A research team from Purdue’s School of Materials Engineering earned the Faculty Excellence Award for Impact on Industry for their groundbreaking work in steel austempering. Conducted in collaboration with students through the Purdue Heat Treating Consortium (PHTC), a group of 13 industry partners focused on high-impact, pre-competitive research. Later this year, Cummins will launch the first-ever commercial production line to use a salt-free oil bath austempering process, developed by the team. This sustainable, cost-effective method produces high-performance, toughened steel and represents a significant advancement with wide-reaching implications for the heat-treating industry.