This month, we take a look at some of the common things found in our kitchens to see how they are heat treated.

L&L Special Furnace Co. received an order for a medium-sized, floor-standing box furnace that will be used for annealing gun barrels for rifles. This is the second furnace supplied to a Midwest manufacturer of custom firearms and rifles. The furnace has an effective work zone of 34 inches wide x 30 inches high x 32 inches deep. It is designed for use with inert blanketing gas for atmosphere control to minimize surface decarb.

Muffle furnaces are often used in wire-drawing mills for annealing and for the production of razor blades and Bundy tubes. The muffle tubes inside such furnaces protect the product during heat treatment and create conditions for more-even temperature distribution.

Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will use a vertical vacuum retort furnace supplied by SECO/WARWICK for high-vacuum annealing of gyrotron components. The furnace will have a water jacket with a compact integrated cooling system. When open, it is 12 meters high, and the diameter of the usable space is 1.8 meters. KIT also required a specific level of high vacuum that will be achieved with the use of a cryogenic pump. According to SECO/WARWICK, the vacuum furnace will enable researchers at KIT to achieve a very clean process under vacuum and, thanks to its dimensions, will enable them to develop gyrotrons with larger dimensions.

Solar Manufacturing shipped a vacuum furnace to a medical device and implant manufacturer in the Southeast United States. It features an all-metal insulated hot zone, a load weight capacity of up to 250 pounds and a maximum operating temperature of 2400°F (1227°C). The Mentor vacuum furnace will be used to age harden and anneal medical devices and implants. According to Solar Manufacturing, the furnace was delivered along with a water system and a custom heat-treat recipe for the medical-grade components being processed.

Abbott Furnace Company recently installed and commissioned a roller-hearth tube-annealing furnace at an aerospace and defense products manufacturer that fabricates precision tubular products. The high-temperature furnace quench-anneals superalloy tubing for its drawing operation. The electrically heated unit operates with an argon protective atmosphere. The high-speed roll drive quickly transfers the tubing from the furnace to the water-spray quench.

Fives, a global industrial engineering group, and Steel Dynamics Columbus LLC (SDI) successfully produced the first coil with a new continuous galvanizing line (CGL #3) at SDI’s mini-mill in Columbus, Miss. The first prime coil was produced on schedule July 9 in the midst of a challenging COVID-19 environment. The project involved equipment delivery from several countries experiencing different forms of lockdown, including France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Mexico and the United States.

Super Systems Inc. completed a nitrogen-methanol controls upgrade for an industrial furnace line at Liberty Wire in Johnstown, Pa. The scope of the project included a new control system and panel for a continuous annealing furnace line for processing coiled wire products. The SSI Matrix control system was incorporated to control the automated flow and mixing of the process gases. SSI HMI and eFlo 2.0 meters were also integrated to provide Liberty Wire with the latest in hardware, software and communications technology.

Tenova LOI Thermprocess received an order from China’s Shougang Qian’an Electrical Vehicle Steel Co. for the heat-treatment portion (furnace system) for two annealing and coating lines (ACLs) for non-grain-oriented (NGO) electrical strip. The scope of the contract includes engineering, turnkey delivery of all furnace-related key components, supervision of assembly, commissioning and training. In addition to the electrical equipment belonging to the furnaces, the control components and the associated software and a mathematical furnace-management model will also be supplied.

L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc. manufactured and supplied a high-uniformity, pit-style furnace used for annealing to a manufacturer of aerospace fasteners. The annealing process occurs when the parts are evenly heated to 1400°F (760°C) and held for a predetermined amount of time. Temperature uniformity is critical to this process, and both ambient and load temperature must maintain ±10°F throughout the cycle. The fastener parts are placed in baskets and loaded by an overhead crane into the furnace. There are guide bars to ensure that the load is centered and cannot damage the furnace liner. The program or recipe is entered into the program control, and the cycle is started. At the completion of the cycle, the parts are removed and are ready for inspection and shipment.