By David Pye - Pye Metallurgical Consulting
The subject of training in heat treatment has always been a controversial subject as to its merits and contributions to the betterment of the heat treating industry. Heat treatment is often considered an unskilled trade or profession, but it is the skill and knowledge of the heat treater that will literally ‘make or break’ the product being treated.
The educational arm of further education does not cater for the heat treater or its middle management. The educational arm will contribute significantly to the knowledge base of the undergraduate student who is pursuing a degree in metallurgy or materials science. But not everyone is able to follow the career path of the career metallurgist.
But the career metallurgist is likely to be examining the processed work by the furnace associate. Equally the educational arm of further education for industry has no focus on the furnace operator/associate. So how does the furnace associate gain their process and metallurgical knowledge? This is accomplished by:- Reading
- Being trained by a mentor
- Attending metallurgical chapter meetings
- Purchase of technical training material for either The Metal Treating Institute or ASM
The associate’s only opportunity for hands on training is ‘On The Job training’.
It is a great pity that there is no center to which the associate can attend, for say, a two week for an initial training period. The author has suggested on numerous occasions to partner with an educational institution that has a heat treat shop, such as ITTRI in Chicago. Not only is there a well equipment heat treat shop at that facility, but there is equally a well equipped metallurgical laboratory for the examination of processed samples.
Design of experiments can be designed, processed and metallurgically examined as to the result of the experiment. As far as is known, there is no school such as is described in the previous paragraph that is in existence, both domestically and internationally. In the writers opinion, this could be something revolutionary that can benefit not only the heat treat associate, but to give practical experience to engineers as to the materials ability to respond to its prescribed treatment, but to examine and observe the mechanical and metallurgical results of the process.
Is this ‘a pipe dream’ or can it be a reality?
While it may be a pipe dream at the moment, what is available is an array of practical heat treating courses through the Metal Treating Institute. Started in 2006, the MTI Online Academy for Heat Treaters has over 60 courses designed to help you understand the concepts of heat treating at a variety of different levels. In 4 years, almost 11,000 courses have been passed with studies showing a 79% increase in knowledge by those who have taken the courses.
MTI offers a very affordable annual subscription to the online academy that provides unlimited access to all the courses for employees. The subscription process has saved MTI members nearly $600,000 in direct training costs in its first 4 years of operations. To find out more on the Academy or to enroll your company, contact MTI at 904-249-0448 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
