Page 14 - MetalForming September 2011

Materials & Coatings
New Website Aims to Transfer Steel Technology to the Automotive Industry
The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), Detroit, MI, has launched a new website designed to share steel-inten- sive solutions with the automotive, con- struction and container industries. The new site, www.smdisteel.org, provides infor- mation about the North American steel industry’s market applications; research and reports on new product advance- ments; and the industry’s commitment to sustainability.
Highlights of the website include:
• Updates on advanced high-strength
steel research in the automotive market,
including new technologies being used in body structures, wheels, bumpers and fuel tanks;
• Access to research, design aids and training opportunities in the construction market; and
• Expanded focus on the environmental and sustainable advantages of steel.
A global navigation bar at the top of the site’s homepage enables visitors to move across a network of steel-related websites, including those for the Steel Recycling Institute, Autosteel and the American Iron and Steel Institute.
A New Process to Bright Age-Harden PH Stainless Steels
Thanks to new advanced gas-cooling technology, Solar Atmospheres, Soud- erton, PA, has developed a unique two- step heattreat process to anneal and bright age-harden a variety of precipita- tion hardenable (PH) stainless steels in a vacuum furnace without breaking vac- uum. PH stainless steels 17-4 and 15-5 must be cooled to below 80 F from the annealing temperature for complete martensitic transformation prior to age hardening. Similarly, PH stainless steels 13-8 Mo and 17-7 and 15-7 Mo Condi- tion TH 1050 must be cooled from the annealing temperature to below 60 F rel- atively quickly prior to aging. Once PH stainless steel has been exposed to an air environment after annealing, it is notoriously difficult to keep it bright, or to not oxidize to a gold/blue hue during age hardening.
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12 MetalForming/September 2011
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