Mercury Marine Opens Heat Treat Department to Commercial Heat Treating
“Mercury Marine” (the outboard motor people) in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, USA has always had a large, diversified in house heat treatment department, a department which is characterized by a mix of older, conventional furnaces and new state of the art systems.
In a very interesting development the company recently announced that they would be opening up their shop to outside work, in other words entering the commercial heat treatment industry with these capabilities;
Aluminum Heat Treatment; Full T6 and T7 solution and aging cycles for structural and performance-grade aluminum castings and components. Our controlled furnaces and rapid quenching systems ensure uniform hardness, strength and elongation across every part. Optimized T5 heat treatment for high-pressure die-cast aluminum parts. Our precision-controlled process boosts strength and stability while preserving surface integrity and delivering components that perform reliably and maintain an exceptional appearance suitable for the most demanding applications.
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Steel Heat Treatment; Marquenching/Martempering: Molten salt austenitizing and hot brine quenching deliver controlled transformation and minimal distortion, ideal for precision steel components requiring toughness and dimensional accuracy.
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Atmosphere Carburizing: Enhanced surface hardness and wear resistance through controlled atmosphere carburizing, followed by a warm oil quench for balanced case depth and core strength.
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Heat Treat Laboratory; Our dedicated metallurgical analysis lab supports all operations with microstructural evaluation, hardness testing and process validation. This ensures every batch meets or exceeds mechanical property specifications and customer standards.
“AUGUST 30;2021; Mercury Marine Advances Heat Treating Processes with ECM Technologies Vacuum Furnace Systems with Advanced Automation
Pleasant Prairie, WI – August 30, 2021 – Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, recently launched a plan to upgrade its heat-treating capabilities with a move to the low-pressure carburization and high pressure gas quench system. Partnering with ECM Technologies, the new plan incorporates completely automated Nano vacuum heat treating systems. The innovative Nano system incorporates 20 bar nitrogen gas quenching along with Low Pressure Carburizing (aka vacuum carburizing). The Nano, with its versatile configuration, will operate several different carburizing, hardening, and spheroidizing processes simultaneously. This change marks a departure from Mercury’s traditional atmospheric carburization and oil quench system while benefiting from advantages that come with vacuum processing:• Innovative vacuum heat treating in lieu of traditional atmosphere (elimination of intergranular oxidation & highly repeatable process with consistent results
• Employs preventive maintenance planning, remote system status access and facility information systems integration
• Relocates heat treat from a secondary location to the clean, controlled environment of the machining centers
• Converts to Small Batch processing principles to maximize process efficiency
• State-of-the-art growth with ECM’s advanced system automation and robot capability with load building and breakdown
• Controls downstream operations by matching incoming dunnage with exiting workpieces
• Takes advantage of vapor and vacuum-based pre-cleaning technology to remove multiple machining lubricants
• Incorporates cryogenic and tempering processes within the automated system
• Employs preventive maintenance planning, remote system status access and facility information systems integration
• Relocates heat treat from a secondary location to the clean, controlled environment of the machining centers
• Converts to Small Batch processing principles to maximize process efficiency
• State-of-the-art growth with ECM’s advanced system automation and robot capability with load building and breakdown
• Controls downstream operations by matching incoming dunnage with exiting workpieces
• Takes advantage of vapor and vacuum-based pre-cleaning technology to remove multiple machining lubricants
• Incorporates cryogenic and tempering processes within the automated system
The system uses all CFC workload fixtures and ECM’s advanced automation fixture tracking to maintain a precise cycle count to know fixture life. This improvement for Mercury significantly reduces energy consumption and process cost per piece. Additionally, the vacuum process takes their heat treatment to a near-zero emissions for drivetrain components processed within the system.”
