “back pocket” introduction to the EPA’s GHGE scopes for heat treaters.

EPA Scopes Defined

These three EPA greenhouse gas emissions classifications were originally created as part of the agency’s efforts to trace their own environmental impact and set goals to reduce these emissions. For in-house heat treat operations, knowing what these “scopes” mean will help you identify what carbon cutting initiatives apply to you and what is under your control.

The scopes classify GHGEs that occur from the operations of a business or agency. Each define where the emissions are produced and who is responsible for producing them; together, this is a way to assess the business’s overall “environmental impact.”

3 Scopes

Scope 1 are the direct emissions that the company owns or can control; this is descriptive of all emissions that are the direct result of burning fossil fuel on-site, including emissions from transportation vehicles.

Scope 2 describes indirect emissions that are produced from generating electricity.

And Scope 3 describes indirect emissions created from a company’s value chain; that is, emissions produced when another entity created or delivered a product the company uses.

Application

Understanding what can and cannot be controlled helps frame strategic environmental targets. For instance, while scope 2 emissions are indirect, the source of your electricity (whether it involves GHGE or not) affects your carbon footprint. Since it falls outside the direct scope “1,” it will require more strategic thinking when considering any operational transitions that use electricity, like adding an induction hardening line.

The more indirect, often the more secondary effects there may be when pursuing environmental impact reducing changes. For example, promoting remote work to reduce scope 3 emissions related to employee transportation is often desirable from an employee satisfaction standpoint. However, this introduces new variables: Do employees commute to coworking spaces? What is the GHGE impact of their work-from-home setups? Are there social well-being consequences of this shift, negative or positive?

To use these scopes to define environmental stewardship goals, we also need to ask the right questions about our context:

  • What areas need upgrades?
  • What are the economic and social outcomes of these actions?
  • Do we need to reassess technologies that our operations should invest in?

Sustainability Heat Treat Resources

That’s the “back-pocket” summary. There are more robust resources on epa.gov and plenty of videos on YouTube when you search “epa scopes about.” Here are additional heat treat-specific resources:

  • On December 6, 2023, Gasbarre’s Bryan Stern presented a webinar “Understanding Carbon Footprint and Costs of Atmosphere and Vacuum Processing.”
  • Locate IHEA’s Sustainability Terms & Definitions on their website, loaded with applicable notes on these terms and more. https://www.ihea.org/page/SustainabilityTerms. 
  • Attend FNA 2024. Technical Session topics will be released this month. https://www.furnacesnorthamerica.com/sessions
  • Search “scope” on www.heattreattoday.com to read these articles:
    • “Sustainability Insights: Vacuum Heat Treating in a Carbon-Conscious Market”
    • “Sustainability Insights: How Can We Work To Get the Carbon Out of Heating? Part 1”

Contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com.

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Message from the Editor: Digitalization: An Ever-Expanding Frontier

/ EDITOR, EDITORS PICK, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT TECH

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. This letter first appeared in the May 2023 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment.

In order to create a more sustainable future for heat treaters, operators may be looking to “digitalization” as an immediate step for their heat treat systems. Digitalization is an amorphous term that can describe a few things.

One definition of digitalization curated for the heat treat industry is: the integration of advanced digital technologies (like cloud technologies, 3D visualization, simulation, analytics and collaboration tools, and even robotics) with heat treat equipment and all other aspects of production (order fulfillment, certifications, communication systems, etc.) to create a “digital twin” — that is, a holistic virtual representation of heat treat operations. By transitioning analog data and manual operations to a digital system, the end goal of creating a “digital twin” of all heat treat operations can be actualized, allowing heat treaters to monitor and analyze in real-time and create simulations and predictions about equipment performance.

This term tends to be broader than just “digitization” — the act of digitizing analog technologies to digital form — though the two terms are often used interchangeably.

An interest in digitalization makes a lot of sense. For one, updating manufacturing plants with digital practices is a huge draw for young people: “People want to work for a technologically advanced company that they can feel good about,” according to Josh Hale, managing recruiter at International Search Partners, when he spoke on Heat Treat Radio . Additionally, Covid-19 labor constraints accelerated adoption of IIoT (industrial internet of things) technologies — digitalization being just one of many. But there are also several intrinsic promises that digitalization has to offer manufacturers, for example:

  1. Efficiency: creating efficient operations that streamline business processes
  2. Accuracy: increasing accuracy by achieving precise control over temperature, atmosphere, and other process parameters
  3. Data and Analytics: real-time monitoring/data collection and rapid data analysis
  4. Safety: reduced need for manual interventions, thus avoiding accidents and improving operator safety

From a sustainability perspective, digitalization means heat treaters can monitor, analyze, predict, test, and adapt energy efficiencies in their operations. This magazine features a conversation with experts in heat treat with an eye for energy, and they’ve commented on this specific topic. “With higher computational capacity on the controllers on a per furnace basis,” John Clarke, technical director at Helios Electric Corporation notes, “we have the ability to start executing real-time analysis on the furnace and potentially implement a thermodynamic model of the furnace and how it’s operating.” Several representatives from Watlow illustrate this point: “Poor thermal uniformity can lead to scrap and rework of material, which both result in excess energy consumption.” Read the eight-page conversation with six international expert contributors on page 19.

But there are drawbacks to adopting this new technology, and in the midst of all of this “good,” I do wonder how difficult this transition has been — or can be — for some in-house heat treaters. Challenges when considering this technology include:

  1. Initial Investment. The initial investment in new technology is always present, and so is the question of who will “dish out the dough.” Will the furnace supplier try to absorb upgrading expenses? Or does it fall to the end-user buying the furnace or upgrade?
  2. Operational Complexity. However easy to operate a technology is now, it was not always the case. I once thought typing at a computer was the most difficult thing in the world. Now, I’m so familiar with a keyboard that I can look over at my husband texting on his phone and know (to a degree) the message he is typing, just by watching his thumb position. What skills does your team have to learn a new system? How much time will it take to train 50%–75% of them? How long until you feel confident in the process?
  3. Overdependence on Technology. We depend on digital technologies for many things (thank you, alarm clocks!), but is the level of dependence compromising something valuable? And to what degree? When it comes to cybersecurity threats, for example, what type of dependence on technology exposes you to more risk versus fortifying your internal systems?

The promises and challenges of digitalization will continue to face-off in offices and plant floors. While the boundary line of digital acceptance may shift, this new frontier towards creating “a holistic virtual representation of heat treat operations” means new technologies and processes that will be tested and adopted by heat treat pioneers, possibly you.

As with any frontier, there are known and unknown dangers. Let us know how your company is considering digitalization and what opportunities are golden nuggets or simply fool’s gold: editor@heattreattoday.com.

Special thanks to Mike Löpke (head of software & digitalization at Nitrex Metal) and Jeffrey Halonen (CEO of Steelhead Technologies) for their insights.

Bethany Leone, Managing Editor, Heat Treat Today

Contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com.

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Message from the Editor: The Hard and the Smart of Learning

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Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the editor, Bethany Leone. This letter first appeared in the January/February 2024 Air & Atmosphere Heat Treat print edition.

Feel free to contact Bethany at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment.

Bethany Leone, Managing Editor, Heat Treat Today

Ever try to learn something that nobody seems to explain in clear English? While this is sometimes the reality in industries chock-full of competitive information, it can also be rooted in simply not knowing the limits of one’s knowledge.

It reminds me of June 2020, when I was entering the heat treat industry as an editor. I had a background in research, teaching, and writing, but certainly not materials science, manufacturing, or any type of engineering. There was an information gap I was keen on closing.

As a millennial, I went about this by supplementing my work hours with videos of iron ore being poured, reading blogs about specific temperature ranges involved in different heat treat processes, and scanning latest news in the four major Heat Treat Today industries (automotive, aerospace, medical, and energy) to learn what to ask about. The long and short of it was that I decided to “work smarter” by absorbing quick information bites that I could use as context for my work. And, at least to this young blood, the smart way means doing the job efficiently and effectively. (Notice how effectively follows efficiently.)

Now, there was absolutely nothing wrong with working smarter! The problem was that I was not getting any smarter. In fact, I was running into one problem a er another. Often, this was in the form of, “Does this equipment piece really matter to our readers?” or, “I understand time and temperature are important, but how do I write about them in this instance?” While I had absorbed information about the subject material, I
had not reconciled myself with the reality that arduous work was needed to learn information in a usable way.

My idea of working smarter at this stage, while helpful to an extent, was costing me the time and energy needed that could have been used to dedicate myself to learning one thing at a time, accepting the arduous nature of the process. Since then, I have taken opportunities to learn more
about equipment, processes, and heat treat resources through lectures, books, and richer knowledge sources. Now, because I have a richer understanding of industry information, I have the discernment needed to work smarter to be more effective.

As an example, this February issue is dedicated to annealing in roller hearth furnace systems. In preparation for this focus, I:

  1. consulted Dan Herring’s chapter about air/atmosphere furnaces and furnace classifications to identify why this equipment has such a name and some of the equipment highlights,
  2. talked with experts with a history in the heat treat industry about the equipment highlights,
  3. reviewed Heat Treat Radio’s episode on pusher versus continuous systems to better see how a pusher system functions,
  4. located technical articles written on annealing, and
  5. watched short videos of the system in action.

For a B2B editor, this list is sufficient . . . for now. But for heat treat decision makers working for manufacturers with in-house heat treat, more is needed. That is why we have assembled this magazine for you: to be better informed and so make better decisions. There are three features in the pages that follow to help give you greater insight into this one area of heat treat — roller hearth systems (see pages 10, 18, and 26 for these articles). Whether you are a veteran when it comes to using roller hearth furnace systems or a skeptical observer from the sidelines, I hope these articles are resources as you work hard to better learn this topic so you can work smarter when the need arises.

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Message from the Editor: Winter

/ EDITOR, EDITORS PICK
Bethany Leone
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today

This message from Bethany Leone, managing editor at Heat Treat Today, shares some reflections on the season of winter and the opportunity this season provides to ponder the stories that inspire us towards the coming spring.

This article first appeared in December 2023’s Medical and Energy Heat Treat print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Do you feel the cold of the coming winter?

Beneath the surface of earth is a realm of darkness and death, ruled by Hades. By his throne, the ever-youthful Persephone soon will join him for these winter months, as she has pledged to do each year.

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Perhaps you know this Greek myth: Hades, enraptured by the sweetness of Persephone, stole Persephone down to his kingdom of darkness to be his queen. While Persephone was confined below ground for what would be eternity, her mother, Demeter, went into great mourning. Side note: Persephone is a goddess. So, when we say her mother went into mourning, we mean the goddess of the harvest caused drought in the lands, weeping for her daughter.

Clearly, this could not go on. Zeus, the head god of all gods and master of the sky, intercedes on behalf of all humanity for Persephone to return to her mother. Hades agrees, after all, he’s not an evil guy; just selfish through and through, like all anthropomorphic gods. . . But before the Maiden leaves, he offers her seeds from a refreshing pomegranate, which she takes. One, two, three, perhaps six seeds she ate. She is reunited with Demeter, and all is well.

Wrong.

For in eating these seeds from the Underworld, Hades may now claim his bride to dwell with him for several months in the year.

So, each year, while Persephone is confined below ground, the Greek goddess of the harvest roams the earth in mourning, withholding grain from the land. We know that precious Persephone returns to her mother by the telltale signs of spring (yes, she is known as being the goddess of spring).

Persephone and Hades. Tondo of an Attic red-figured kylix, ca. 440-430 BC. Said to be from Vulci. (Source: ©Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons)

As winter descends, this tale often breaks through my mind. Why? As a student of history, I do not believe it is true, neither does the myth cohere perfectly with my religious beliefs. But this story of six unassuming pomegranate seeds, the power of a mother’s will, and the cruel edge of mourning carries me through cold winter with thoughts of spring.

The myth, though untrue, is truer because it is not true. (For more on this tongue-in-cheek insight, read G. K. Chesterton’s chapter, “The Ethics of Elfland,” in Orthodoxy).

I enjoy telling variations of this myth to myself and turning over and over these subtle implications about life, as well as the humanizing and “just-so” element of why we may have a winter to begin with . . . well, why many of us have a true winter.

But it does not take time-tested myths to inspire. At the recent ASM Heat Treat show, I met a man who shared his passions for the industry, for serving others, for volunteering, and for making the most of 16-hour car drives to make calls to his family. While the details are a blur, the story I left with was that the reason to live was to give. While sales were important — that was his job! — this was just a part of his life story of giving.

What stories inspire you? Perhaps a successful installation of a new vacuum oil quench furnace that you supported brings to mind challenges of logistics, cooperation with culturally different people, or memories of near disasters. Were there themes of endurance, commitment to doing the hard thing so you could get smart enough to do the smart thing?

Whatever the story, remember it so whenever a “winter” in work or life comes, the themes may encourage you of a coming spring.

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Message From the Editor: Daylight Savings

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This message from Bethany Leone, managing editor at Heat Treat Today, shares some thoughts on savings, delayed gratification, and how these concepts apply to the work of Heat Treat Today. 

This article first appeared in November 2023’s Vacuum Heat Treat  print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Bethany Leone
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today

I like having savings. Monetary and more: a fully secure retirement fund; my grandmother’s aunt’s antique bookcase; a bottle of well-aged Italian wine; and a stash of dark chocolate. But “savings” are funny animals. They are one of many things in life that are a blessing to enjoy, but the flip side of them always reveals a moment of saying no, and often multiple times since savings happen over time.

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It’s worth noting that this action of delaying gratification is not a universally appreciated principle. There are good reasons to be wary. Sometimes delaying gratification (or saying no) obscures the need to recognize a good, true decision that one should make in the moment; other times, it makes us focus on long-term goals to an inordinate degree that we fail to appreciate the fleeting joys life gives us in each day.

However, I see these reasons as the worst distortions of applying this principle: The whole purpose of delaying gratification is to live in a way that increases one’s ultimate ability to be fully grateful in the pursuits of this life — day to day, lifelong, and eternal. Daylight savings just ended in the U.S. on November 5, which means the one hour that we said no to using back in March we now cashed in on by sleeping in an extra hour! Well, that’s how I have been using this savings plan. Yet, my life norms (I work from home at a computer) aren’t benefited by the “daylight spending” that happened during the dark months. The fact is, saving that hour of sleep in March only guarantees that my sleep rhythms are thrown off drastically at least once a year (usually twice).

At the time of writing this editorial in September, I wondered, what if I “saved” differently this year. Rather than cash in on the hour this fall, could I save those extra 60 minutes every morning until March 2024, and use them for independent pursuits? This savings plan means saying no to that relished November day of sleeping in, but it means a half a year of an extra morning hour all to myself . . . and no thrown off sleep rhythms.

(Yes, I know there are readers out there who have cracked the system and may already — willingly or culturally — avoid daylight savings. Make room: I’m jumping on your bandwagon!) This realization — that (a) this daylight savings plan isn’t working for me, and (b) I could do something about it — was more profound than it should have been. Maybe it looks like optimizing my inbox by streamlining current e-newsletters and incorporating additional points of information so that I am effectively staying on top of trends.

Heat Treat Today’s media message is that people make better decisions when they are well informed, and our mission is to provide helpful, relevant information to ensure North American manufacturers with in-house heat treat are well informed every day. Whether you subscribe to just the Heat Treat Daily and receive the Heat Treat Today print publication or stay on top of your industry’s trending technical and news highlights with a monthly Heat Treat Today industry e-newsletter, you are saving resources that — we believe! — will give you an edge on the industry.

But just as with my realization of daylight savings, take a second to consider how you will be cashing out. Save what matters, not what appears to matter to everyone else.

 

 

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Message From the Editor: Your Words Are Not Everything

/ EDITOR, FEATURED NEWS

This message from Bethany Leone, managing editor at Heat Treat Today, shares some thoughts on the power of words and most importantly, the power of voice behind the words. 

This article first appeared in September 2023's People of Heat Treat print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Bethany Leone
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today

This past year, I had the honor of digitally transcribing someone’s personal writings. A culmination of spontaneous recollections, the author sought to make copies to better share this memory diary with her family.

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The histories of cultural celebrations, professional successes, and childhood joy intermingled with stories of grief and personal poetry. Cursive writing enclosed each of these stories in the most beautiful gift wrapping for her loved ones.

However, the author — an accomplished writer in her own right — wanted the transcription to be edited. In keeping it a transcript (of a personal nature, no less) and following orders to clean up the original, I faced a dilemma: How does one preserve voice?

This may sound easy, and in many cases, the answer is simple. For unclear text, adjust punctuation. For spelling or grammar oversights, edit! And, of course confirm the timeline and the spelling of personal names or companies with the original author. These are all edits that ensure the correct information is preserved.

But so many times in editing the personal voice of this transcript, the decisions were gray; sometimes, the facts that were written could not even be confirmed.

So, what to do? Ultimately, only one option satisfied the need to balance edits for clarity against preservation of voice: I looked to the heart of the author behind her words. This intelligent, loving, storytelling, and sometimes still grieving woman needed to be heard through her words. Thus edit I did, but not everything.

Coming from an editor, the notion that “words are not everything” may be surprising, though I hope, comforting. When we hear the words of others, there is clarity and meaning in the articulation, and perhaps even some superficial qualities that come through — an accent, for example. Yet to truly understand the voice of an author or speaker — that is, the style, manner, and intention of their words — we must seek to hear the heart behind the words.

40 Under 40 Class of 2022 honorees with Heat Treat Today at Furnaces North America 2022

Looking to Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2023, we can begin to hear the heart of the people behind the words that they will speak as they rise into leadership positions across North America’s heat treat industry. You will see the acts of service, the care for the well-being of others, and the humility behind many of the winners when you turn to page 28 and meet this year’s class.

This year, we are also grateful to have the words of others in this magazine that encourage and inspire the next generation to use their voices wisely and effectively. Explore the Words of Encouragement from industry leaders, the personal stories in the “Women’s Roundtable: Leadership in Heat Treat," the forward-looking leadership and brain drain columns, and more for insightful messages.

In person, we get to connect even more and see the heart behind the words even more clearly. Heat Treat Today has a tradition of meeting new members of 40 Under 40 at the annual heat treat tradeshow. So, this year in Detroit, the current class and any available 40 Under 40 alums will gather at Heat Treat Today’s booth to receive a quick in-person recognition and send-off. If you are at the show, I hope to see you and, perhaps more importantly, hear your heart behind the words.

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Message from the Editor: Self-Healing Properties

/ EDITOR, FEATURED NEWS

This message from Bethany Leone, managing editor of Heat Treat Today shares some reflections on self-healing across time. Looking at ancient structures and then progressing to modern-day applications, there is some room for wonder within the realm of science. Use the Reader Feedback button below to comment.

This article first appeared in Heat Treat Today's March Aerospace Heat Treating print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Let’s talk Ancient Roman engineering. Aqueducts (elevated bridges made of concrete) stretched for miles to convey water from hilltops down to citizens and industries in city centers. Scientific studies covered by the University of Utah Blog, Engineering and Technology, and National Geographic have shown many cases where these concrete structures and other 2,000-year-old concrete Roman piers submerged in water have not just survived but thrived; it’s an ancient technology that’s stronger than modern methods.

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Bethany Leone
Managing Editor Heat Treat Today / Heat Treat Radio Editor

Chemical reaction with the salty seawater is believed to be one reason for the lasting success of maritime concrete: seawater filters through the concrete, interlocking minerals grow within the structures, and the concrete ages with strength because of this added cohesion between the minerals and concrete. Additionally, assumptions for the ancient concrete’s strength pointed to pozzolanic materials as the strengthening composition.

But recently, researchers have identified “self-healing properties” of Roman concrete across applications — maritime piers, aqueducts, and roads, to name a few. The key component? Bright, white mineral fragments called “lime clasts” made of various calcium carbonate forms that were created under high heat. When cracks fractured into the concrete and broke across the lime clasts, water could enter and react with the material, creating a calcium-saturated solution. This solution can: recrystallize as calcium carbonate, thus filling the crack that allowed the water to enter in the first place, or react with pozzolanic materials, thus further strengthening the concrete.

"Aqueducts stretched for miles . . ."
Source: Adobe Stock/Kushnirov Avraham

Reading this research on ancient building methods, I remembered the “self-healing” that has recently been introduced to metallurgy by Rice University. Researchers developed a sulfur-selenium alloy that is corrosion-resistant and, when used as a coating for steel, could repair perforations when heat was applied (sometimes it even self-repaired without heat application). In moments like these, I look at my pinewood table and my ceramic mug and want to yell, “It’s alive!!”

Seeing these miraculous properties of material scientists and researchers does not lessen the amazing abilities that heat, water, and minerals continue to have after thousands of years. This excitement also does not stand alone but builds on the extensive knowledge of physics and chemistry as well as logic (no good engineer can do without that!) and creativity. Self-healing, while a trendy word, is not a tool that the engineer can use all on its own.

This liveliness in the world is ancient and present, integrated with other experiences, and also personal; as humans, we know the extent of “self-healing” and the interventions that are required to fully heal. There are points in life — perhaps childhood, apprenticeships, sports, or simply facing the daily grind — when it becomes necessary for someone to heal us, help us, and sometimes temper us. And, as an engineer or engineering-minded reader, you know that this is natural and good.

As we pull out another bar of chocolate to watch another video about how practical visionaries are developing technologies like self-healing materials for real-world solutions, we may see the heat treat industry under pressure to adapt old methods of processing parts to gain better results with new alloys. Especially in the open-mouth-gaping-at-new-technologies times we find ourselves in human history, we can still remember that however mind-blowing the discoveries — even in the face of something so crazy-sounding as “self-healing” — we can be like the Ancient Romans and (thoughtfully) embrace the miraculous material reality, too.

 

 

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