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FEATURE
A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6
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GUEST DITORIAL
First, use the experience and knowledge of members to
identify new work and the organizations that are perform-
ing development pertinent to the heat treating industry. The
committee must track the work from Worcester Polytechnic
Institute’s Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE), for-
eign universities, EWI, and from newly formed consortiums
such as LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow), Amer-
ica Makes (National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Insti-
tute), and the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation
Institute.
Second, the information must be disseminated if
allowed. Bringing forward work for conference papers
and publishing in HTPro are two ways to do that. Website
updates and other member-friendly and timely ways must
also be utilized.
Lastly, research and development must be encour-
aged. The Thermal Manufacturing Industries Advanced
Technology Consortium (TMI-ATC) is a great aid in this area.
A roadmapwas published showing the areas where research
and development are needed to advance industries like heat
treating. The committeemust find ways to involvemore uni-
versities, national labs, and companies in heat treat related
research.
Michael Pershing
HTS R&D Committee Chair
Sr. Technical Steward at Caterpillar Inc.
HOW TO MOVE HEAT TREAT R&D FORWARD
Heat treating is an easily iden-
tifiable industry and ASM’s
Heat Treating Society (HTS)
organizes successful exhibits and
conferences. Likewise, the Metal
Treating Institute organizes a suc-
cessful Furnaces North America
(FNA) event every two years. Both
organizations and IHEA have course
work available for heat treat training. There are clear issues
around energy, safety, cost, and product performance. How-
ever, no one receives a degree in heat treating and there are
few universities and national labs that boost their prestige
and funding by investigating and solving issues around heat
treatment.
Heat treating is an applied field relying on various
aspects of mechanical engineering and materials science. It
isan industrybut not anacademic fieldwhereadvancements
are self-propelled by motivated researchers at universities,
institutes, and national labs competing against one another
for dollars and prestige. More motivation for development
comes from companies, but declining manufacturing infra-
structure has certainly slowed this development within com-
panies. It is with this backdrop that the HTS Research and
Development Committee has laid out three key activities:
1) Identify, 2) Disseminate, 3) Encourage.