Ipsen recently installed atmosphere and vacuum heat-treating systems at SKF’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in St. Louis, Mo. The installation included two integral-quench batch furnaces and ancillary equipment (washer, temper, endo generator, loader/unloader and feed-in/feed-out station) as well as a vacuum furnace. The equipment will allow SKF to bring the majority of its heat treatment in-house and efficiently handle an increase in production demands and volume of parts. The systems will be used for carburizing, carbonitriding, brazing and annealing a wide variety of parts to support SKF’s Lubrication Business Unit.

The batch furnaces feature a 24-inch-wide x 36-inch-deep x 40-inch-high (610 mm x 910 mm x 760 mm) load size with an 1,100-pound (500-kg) load capacity. They operate at temperatures of 1400-1800°F (750-980°C) with a quench oil capacity of 1,030 gallons. The vacuum furnace features an 18-inch-wide x 24-inch-deep x 18-inch-high (455 mm x 610 mm x 455 mm) load size with a 1,000-pound (454-kg) load capacity. It operates at temperatures of 1000-2400°F (538-1316°C).