low-pressure carburizing brings substantial cost savings
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Quar terly no. 2 - October 2006 A MAGAZINE FROM ECM, SPECIALIST IN LOW-PRESSURE CARBURIZING On-call service SEW-USOCOME Ford: low-pressure carburizing brings substantial cost savings APPLICATIONS inside pages Taking things further with acetylene back page At SEW-USOCOME just as much as at Ford, we are fully committed to the future of solutions implemented on site. Now the former has only two cells compared to what will eventually be fifty-six cells for the latter. For ECM, there is no such thing as the "small customer". And this is more than a mere marketing slogan: it's a corporate strategy and a commitment to creating sustainable value-added. The future of vacuum carburizing lies mostly before us. A fervent advocate of this technology, ECM will stand as the industrial reference, transforming each site solution into a technological showcase, whether in Haguenau (France) or in Sharonville (Ohio, USA). Your performance levels are of strategic importance to us. Our value-added is your own industrial quality, maintained through long-term solutions, continually enhanced with technological innovations to meet the highest standards. We produce it through our service organization combining responsive local teams and a skills center with high valueadded. You will find some concrete results in this edition. Read on! Laurent Combaz ECM, Chief Executive Officer 573 is the number of heat treatment cells in service throughout the world, in all ECM-supplied lowpressure carburizing units. 35 million gears carburized under vacuum per year by 2008 Convinced by the quality and flexibility of the process, Ford USA is expanding the use of low-pressure heat treatment for parts of its six-speed automatic transmissions. And the result? A substantial reduction in production costs. first ICBP unit that same year in order o less than a million dolto pursue tests on an industrial scale. lars are expected to be The launch of Ford’s 6-speed rearsaved every year: at the wheel-drive transmission (codename half-way stage of its massive 6R) was about to change the plans dradeployment plan for several matically. "When we ordered the sysICBP units in its Sharonville plant (Ohio, USA), Ford is tem in 2002, there was very little already counting the benefits vacuum carburizing going on in North due to low-pressure carburizing. America. As we got it running, our manThe car manufacturer released agement wanted to pull ahead" recalls these figures within the context Ron Lucas, Technical Specialist in metof its production allurgical processes at facilities modern- “Our management Ford. As a result, four of ization plan. The the six cells of the ICBP wanted to pull successive launch were immediately used ahead” of several sixfor production of 6R speed transmissions confirms components, and only the last two the advantages of this process, cells were left for test purposes. such as the possibility of heattreating distor tion-prone ring A few months later, following the introgears, or using less expensive duction of a new family of 6-speed alloys. front-wheel-drive transmissions (codename 6F), Ford needed to ramp up Ramp up Low-pressure carburizing began to pull ahead at Ford in 2004, at which time it had only atmosphere heat-treatment furnaces. After several series of tests at different suppliers, and convinced by the metallurgical quality obtained at ECM in Kenosha (Wisconsin, USA), the car manufacturer installed its 6F transmission: optimized production costs Continued next pag

Continued from page 1 ECM strengthens its R&D capacity Dimensions and tolerances respected with gas quenching production. More components treated, greater volumes: in 2004, the car manufacturer ordered four additional ICBP units, followed by another two in 2005. Eventually, its Sharonville plant will be equipped with four 6-cell and four 8-cell ICBPs, all equipped with a gas-quenching system. Three of these are already operational, and the next systems are currently in different phases of installation. As a result, Ford will have the capacity to low pressure carburize over 35 million gears...

On-call service for SEW-USOCOME Leading supplier of industrial drive systems, SEW-USOCOME benefits from an on-call service to guarantee high reliability of its single but strategic ICBP. "A service commitment that can be likened to a partnership, this is rare for a machine supplier", appreciates Denis Bousser, production plant manager. he low-pressure carburizing installation plays a critical role in the gear production flow at this industrial gearmotor manufacturer, leader in its field. SEW-USOCOME's competitiveness depends in part on this unit, which is continually monitored for...

Acetylene offers an ideal alternative to propane for the casehardening of components with complex geometry. The process patented by ECM can also be used for partial carburizing operations or for maintaining quality performance in the event of inconsistent washing. This was clearly highlighted by a 2003 study on industrial applications. Propane or acetylene: the chemistry involved The respective performance of acetylene and propane in terms of carbon enrichment is explained by the difference in free enthalpy of the two gases (see facing diagram). This parameter characterizes the energy...