A method and plant for the thermal treatment of friction elements including a convective heating step which is performed within a convective tunnel oven. The friction elements are arranged laid, in an orderly manner, upon a plurality of trays each tray having a perforated resting plate upon which the friction elements are laid in a position next to one another only, but not overlapped. The trays are piled on top of each other whilst being kept distanced from one another in a stacking direction by an amount that is greater than the thickness of the friction elements. Groups of piled up trays containing the friction elements are arranged side by side on belt conveyor means that pass through the tunnel oven in order to transport the friction elements therethrough.

A metal casting is heated using infrared energy by introducing the metal casting into a heating chamber with infrared emitters directed towards the casting, and activating at least a portion of the emitters. The infrared emitters may have a metal coil that is partially embedded in a refractory material, and be tunable to emit wavelengths from about 2 m to about 3.3 m. The infrared wavelength used to heat the metal casting may be selected based on a surface roughness of the casting. Surface roughness can be measured by measuring a roughness of a part cast from the same mold as the heated casting, which can be the casting that is being heated. Heating may be controlled by measuring the temperature of the casting while a shield is deployed that covers the emitters, which prevents radiations from the emitters from affecting the temperature measurement.

A method of manufacturing a hollow element which has an internal space and of which the internal space is cryogenically used, the method comprising a base material forming step of forming a base material which has a space to serve as the internal space; a filling step of filling the internal space of the formed base material with fluid having a temperature equal to or lower than a temperature at which the base material is subjected to solid-phase transformation and causing the base material to be subjected to the solid-phase transformation; and a finishing step of finishing the base material after the base material is subjected to phase transformation.

A method of manufacturing a hollow element which has an internal space and of which the internal space is cryogenically used, the method comprising a base material forming step of forming a base material which has a space to serve as the internal space; a filling step of filling the internal space of the formed base material with fluid having a temperature equal to or lower than a temperature at which the base material is subjected to solid-phase transformation and causing the base material to be subjected to the solid-phase transformation; and a finishing step of finishing the base material after the base material is subjected to phase transformation.

A method for forming a component utilizing ultra-high strength steel and components formed by the method. The method includes the step of providing a flat blank of ultra-high strength 22MnB5 steel. The next step of the method is cold forming the flat blank into an unfinished shape of a component while the blank is in an unhardened state. Then, heating the unfinished shape of the component and generating a spline form thereon. The method proceeds by forming a finished shape of the component using a quenching die resulting in a fine-grained martensitic component material structure and enabling net shape processing to establish final geometric dimensions of the component.

A nitrided steel part excellent in bending straightening ability and bending fatigue characteristic enabling reduction of size and decrease of weight of parts or enabling demand for high load capacities to be met, using as a material a steel material containing, by mass %, C: 0.2 to 0.6%, Si: 0.05 to 1.5%, Mn: 0.2 to 2.5%, P: 0.025% or less, S: 0.003 to 0.05%, Cr: 0.05 to 0.5%, Al: 0.01 to 0.05%, and N: 0.003 to 0.025%, and having a balance of Fe and impurities, having formed on the steel surface a compound layer of a thickness 3 m or less comprising iron, nitrogen, and carbon and a hardened layer formed below the compound layer, and having an effective hardened layer depth of 160 to 410 m.

A nitrided steel part excellent in bending straightening ability and bending fatigue characteristic enabling reduction of size and decrease of weight of parts or enabling demand for high load capacities to be met, using as a material a steel material containing, by mass %, C: 0.2 to 0.6%, Si: 0.05 to 1.5%, Mn: 0.2 to 2.5%, P: 0.025% or less, S: 0.003 to 0.05%, Cr: 0.05 to 0.5%, Al: 0.01 to 0.05%, and N: 0.003 to 0.025%, and having a balance of Fe and impurities, having formed on the steel surface a compound layer of a thickness 3 m or less comprising iron, nitrogen, and carbon and a hardened layer formed below the compound layer, and having an effective hardened layer depth of 160 to 410 m.

Methods and masks for manufacturing component of gas turbine engines are described. The methods include applying a mask to a protected surface of the component, the component having a designated surface to be treated by a shot peen operation. The mask includes a full masking portion configured to prevent a shot peen media from impacting the protected surface. A masking control region is arranged around the designated surface. The masking control region is configured to control an amount of force imparted to the component by shot peen media during the shot peen operation, wherein the masking control region extends from the full masking portion to the designated surface. The designated surface is shot peened with shot peen media to form a compressive stress region within the component proximate the designated surface and a tapering transition of compressive forces within the component proximate the masking control region.

This non-oriented electrical steel sheet includes a base metal having a predetermined chemical composition satisfying the expression [Si+0.5Mn4.3], and an average grain size of the base metal is more than 40 m and 120 m or less.

Provided is a method for manufacturing a magnetostrictive torque sensor shaft mounting a sensor portion of a magnetostrictive torque sensor. The method includes conducting heat treatment on a shaft material including chrome steel or chrome-molybdenum steel by carburizing, quenching and tempering, and conducting shot peening on the shaft material after the heat treatment at least on a position where the sensor portion is to be mounted. The shot peening is conducted by firing shot with a particle size of not less than 0.6 mm and a Rockwell hardness of not less than 60 at a jet pressure of not less than 0.4 MPa for a jet exposure time of not less than 2 minutes.