The trend of automotive companies in recent years has been to bet on greener ways of transportation to reduce the carbon footprint that we have left over the last decades.
In today’s article, Humberto Torres Sánchez, quality coordinator at ZF Group makes the point that as heat treatment professionals, it is our duty to look for viable alternatives that do not affect the quality of heat treated products, remain safe, and above all reduce our carbon footprint. Read this original content release in Heat Treat Today’s August 2023 Automotive print edition.
Quality Coordinator
ZF Group
Source: ZF Group
At ZF Group, we are committed to this challenge with many heat treat efforts employing induction. In fact, the decision to incorporate induction heat treatment initially was made to reduce operating costs, improve part and plant cleanliness, and improve layout, as opposed to conventional hardening. With induction heat treat, we are able to use less quench media — avoiding waste — and work to improve the efficiency of induction heat treatment in our facilities.
As a result, we’ve seen major improvements. These include streamlined processes by reducing electricity consumption, reduction of air emissions, and the most important, in my opinion, the total elimination of the use of oil for tempering when using environmentally friendly tempering media.
But improvements didn’t happen overnight. It took at least two years to fully incorporate induction for our automotive parts production, and streamlining the processes came about in stages. Three key steps to incorporate induction for our in-house heat treat operations were:
- Understand required product qualities (e.g., steel quality, diameter, length).
- Achieve the metallurgical characteristics required by drawings and making use of the parameters of the inductor machine (e.g., power, heating speed, quench flow).
- Validate the product with functional tests (dynamic and static).
To accommodate all of these new changes, we must add continuous training with personnel. This is essential to avoid reprocessing parts, as well as to reinforce the importance of analytical and critical thinking in favor of ecological improvement.
Another important element to move towards sustainable automotive processing solutions is employing the use of low pressure carburizing (LPC) instead of conventional carburizing. Greater homogeneity of metallurgical characteristics such as hardness and effective case depth can be achieved. Using LPC, we can reduce air emissions and eliminate quenching oil.
Making automotive heat treat operations environmentally friendly is an all encompassing endeavor.
Humberto Torres Sánchez
Making automotive heat treat operations environmentally friendly is an all encompassing endeavor. In transitioning away from oil quenchants in heat treat operations, we have been able to use cleaning detergents that are less corrosive, and which have a longer half-life within the process. In the future, the processes the industry uses will move to more environmentally friendly chemicals, and the correct preventive maintenance to avoid liquid leaks to eliminate soil contamination will be made.
Through all these efforts, ZF Group is committed to a greener mobile future.
About the Author: Humberto Torres Sánchez is the quality coordinator at ZF Group and is responsible for the quality department, laboratories, and special processes (heat treatment and welding). Involved in a variety of plant operations, he acts as the lead auditor for both CQI-9 and CQI-15. Learn more about Humberto from his 40 Under 40 Class of 2022 profile.
For more information: Contact Humberto at humberto.torres.iq@gmail.com.
