ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER 2026 39 ASM International’s Heat Treating Society (HTS) is preparing to publish the Research and Development Roadmap in early 2027. What follows is adapted from the roadmap’s executive summary as prepared by immediate past chair of the HTS Research and Development Committee, Michael Pershing. This roadmap is provided to highlight the major improvement areas needed by the heat treating industry and the technology developments that will achieve those improvements. It is meant to be a document that can quickly orient researchers, managers, and manufacturing engineers to the main technologies that must be developed to improve the heat treatment industry. The intended audience includes heat treaters, equipment manufacturers, instrument manufacturers, national lab- oratories, universities, and users of heat treated products. The roadmap is also planned to be a living document, always readily available in the ASM Digital Library and on ASM HEAT TREATING SOCIETY ROADMAP HIGHLIGHTS GAPS FOR TECH IMPROVEMENT The heat treating industry has advancement opportunities ahead and a new roadmap identifies where to begin. the HTS webpage. The HTS Research and Development Committee will solicit additions and edits to the content on a regular basis. Input and improvement to the various sections is desired. The document represents the “voice of the customer.” Some existing technologies or new developments may have been missed in the initial release. Therefore, an active mechanism to update the documents will be released. It will not be on the timescale of a Wikipedia update but active consideration of changes to the documents is the plan. The roadmap is divided into six sections. They are: • Modeling and Simulation • Sensors and Automation • Heat Generation Methods • Advanced Materials (for Processing Equipment) • Nondestructive Evaluation • End-Product Performance Each section discusses technologies that will improve the heat treating industry in the following ways: • Cost Reduction • Sustainability • Improved End-Product Quality and Performance • Safety The six sections have some overlap as no technology fits into only one category. Nondestructive Evaluation, for instance, has some discussion on sensors and processes that overlaps with parts of the Sensors and Automation section. Heat Generation Methods will necessarily touch on some aspects of Advanced Materials. Simulation and Modeling has roles in many of the sections. Despite these overlaps, the technologies divide well into the six sections, and all are deserving of their own discussion. Plasma nitriding is a case-hardening treatment that uses glow discharge technology to introduce nitrogen ions to the surface of a metal for diffusion into the part. Courtesy of Advanced Heat Treat Corp. “THIS ROADMAP IS PROVIDED TO HIGHLIGHT THE MAJOR IMPROVEMENT AREAS NEEDED BY THE HEAT TREATING INDUSTRY AND THE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL ACHIEVE THOSE IMPROVEMENTS.”
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