Last week, Josh Isaak, Vice President of Information Technology & Security, presented 鈥淔rom Chaos to Control: Cybersecurity, Ransomware & CMMC鈥� at the California Metals Coalition鈥檚 53rd Annual Metals Industry Conference.

Key takeaway:

CMMC is no longer theoretical鈥攊t鈥檚 here, and it鈥檚 already shaping the future of doing business.

But this isn鈥檛 just about compliance. It鈥檚 about survival in an evolving threat landscape.

Companies that treat CMMC like a checklist to pass an audit are missing the point. At its core, CMMC is a framework designed to strengthen your defenses, reduce risk, and protect the country and your business from real-world cyber threats that already exist today.

The biggest shift? Moving from reactive security to a culture of security鈥攚here every employee plays a role, and protection is built into everyday operations.

Even if you don鈥檛 support DoD programs, CMMC provides a powerful starting point to evaluate and improve your cybersecurity posture.

Start early. Make it part of who you are鈥攏ot just something you do for an audit.

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91传媒, the largest American-owned heat treater in the United States, is proud to support NASA鈥檚 Artemis II mission. Our expertise spans thermal processing of raw materials, nickel-based tubing, and critical aerospace components鈥攑laying a vital role in bringing next-generation space technology to life. At the core of some of these components is the 6Al鈥�4V titanium Launch Abort System (LAS), one of the most complex safety systems ever engineered. The LAS aboard the Orion spacecraft functions as a rocket capable of outrunning another rocket in an emergency. In the event of a catastrophic launch anomaly, its manifold enables the abort motor to ignite and safely propel the crew module away from the rocket. Designed to endure extreme conditions with zero margin for error, the LAS represents the pinnacle of aerospace safety and performance. 91传媒 is honored to contribute to this mission-critical technology, providing the precision, reliability, and advanced thermal processing that space exploration demands.

The success of Artemis II is set to energize this month鈥檚 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. Visit us at Booth 705 to discover how 91传媒鈥� advanced thermal processing solutions are helping shape the future of space exploration.

Space Symposium Information

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Our Greenville, SC facility has once again been awarded Nadcap 24-Month Merit Status for heat treating, brazing, and carburizing鈥攁n elite recognition reserved for companies that consistently demonstrate superior quality and process excellence.

We鈥檙e incredibly proud that PRI has acknowledged our team鈥檚 unwavering dedication to meeting strict specifications, executing every process with precision, and upholding a culture of quality day in and day out.

This achievement reinforces 91传媒鈥� ongoing corporate commitment to delivering world-class thermal processing solutions you can trust.

Congratulations to our entire Greenville team!

Nadcap Heat Treating Services

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The 7th Annual 91传媒 Sales & Marketing Summit took place this year near our Souderton, PA facility, bringing together sales managers from all six 91传媒 commercial heat-treating locations. The team collaborated on sales forecasts, shared updates on new processes and plant developments, and aligned on key strategies for the year ahead. Following the meeting, the group enjoyed a team-building outing at Topgolf.

No matter the region鈥擭orth, South, East, or West鈥攐ur mission remains the same: deliver exceptional customer service and provide meaningful value to every customer we serve. With over 200 years of combined experience in thermal processing and metalworking, our sales team is equipped to support your most demanding heat treating needs.

Reach out to any of our sales managers to discuss your next project.

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Greenville, SC, October 28 – 91传媒 is proud to announce the installation and commissioning of a new 10-bar vacuum furnace at its Greenville, South Carolina facility.

Manufactured by sister company Solar Manufacturing, this state-of-the-art horizontal vacuum furnace features a working zone measuring 48鈥� wide x 48鈥� high x 96鈥� deep and can process loads up to 12,000 pounds. The system鈥檚 advanced vacuum pumping package achieves an ultimate vacuum level of 1×10鈦烩伓 Torr, ensuring superior performance for processing titanium and other high-grade alloys requiring pristine vacuum environments.

Steve Prout, President of 91传媒 Southeast, commented: 鈥淲e鈥檙e proud to offer our customers another regional option for high-pressure quenching of large components and workloads, while also providing the opportunity to reduce processing costs through economies of scale. This addition reinforces our ongoing commitment to innovation, quality, and customer value.鈥�

For more information about the 91传媒 Greenville facility, contact Mike Paponetti at (864) 970-0111 ext. 1406, or mikep@solaratm.com.

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1. What are some of the first steps I should take before sending parts out for vacuum heat treating?

Before vacuum thermal processing, ensuring the parts are free of foreign object debris (FOD) is essential. This includes removing contaminants like manufacturing oils, coolants, and machining residue. It’s also important to communicate whether the coolant used was water-based or oil-based鈥攖his helps your heat treater select the most effective cleaning method.

Many vacuum heat treaters use solvent degreasers for oil-based coolants and hot water/soap-based rinses for water-based coolants. Providing this information up front helps determine how to best prepare your parts for heat treatment.

Bottom line: Failing to address FOD can result in spotting, discoloration, or worse鈥攕urface contamination.

2. You made sure the parts are clean; now, how about the vacuum furnace?

Much like a home oven, vacuum furnaces require periodic cleaning鈥攔eferred to in our world as a 鈥渂ake-out.鈥� This process removes residual FOD or contaminants left from previous runs.

Typical bake-out temperatures:

• Austenitic (300-series) steel grids, fixtures, and baskets: ~2150掳F
• Furnace-only bake-out: ~2300鈥�2400掳F

Reaching these temperatures ensures even entrapped moisture in graphite components is eliminated鈥攃rucial for maintaining a clean process environment.

3. Okay, so the parts are clean and the furnace is clean. Are we ready to run?

Almost! One final but critical step: check the furnace leak rate.

• For most steels, aim for 20 microns/hour or less
• For reactive metals (like titanium), 5 microns/hour or less is ideal

Remember, all vacuum furnaces leak to some degree鈥攑erfection doesn’t exist in commercial heat treating. But keeping leak rates low is key to producing bright, shiny, contamination-free parts.

4. Now for the easy part: the thermal cycle. Right?

Well鈥� not quite!

If you’re using partial pressure gas or backfill gas (nitrogen, argon or helium), you must also monitor the dew point and oxygen content of the process gas. When treating alloys that oxidize easily鈥攅ven small traces of water vapor or oxygen can cause surface issues.

While dew point measures moisture, it does not measure oxygen. Using oxygen sensors alongside dew point monitoring provides a more complete picture of gas purity, ensuring optimal conditions for clean, bright results.

Also, consider the vacuum level:

• For 300/400 series stainless steels or PH alloys, a vacuum in the 10鈦烩伌 Torr range (graphite hot zone) is typically sufficient.
• For titanium or reactive alloys, you鈥檒l need a 10鈦烩伓 Torr vacuum, which usually requires an all-metal (molybdenum) hot zone.

While graphite furnaces are capable, all-molybdenum systems offer superior part cleanliness for highly reactive materials.

Lastly, ensure proper thermocoupling of the load. Use contact thermocouples directly in a part or in a heat sink that represents the maximum cross-section. Poor thermocoupling can lead to a false sense of temperature stability鈥攜ou may think the load is cool, but when the door opens, parts could still be hot enough to oxidize instantly (turning blue).

5. I followed all your recommendations, and the parts are still discolored! Why?

Even with every precaution, discoloration can still occur鈥攁nd it鈥檚 understandably frustrating. But it’s important to distinguish between:

• Discoloration, which is superficial and doesn鈥檛 impact performance
• Surface contamination, which is detrimental, as it alters the surface microstructure

To confirm the difference, consider sending a representative part to a metallography lab. These labs can characterize the near-surface condition, helping you determine next steps鈥攔anging from simple Scotch-Brite cleaning, to a chemical or mechanical etch that removes a few thousandths of material.

And featured in Today’s Medical Developments Magazine:

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1. What type of furnace do I need?

Atmosphere or air furnaces work well for bar, sheet, or plate materials that will have stock removed afterward. Finished machined components and additive manufactured builds should be done in a vacuum furnace. When choosing a furnace, you must know if the furnace can hold the proper temperature tolerance throughout the run. If parts need to comply with industry and aerospace specifications, the furnace must demonstrate it can maintain 卤10掳F in the furnace work zone envelope.

2. Can I combine varied sizes and thicknesses in the same run?

There鈥檚 no need to run two loads if all can be done in one. AMS2759/3, Table 4 will give you an idea of thickness overlaps. A well-spaced load, not densely packed, will always achieve the best results. I鈥檝e personally heard of bars being aged in their received bundles, which predictably causes a wide range of hardness variations. This is a clear sign of over and under-aging conditions, with the inside not getting hot enough and the outside exposed to heat for too long.

3. Everything went well with the aging cycle, but the hardness levels are nonconforming.

We operate at risk when we only complete the age harden of PH alloys. We must assume the upstream solution treatment (typically done at the mill) was performed accurately. This includes making sure the PH grade is cooled to below a specific temperature before the age harden. I assume the furnace was loaded (not densely packed), calibrated, surveyed, and thermocoupled correctly. When diagnosing a problem like this, you must take a piece, solution treat, and age it. If the hardness falls within the specified requirement, improper solution treatment was the root cause.

4. My customer is asking for H900, which develops a 40-47 HRC. However, my customer wants 40-43 maximum HRC.

We鈥檝e seen these types of requests for HRC ranges that have only one or two points. In many cases, you must explain what鈥檚 feasible. PH Stainless grades usually have wider hardness ranges because there鈥檚 variability in chemistry and/or the response to the age harden. Plus, many specifications don鈥檛 allow you to deviate on the initial age harden cycle. H900 requires 900 卤10掳F for 1 hour +15 minutes -0 minutes. That鈥檚 it. That鈥檚 where you must start. From our experience, this cycle typically develops a 44-46 HRC, so now you鈥檙e anywhere from 1HRC to 2HRC over the maximum.

If hardness exceeds the maximum specified, you can re-age at the same temperature (recommended) or even go 10掳F higher to reduce the hardness by a point or two. But re-aging may cause the hardness to fall below 40HRC, resulting in a re-solution anneal and starting all over again.

5. Will my finished parts distort? Is there any concern about size change or distortion in raw bar stock?

People use PH grades because they believe they don鈥檛 move dimensionally. Not true. They distort minimally when compared to other quench and tempered alloys. Major steel mills have literature with predictable size contraction based on the age harden or H COND. Distortion, however, is very unpredictable, especially for parts made from hardened bars. In these situations, AMS2759/11 also discusses stress relieving of PH alloys 100掳F below the final age temperature. I鈥檝e seen this minimize distortion and heard of less movement of the parts, especially in elevated temperature applications.

For more information: 听Vacuum Age Hardening

And featured in Aerospace Manufacturing and Design Magazine:

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Greenville, SC, October 28, 2024 鈥� 91传媒 Greenville, SC facility is pleased to announce it has been awarded Parker Aerospace approval. This achievement expands 91传媒’ reach, offering five facilities able to assist customers with Parker Aerospace thermal processing requirements.

Steve Prout, President of 91传媒鈥� Greenville facility, shared: 鈥淲e are excited to provide our customers in the Southeastern U.S. with another regional solution for aerospace and defense thermal processing. This approval allows us to save our customers time and money while maintaining the exceptional quality they expect.鈥�

91传媒 offers a wide range of vacuum thermal processing services, capable of handling development cycles and loads of up to 50,000 pounds at temperatures as high as 2400掳F. As an AS9100 and Nadcap-accredited company, 91传媒 ensures every product meets the highest industry standards, giving customers confidence in the reliability and precision of their heat treatments.

For additional information on our processing options and our capabilities, contact Mike Paponetti at mikep@solaratm.com or call 1-855-934-3284.

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1: When I send my 17-4PH parts out for vacuum age hardening they are returned with discoloration. Isn鈥檛 the purpose of vacuum heat treating to eliminate that?

It is not uncommon for 17-4PH and similar alloys (15-5PH, 13-8MO etc.) to exhibit some discoloration even after being processed in a vacuum furnace. 17-4PH is precipitation age hardened at a low temperature, between 900掳F-1150掳F, where even a relatively low residual of water vapor in the vacuum furnace may produce a slight Chromium oxide during the cycle. This is commonly called 鈥渉eat tint鈥�. Discoloration may also be caused by inadequate cleaning.

2: I have some 17-4PH parts with heat tint and my customer will not accept them as-is. What do I do?

Consider glass bead blasting if acceptable to your customer. If glass bead blasting is not acceptable, parts could potentially be solution treated and re-aged. The solution heat treatment temperature is 1900掳F. When vacuum is used, this temperature is in the range of Chromium oxide reduction. It is recommended to utilize a partial pressure with Argon to prevent the vaporization of the copper that exists in 17-4PH (not a concern at age hardening temperatures). A challenge is 17-4PH must be cooled below 90掳F after solution treatment (Ms finish) and this is generally not possible to achieve without removing the parts from the furnace, thereby reintroducing new water vapor between solution and age. There is a risk of size change or distortion from this process, and it should be avoided if possible.

3: What is the best way to reduce the risk of heat tint when vacuum age hardening 17-4PH?

The best way to avoid heat tint is to utilize an all-metal hot-zone vacuum furnace that will achieve a very low vacuum level, around 5×10^-6 Torr. In this case, the residual water vapor level will be so low heat tint should not be observed.

4: I currently only have access to a graphite-insulated vacuum furnace, what can I do to avoid heat tint during age hardening?

If the vacuum furnace hot-zone is graphite-insulated (the most common type of vacuum furnace), parts may be shielded with stainless steel or titanium foil. This is generally effective however it increases the total processing time (and cost) since parts are shielded from the energy in the furnace. Foil is not inexpensive and further increases cost. Foil is also a safety hazard; the edges are sharp and one wrong move can cause deep cuts to skin.

5: Is gas purity, dewpoint, and leak rate of the vacuum furnace a consideration in avoiding heat tint?

Yes! Process gas should have no more than about 10PPM of residual oxygen and a dewpoint below about -80掳F. If the gas isn鈥檛 clean and dry, everything else will have been in vain. This is usually monitored at the point furthest from the supply to detect any leaks in the overall system. The vacuum furnace should also have a very low leak rate, normally about 10 microns per hour or less. At that rate, assuming the rise is linear (which it will not be, it slows down as the Delta P decreases) it would take nearly 9 years for the furnace to leak up to atmospheric pressure.

For more information: 听Vacuum Age Hardening

And featured in Today’s Medical Developments:

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Greenville, SC, April 8, 2024 鈥� 91传媒 Greenville, SC facility is pleased to announce it has been awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems approval. With this approval, now all five 91传媒 facilities are an option for our customers with Lockheed Martin requirements for thermal processing services.

Steve Prout, President of 91传媒鈥� Greenville facility states: 鈥淲e are proud to once again provide our customers in the Southeastern U.S. with another regional option for aerospace and defense thermal processes, saving them time and money while continuing to deliver the high level of quality required.鈥�

With the ability to support vacuum thermal processing needs ranging from development cycles to 50,000 pound loads at temperatures of up to 2400掳F, 91传媒 provides AS9100 and Nadcap quality accredited heat treatments, providing our customers with the confidence their product is being processed as specified.

For additional information on our processing options and capabilities, contact Mike Paponetti at mikep@solaratm.com or call 1-855-934-3284.

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