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Saving operators millions on repairs and limiting asset

Crankshaft downtime around the world
Annealing Crankshaft casualties often result in extremely high hardness levels in the crankpin, and that hardness has
to be removed or the shaft will have to be condemned and replaced. Goltens has now successfully salvaged
hundreds of crankshafts in over 50 countries across industries with its class approved and well proven in-
place annealing process.

What is the value of Annealing?

Fact Sheet: Crankshaft Annealing

Historically the only option was to try and machine below the high
crankshaft hardness, which very often resulted in a condemned shaft
if the hardness extended below the rated diameter. Even if the
machining was successful, a large amount of material generally
needed to be removed from the shaft, limiting expected lifespan.

With in-situ annealing, the amount of material machined off the

crankshaft is generally much less substantial, leaving significantly
more material on the journal, which extends the life expectancy of the
shaft. Goltens’ process for annealing crankshafts and other shafting
can be done successfully In-Situ (with the crankshaft in-place) as well
as in our workshops around the world. A deep understanding of the
metallurgy, expansion characteristics and safety precautions has been
developed and refined over the years into a safe, repeatable, highly
controlled process.

At the end of the day, it’s really about two separate but related costs;
the cost of the repair path chosen, and the cost of avoidable downtime
for the engine. Annealing minimizes both, limiting the out-of-pocket
repair expense, and restoring the engine in a matter of weeks as
opposed to what can often turn out to be months.

With the annealing repair process so well-proven, pursuing a pure

machining repair is akin to throwing away money.

Goltens’ Crankshaft Annealing Advantages Problems Most Often Observed/Addressed with

Crankshaft and Journal Annealing
Germanischer Lloyd Class approved annealing process
Comprehensive capability to handle all aspects of hardness Bearing Failure / Bearing Meltdown resulting in areas in the
treatment inclusive of engine preparation, Inspection, pre- journal surface with excessive hardness values
machining, hardness removal and finish machining as well as
engine reassembly
A large, global team of highly skilled In-Situ technicians to ensure
a rapid, expert response anytime and anywhere
Deep experience successfully annealing crankshafts across a
broad array of makes and models of engines and rotating
machinery
Globally deployed and available portable annealing equipment
for In-Situ application

What Is Crankshaft Annealing?

Annealing is a heat treatment process commonly used to remove
the stress and hardness within a metal and to increase its
ductility. Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is
to permanent shape change under application of force, and
ductility is a material’s ability to deform under stress.

On a molecular level, when a metal such as steel cools down rapidly,

the crystalline grains in the metal transform into a lenticular shape.
This causes the metal to become harder but also more brittle in the
process. Heating the metal to an appropriate temperature causes a
homogenous growth of new crystals. The more heat is applied to the
metal, the more its ductility increases and its hardness decreases.
During annealing, the steel is heated above its critical temperature
and held at this temperature for a period of time before controlled
cooling. The controlled cooling process allows the crystals to diffuse
into a more flexible, cubic-shaped state.

Factory Tempered Crankshaft Annealing The Shaft Post Annealing

State
Unhardened crankshafts
generally have a hardness in the
range of 250-350HB (Hardness
Brinell).
Metal Characteristics
Homogenous grain structure with
a hardness that provides desired
strength, rigidity, resistance to
wear, corrosion and impact.
Casualties Heat is applied to the shaft in a Once the shaft is cooled, the
tightly controlled manner above surface of the journal is rough
During a bearing failure, a
its critical temperature but well with scale from oxidation of the
crankshaft absorbs an incredible
below the austenite range where metal during the annealing
amount of heat. Emergency
the crankshaft could be process. The shaft must then be
stopping of the engine
permanently damaged. This machined to finish diameter and
introduces an uncontrolled
temperature is held for a time machine polished to the required
cooling or quenching that often
period related to shaft diameter finish.
results in areas of excessive
and extent of damage before Metal Characteristics
crankshaft hardness in the range
being cooled in an equally The journal now has an
of 600 to 700+HB
controlled manner. acceptable hardness across the
Metal Characteristics
Metal Characteristics entire surface of the pin and the
Uneven grain structure with
During annealing, once the metal surface has been polished to a
significant and visible differences
reaches the critical temperature, finish generally of 0.03Rα or
in hardness create areas that are
the molecules are allowed to better.
highly susceptible to cracking
recrystallize (realign) to a state
and potential shearing under
consistent with its original
force. Oftentimes, this hardness
ductility and hardness when it
goes deep into the metal and
was delivered from the factory.
without annealing would result in
Hardness levels are reduced to
the condemnation of the
within acceptable parameters
crankshaft.
and within maker tolerances.

Case Studies

Case Study Case Study Case Study

A matter of millimeters – no In-situ annealing & Wartsila 6L46C In Situ

room to spare machining restores US Machining Case Study
Naval vessel main engine to
service

All Crankshaft Annealing Case Studies

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