Improvement in processing, material substitution, light weighting, and recycling have contributed immensely to the cause of sustainability in the materials cycle. This chapter discusses some of the key indicators of sustainability that have direct relevance to advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) used in a vehicle. The discussion covers the major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, production routes for manufacturing crude steel, and an optimized index guideline for selecting the best material. Details on the benefits of AHSS on the life cycle of vehicles are provided. The chapter also provides information on recycling and the economics of AHSS.

Induction heating is a rapid, efficient technique for producing localized or through heating in a wide range of industries. The economics as well as the technical feasibility of induction heating should be important considerations prior to investing in such a system. A number of cost elements enter into the analysis. These include equipment and energy costs, production lot size and ease of automation, material savings, labor costs, and maintenance requirements. This chapter discusses each of these factors. It compares the cost elements of induction heating with those of its main competitor, gas-fired furnace heating. Several typical examples are provided to illustrate the economic considerations in design and application of induction heating processes.

Corrosion can be defined as a chemical or electrochemical reaction between a material, usually a metal, and its environment that produces a deterioration of the material and its properties. This chapter describes the effects and economic impact of corrosion in major industrial plants. The emphasis in this chapter, as well as in other chapters in this book, is on aqueous corrosion, or corrosion in environments where water is present. The chapter describes the classification of various forms of corrosion based on the nature of the corrodent, mechanism of corrosion, and appearance of the corroded metal. It discusses five primary methods of corrosion control, namely, material selection, coatings, inhibitors, cathodic protection, and design. Examples of the opportunities in corrosion control and the means to implement a program to capitalize on those opportunities are presented in a table. The chapter concludes with varied sources of information pertaining to corrosion and corrosion prevention.

Casting is one of the basic processes used for the shaping of steel. It is economical in both cost and time of production. Numerous components are produced from cast steel because of the advantages of the process. These advantages can best be described under the following headings: design flexibility, metallurgical versatility and quality, and economic benefits. This chapter looks at these advantages of steel castings. Of major interest is the comparison of cast steel with wrought steel and weldments in terms of properties, availability, cost, and quality. The chapter also includes information on cast steel compared to other cast metals and other methods of steel fabrication.

Casting is the most economical processing route for producing titanium parts, and unlike most metals, the properties of cast titanium are on par with those of wrought. This chapter covers titanium melting and casting practices -- including vacuum arc remelting, consumable electrode arc melting, electron beam hearth melting, rammed graphite mold casting, sand casting, investment casting, hot isostatic pressing, weld repair, and heat treatment -- along with related equipment, process challenges, and achievable properties and microstructures. It also explains how titanium parts are produced from powders and how the different methods compare with each other and with conventional production techniques. The methods covered include powder injection molding, spray forming, additive manufacturing, blended elemental processing, and rapid solidification.

This chapter describes a sheet metal forming method, called hydroforming, that uses pressurized liquid and a shaped punch or die. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches, the effect of process variations, and tooling modifications intended to reduce sheet bulging. It identifies the factors that influence part quality and explains how finite-element analysis can be used to optimize hydroforming operations. It also discusses the economics of sheet hydroforming and presents several application examples.

Casting is one of the most economical manufacturing processes for providing shape to components of machinery and is used in a wide range of industries. This chapter is a brief account of the advantages, applications, limitations, and market growth of aluminum casting. It also provides information on the process of conversion of steel and iron parts to aluminum.

A successful heat treating operation is determined by the ability to satisfy the customer's quality requirements consistently and economically. This chapter reviews the steps that are important to produce quality parts in heat treating with a brief practical explanation of each. The steps include selecting proper material and design of the part being treated; determining whether the process is capable of heat treatment; using statistical process control, control charting, and in-process inspection and testing; and applying statistical quality control and final testing (sampling) to verify the results.

This article summarizes the results of work completed by the ASM Thermal Spray Society Advisory Committee to identify key research challenges and opportunities in the thermal spray field. It describes and prioritizes research priorities related to emerging process methods, thermal spray markets and applications, and process robustness, reliability, and economics.

This chapter provides an overview of factors that must be considered in the design of structural components for satisfactory service performance in terms of mechanical behavior of steel castings. The chapter discusses designing against yielding, excessive deflection, and creep and stress rupture. The chapter describes the three main approaches to evaluating and designing structures relative to fatigue resistance: the S-N curve approach for high cycle fatigue, the strain range approach for low cycle fatigue, and the fracture mechanics approach. Two approaches to design against brittle fracture are described, the ductile to brittle transition concept and the fracture mechanics approach. The chapter also discusses several types of corrosion behavior and emphasizes the need to interact with corrosion specialists in the design process. It illustrates the unique advantages that designers may gain by designing components as castings to achieve low stress concentrations economically.

Powder metallurgy (P/M) is a flexible metalworking process for the production of gears. The P/M process is capable of producing close tolerance gears with strengths to 1240 MPa at economical prices in higher volume quantities. This chapter discusses the capabilities, limitations, process advantages, forms, tolerances, design, tooling, performance, quality control, and inspection of P/M gear manufacture. In addition, it presents examples that illustrate the versatility of the P/M process for gear manufacture.

Anodic protection is used on a smaller scale than other corrosion control techniques due to the fundamental electrochemistry involved. This chapter provides a brief history of the technique, discusses anodic protection use, and compares anodic and cathodic protection. The background and theory of anodic protection are summarized. In addition to briefly describing the various items used for each component of an anodic protection system, the chapter presents design concerns as well as applications of the system. Factors concerning the economic justification of anodic protection are also described.

This chapter outlines the step-by-step processes by which materials are selected in order to prevent or control corrosion and includes information on materials that are resistant to the various forms of corrosion. The various forms of corrosion covered are general (uniform) corrosion, localized corrosion, galvanic corrosion, intergranular corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen damage, and erosion-corrosion. In addition, the economic importance of cost-effective materials selection is also considered.