Metallic materials such as steel, aluminium or refractory metals, are essential for numerous industries, including the automotive, mechanical and electrical engineering sectors. A key process in the manufacture and processing of these materials is heat treatment, which defines their mechanical properties and determines the final product quality. At the same time, companies are facing the growing challenge of ever stricter requirements for reducing energy consumption and emissions alongside higher quality requirements and an increase in product diversity. This requires innovative approaches to make existing processes more efficient.

Drawing on its expertise in automation and control technology, AIT has developed new ways to optimise industrial heat treatment. Using model-based control algorithms, machine learning and real- time optimisation enables precise control of temperatures and material properties. By combining physical and data-based models, processes can be monitored and controlled in real time, reducing waste, saving energy and ensuring consistently high product quality.

The collaboration with voestalpine Stahl GmbH is one example of the success of this methodology: Model predictive control improved the average temperature error by 51 percent and the homogeneity of material properties by 25 percent. In another collaboration with Plansee SE, the process time and hydrogen consumption for a selected plant were reduced by 12 percent each, and the total energy consumption by 18 percent – without any loss of quality.

These technological advances by AIT are setting new standards for process control in heat treatment. Companies benefit from significant efficiency gains, lower operating costs and more sustainable production. The ability to precisely estimate and control difficult-to-measure parameters, such as microstructural changes during the heat treatment process, opens up completely new possibilities for direct quality control of metallic materials. In addition, methods are being developed to combine all available process and material data, enabling even more precise condition monitoring and wear assessment in production.

AIT is continuing to expand its research in this area and is increasingly working on the integration of new sensor technologies and data-driven models. The aim is to develop intelligent systems that facilitate fully digitalised, adaptive process control, bringing the vision of zero-defect production closer to reality. In this way, AIT is making a decisive contribution to making industrial heat treatment more sustainable, efficient and economical.