Russia’s OMZ-Special Steels completed construction of a new heat-treatment furnace. The vertical-shaft electric furnace will be used for normalizing, hardening and drawing of turbo-generator rotors of steam turbines, propeller shafts and high-chromium long-grade workpieces. The furnace, which will produce heat-treated products with a diameter of up to 3.5 meters and a length of 12 meters, is scheduled to be put into operation in the first quarter of this year. It will also perform thermal treatment of blanks from promising new high-chromium steels.            

The accuracy of temperature control is ± 5°C, heating rate is up to 80°C/hour and cooling rate is up to 80°C/hour. The quenching temperature can reach 1150°C (2102°F). None of the existing manufacturing facilities at Izhorskiy Industrial Complex have a vertical furnace that performs thermal operations at this temperature. In addition, the launch of the new furnace will provide a 10% reduction in power consumption. OMZ commissioned original equipment manufacturer Bosio, of Slovenia, to assist with this project.