Growth projected for specialist heat treatment services

Much of this increased customer demand is being driven by its gas-fired pit furnace facility, one of only a handful in the UK, which accommodates metal components vertically and enables processes like carburising, case hardening, carbonitriding and tempering. Employing around half of Keighley Laboratories' sixty-plus staff, the heat treatment division offers a comprehensive range of surface engineering services to UK engineers, which also includes: induction hardening; hardening and tempering; stress relieving; ferritic nitrocarburising or Tufftriding; austempering and martempering; and normalising - with nitriding to be added once a scheduled building programme is complete. Working to BS EN ISO 9001, BS EN 9100 and aerospace standard AS9100 rev B, the company serves a broadening customer base that take in the construction and mining, engineering, petrochemical, oil and gas, aviation, transport, defence, nuclear and energy markets. "Our expertise really focuses on our highly accurate furnace controls, which we program in-house, and the immense knowledge and skills of our qualified staff, including our furnace operators who undergo rigorous training and continuous skills development," says Heat Treatment commercial manager Michael Emmott who has had hands-on experience of all processes and provides technical support in the field. A fully independent service, Keighley Laboratories provides certification of all heat treatment processes, with the option of metallurgical inspection by its UKAS accredited, in-house testing facility; metallographic test pieces and records are archived for a minimum of six years, ensuring full traceability for customers. The heat treatment team is capable of performing failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) studies to identify and eliminate potential component reliability problems as well as assist with the formulation of material specifications, heat treatment processing and testing.