A new range of tube furnaces offer high-quality heating elements and an innovative thermal insulation design.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. was contracted to engineer and commission two large-capacity heat-treatment furnaces for a global producer of highly engineered metal earth-moving, construction and mining equipment. As part of this turnkey contract, Can-Eng designed and commissioned individual tempering and stress-relieving furnaces. Both systems were assembled and tested at Can-Eng’s Niagara Falls facility prior to shipment and commissioning. They are part of a major expansion by the company to satisfy increased demand for large steel castings and weldments used as part of their equipment designs.

AFC-Holcroft will move its European satellite office, which is currently located in Delémont, Switzerland, to Swiebodzin, Poland. The move was necessitated by the pending retirement of Marc Ruetsch, the current director of European operations, who announced he is stepping down in mid-2020. The new director of European operations, Marek Kedzierzynski, will be based out of Poland, and all activity related to AFC-Holcroft’s business in Europe will continue seamlessly from this new location.

Otto Junker received an order for two continuous annealing lines with strip-flotation furnaces for copper strip from Ningbo Powerway New Material Co. Ltd. of Ningbo, China. The company produces alloy bars and wires as well as alloy plates and strips. The core of each annealing line is a gas-fired strip-flotation furnace. The metal strip is supported only by a cushion of protective atmosphere of nitrogen and hydrogen, without any mechanical contact, as it passes through the annealing and cooling cycle. The furnace, which was developed in close cooperation with the Technical University of Aachen, provides uniform heat transfer across the strip width for consistently high product quality.

L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc. shipped a floor-standing forging furnace and a floor-standing tempering furnace to a manufacturer of medical implant components located in the northeastern U.S. The forging furnace has working dimensions of 48 inches wide x 24 inches high x 24 inches deep and a maximum operating temperature of 1800°F (982°C). The parts that are blanks are heated in the furnace. Once at temperature, they are moved to the hot-forming press and formed into the required shape. The electrical heating system provides a clean atmosphere with no products of combustion that could affect the workload.

Abbott Furnace Company received an order for an electrically heated, continuous-belt calcine furnace from a multinational corporation that specializes in producing chemicals and precious metals and operates in more than 30 countries. Abbott Furnace will design, manufacture and install the industrial furnace, which is rated at 1850°F (1010°C) and includes an 18-inch-wide Inconel belt, silicon-carbide muffle and data-acquisition system. It will be delivered in the second quarter of 2020.

Andritz received an order from Hyundai Steel to supply a direct-fired furnace (DFF) for the existing continuous galvanizing line at its Dangjin plant. The scope of supply includes engineering, delivery, supervision of erection work and commissioning. The project will be executed during the fourth quarter of 2020. By replacing the existing direct-fired furnace with an Andritz Selas DFF, current issues such as formation of soot and cracks in the burner nozzle will be eliminated. This modernization will enable Hyundai Steel to produce value-added products for the automotive market.

ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH will build a heat-treatment services center in China, the company’s fourth such plant worldwide. Officially registered as ALD Thermal Treatment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., the facility will be equipped with ModulTherm, ALD’s heat-treatment system, and will serve the domestic industry with heat-treatment services. The new production hall will be build next to subsidiary ALD-C&K Vacuum Technologies (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. The start of production is scheduled for autumn of 2020. 

Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently commissioned a precision gas nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) furnace for a commercial heat-treating company located in the Midwest. The furnace is capable of processing workloads that are 48 inches wide x 72 inches long x 40 inches high and weigh up to 7,000 pounds. It utilizes Super Systems Inc. controls for automatic KN and KC control to AMS 2759/10 and 2759/12 specifications. The furnace is designed to meet AMS 2750E as a Class 2 furnace, which allows it to be used to perform nitrogen tempering and stress relieving.

Abbott Furnace Company received an order for a sintering furnace from a company that specializes in manufacturing ferrous-based, powder-metal components for the automotive, agricultural and industrial markets. The electrically heated, continuous-belt furnace, which is rated at 2150°F, will be delivered in the second quarter of 2020. Abbott Furnace will design, manufacture and install the furnace, which includes the Varicool cooling system. This will be the 36^th furnace Abbott Furnace has supplied to this company.