Furnaces North America 2022 (FNA 2022), presented by the Metal Treating Institute (MTI), in partnership with its media partner, Heat Treat Today, is the heat-treating industry’s go-to event every other year. FNA 2022 attracted attendees from across North America, including Fortune 500 companies. For three days attendees took part in networking, connections, and learning about the vast changes taking place in emerging technologies, industry trends, and advances in equipment.
Powder producers continue to respond to the needs of the industry by developing new and improved materials and additives for conventional press and sinter, MIM, and metal AM. Over the past two years, dry lubricants have been in limited supply and high demand, forcing companies to seek alternatives. The demand to improve “value‐added” machining has resulted in new high green strength materials that are suitable for green machining.
In the world of automotive racing, every component is critical, and even the most minute detail can contribute to the difference between winning and losing. No parts supplier is more aware of this than the team at ZPE Inc. of Temecula, Calif., manufacturers of the GripTec pulleys that drive the serpentine belts powering superchargers and compressors in competition cars.
When it comes to noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), I’m reminded of that dog-van scene from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey says, “Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?” and then proceeds to emit an astonishingly awful noise. Annoying as NVH may be, it’s a key metric in drive-system development for e-mobility, and the careful design and manufacture of gears are crucial to minimizing NVH as tolerance variations can result in large differences between nominally identical components.
The 2021 Gear Technology Buyers Guide was compiled to provide you with a handy resource containing the contact information for significant suppliers of machinery, tooling, supplies and services used in gear manufacturing.
We asked what the future holds for workholding and the industry did not disappoint. All the machining trends such as automation, robotics, sensors, 3D-printed parts, etc. are finding their way into workholding equipment.
Thanks to material development and additive manufacturing opportunities, it’s important for the gear and power transmission industries to monitor the trends, technologies and future forecasts in the powder metal market.