Xiaoqing Cai Wins 2016 HTS/Bodycote Best Paper In Heat Treating Award

Bodycote, the world’s largest thermal processing services provider, is pleased to announce that this year’s winner of the HTS/Bodycote ‘Best Paper in Heat Treating’ Award, has been awarded to Xiaoqing Cai, a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, for her paper entitled “Microstructure Development in AISI 4140 Steels During Tempering”.

This award, established in 1997 by the ASM Heat Treating Society, recognises a paper that represents advancement in heat treating technology, or promotes heat treating in some substantial way or represents a clear advancement in managing the business of heat treating. The award is sponsored by Bodycote and the winner receives a recognition plaque and a check for $2,500.

Xiaoqing’s paper addressed an important issue for heat treaters: can equivalent properties and performance be achieved with both induction and furnace tempering? The judges considered that Xiaoqing clearly demonstrated that equivalent hardness and tensile properties can be achieved by both methods with different temperature, time heat treatments, and that she fully characterized the microstructures that develop during tempering.