Most metal components require thermal processing to alter their physical and metallurgical properties in order to meet the engineered requirements of their intended use. Bluewater Thermal Solutions offers a wide array of heat treating processes at 10 different locations in North America. Our capabilities include the following processes:
Age-Hardening
Bluewater’s Age Hardening which is also called Precipitation Hardening is used to increase the tensile and yield strength of materials including most alloys of aluminum, magnesium, titanium, nickel and some stainless steel. Read More
Annealing
Annealing is a type of heat treatment that alters the microstructure of a material causing changes in properties such as strength and hardness and ductility. Bluewater’s annealing processes takes place in stages Read More
Carbon-Restoration
Bluewater’s carbon restoration heat treatments are applied to steel parts in order to correct the surface decarburization that occurs from high temperature metalworking processes performed in air, such as investment casting and hot forging. Read More
Hardening
What is hardening? Bluewater’s hardening methods enlist a wide variety of techniques in which we increase the hardness, strength, and fatigue life of metal parts and components via surface hardening and through hardening. Read More
Induction
Induction Hardening is a form of heat treating Bluewater utilizes to selectively harden a metal part or component via means of a solid state RF power supply that sends currents through an inductor coil which then transmits electromagnetic waves that heat the metal parts or components. Read More
Case-Hardening
Bluewater specializes in a wide variety of thermochemical treatments in which we create durable, wear resistant finishes on shaped carbon and ferrous alloy steels. Case Hardening, also known as surface hardening Read More
Austenitic-Nitrocarburizing
Austenitic Nitrocarburizing (ANC) produces a surface compound layer of epsilon iron nitride and a diffusion zone that contains transformed martensite. By processing at higher temperatures than a Ferritic Nitrocarburizing (FNC) process. Read More
Carbonitriding
Bluewater’s Carbonitriding is a surface hardening process that provides a thin, high hardness case on lower hardenability steels. This thermochemical treatment diffuses both carbon and nitrogen into the surface of the component simultaneously. Read More
Carburizing
Carburizing is a case hardening process in which a metal part or component of low carbon content is heated in conjunction with a carbon rich substance in gas, liquid or solid form. The process of heating the metal component in a high carbon environment. Read More
Ferritic-Nitrocarburizing
Bluewater’s Ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) has a high resistance to wear, excellent scuffing and seizure resistance as well as improved corrosion resistance. While Ferritic Nitrocarburizing is the more generally specified process Read More
Malcomizing
Our Malcomizing operation for stainless steel produces a durable hardened surface with exceptional corrosion resistance. Malcomizing is similar to gas nitriding, but requires the addition of an activator to destroy the protective oxide layer on stainless steel and then hardens this surface through the diffusion of nitrogen. Read More
