Northeastern University has developed a new low-pressure vacuum carburizing heat-treatment process, making aerospace engine bearings more robust and durable.
Release Date:
2019-04-30
Author:
Aerospace engine bearings are critical components of aircraft. Bearing materials form the foundation for ensuring the safety and reliability of aeroengines, while the manufacturing processes—particularly heat treatment—directly influence the engine’s overall performance. On March 26, reporters learned that Wang Haojie, a doctoral candidate in Materials Processing Engineering at Northeastern University, led an entrepreneurial team in developing a novel low-pressure vacuum carburizing heat‑treatment process that enables precise control of carbide distribution within the case‑hardened layer of bearing steels used in aeroengines. This innovative process has endowed high‑end aerospace bearing steels with enhanced strength, superior surface hardness, improved fatigue and wear resistance, extended service life, and markedly better overall performance.
Aircraft engine bearings are critical components of an aircraft. Bearing materials form the foundation for ensuring the safety and reliability of aircraft engines, while the manufacturing processes—particularly heat treatment—directly influence the engine’s overall performance. On March 26, reporters learned that Wang Haojie, a doctoral student in Materials Processing Engineering at Northeastern University, led an entrepreneurial team in developing a novel low-pressure vacuum carburizing heat‑treatment process that enables precise control of carbide distribution within the case‑hardened layer of bearing steels used in aircraft engines. This process enhances the strength, surface hardness, fatigue resistance, wear resistance, and service life of high‑end aerospace bearing steels, delivering superior overall performance. The technology is domestically leading and has been approved by Harbin Bearing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of AVIC Aeroengine Corporation of China.
The main auxiliary systems of an aircraft engine—such as the starting system, fuel system, lubrication system, and hydraulic system—are all driven by the engine rotor via a gear‑driven transmission. Carburizing heat treatment is one of the key technologies for significantly enhancing the surface hardness, fatigue strength, and wear resistance of mechanical components; it is widely employed for surface hardening of critical parts like gears, drive shafts, and bearings, playing a vital role in upgrading and improving the quality of high‑end machinery.
At present, the most pressing issues in China’s metal carburizing heat‑treatment industry are substandard surface quality and significant environmental‑regulation pressures. Although advanced equipment and technologies exist abroad to address these challenges, they come at a steep price and are often subject to strict technological confidentiality. Among the roughly 16,000 heat‑treatment enterprises in China, the majority cannot afford the high costs of imported equipment. Consequently, enabling domestic companies to access such technology at an affordable cost has become the R&D goal of Wang Haojie’s entrepreneurial team.
In his first year of doctoral studies, Wang Haojie, under the guidance of his mentor, Professor Wang Zhaodong, embarked on a systematic investigation into a complete set of low-pressure vacuum carburizing equipment. He visited most of the factories across the country that were already using such equipment, as well as companies engaged in its development. Soon thereafter, Wang Haojie began collaborating with enterprises to carry out production and assembly. To realize the process he had devised, he repeatedly encountered setbacks yet remained undeterred. Whenever he thought about how his research could help companies resolve product‑related challenges, his motivation soared. Through the concerted efforts of Wang Haojie and the manufacturing firms involved, a fully domestically developed, complete set of low-pressure vacuum carburizing heat‑treatment equipment was successfully brought to market.
After more than three years of R&D, Wang Haojie established connections with most domestic manufacturers of vacuum furnaces. Many companies lured him with lucrative offers as a technical consultant, even proposing equity stakes and invitations to join their teams; one publicly listed firm even sought to acquire the rights to his newly developed heat‑treatment technology for 10 million yuan. Yet, through these collaborations, Wang realized he had no control over the manufacturing quality of his partner firms. This led him to conceive the idea of starting his own venture—taking full ownership of product quality and building his innovations into China’s leading brand in low‑pressure vacuum carburizing.
In June 2017, Wang Haojie founded Shenyang Dongbo Thermal Technology Co., Ltd., focusing on green development in the heat‑treatment industry and developing complete sets of low‑pressure vacuum carburizing equipment. Building on four to five years of prior research and technological accumulation, Wang Haojie and his team successively developed heat‑treatment processes for critical components such as aeroengine bearings and gears, cycloidal wheels for robotic RV reducers, and high‑end sealing ferrules used in high-speed trains. These advancements broke through stringent foreign technology embargoes, enabling domestic independent production of products previously monopolized by overseas suppliers while significantly reducing costs. By the end of 2018, Wang Haojie’s team had already achieved an output value exceeding RMB 30 million.
At present, Wang Haojie’s team has signed agreements with Aeroengine Corporation of China Shenyang Liming and Harbin Aeroengine Bearing Co., Ltd., and has also reached preliminary cooperation intentions with Aeroengine Dong’an Engine and CRRC, among other entities. By leveraging low-pressure vacuum carburizing technology, they aim to facilitate the market‑scale, mass production of carburized steels for bearings and gears in second- and third‑generation aeroengines. Meanwhile, Wang Haojie’s company is actively pursuing research into new technologies such as vacuum nitriding and gradient heat treatment, striving to achieve sound, sustainable corporate development.
{Reposted from China Bearing Network}
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