From Scrap to Smart: Durable fastening solutions production
Technology Being Tested
This pilot focuses on real-time monitoring of the induction hardening process in bolt manufacturing for the wind industry. The technologies applied aim to ensure the reliability and quality of fastening components through advanced process control:
AE–Based Integrity Assessment: A non-destructive solution that uses acoustic emission analysis to estimate martensite content and verify the integrity of hardened steel parts.
Mechanical Hardness Inspector: A inspection system that creates a digital twin of the hardening process. It provides unit-by-unit, inline inspection of bolts, detecting anomalies in real time and confirming whether parts are properly hardened.
Together, these technologies form a non-destructive, inline quality assurance toolkit that minimizes scrap, reduces inspection times, and enhances production efficiency.
Use case in a Nutshell
The project involved collaboration between ERREKA (Pilot) and a IKERLAN, DIRA, and UPV (Technology provider). Together, they tested an innovative non-destructive digital inspection system for steel bolts, ensuring correct hardness without slowing down production. This joint effort validated the technology in real production conditions, showing how advanced monitoring can help reduce waste, improve quality control, and optimize processes.
About the collaboration partners
ERREKA: An open and agile innovation platform, with the goal of driving diversification and business transformation. They develop advanced solutions for sectors such as automotive, health, access management, mobility, renewable energies, critical infrastructures, mining, and aeronautics, among others.
IKERLAN stands as a prominent knowledge transfer technological center, delivering competitive value to companies. The organization strives for excellence in R&D&i, achieved through continuous adaptation to customer needs and close proximity to business reality.
Description of the Collaboration
Technology Development
The technology provider designed an inspection system based on acoustic emissions and digital twins to monitor the hardening process.
Industrial Integration
ERREKA integrated the system into their induction hardening line for bolt manufacturing.
Real-Time Quality Control
The system enabled inline monitoring, detecting anomalies and verifying martensite percentage, a key factor for structural integrity.
This ensured that every component could be inspected unit by unit without destructive testing.
Operator Support
By providing immediate alerts, operators could act quickly to prevent defective batches and minimize scrap.
Future Potential
The system can evolve toward closed-loop control, automatically adjusting process parameters to prevent defects before they occur.
Results of the Colaborration
Significant reduction of scrap and defects.
Shorter quality control times, no need for destructive testing.
Improved process reliability with inline anomaly detection.
Strengthened production efficiency while ensuring part quality.
Testimonials
“The mechanical hardness inspector will be installed here at ERREKA in the induction hardening line. This solution is based on digital twins and it will provide us with an unit inspection of each of the bolts they produce here and we will be able to see the hardened case depth for each one of them. “
Project info:
ZDZW is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101057404. With a consortium formed by 27 partners, ZDZW will develop Digitally Enhanced Non-destructive Inspection Services for globally competitive, clean, and sustainable production in European and Global Manufacturing.
Do you want to create a use case for your technology or test this technology in your processes?