The principles of heat treatment apply with induction procedures. The only difference is that the heating method is applied by electrical Induction. A simple premise is that “the steel does not care from where it receives its heat. It will respond.”

Induction heating is not a new application. In fact, 2016 marks 100 years since an electrical induction system was first used in the melting of metals and metal alloys.

 

The Process

When one is setting up an induction hardening system, one needs to consider the following to ensure process stability:

  • Equipment preventive maintenance
  • Material chemical analysis (including prior metallurgy before induction treatment)
  • Incoming material grain size
  • Incoming material grain flow
  • Material cross-sectional thickness
  • Required depth of formed martensitic case
  • Residence time within the inductor coil
  • Blind holes
  • Incoming water/filtration
  • Polyalkylene glycol analysis
  • Cleanliness of the quench-medium storage system
  • Residual particle matter in the quench medium
  • Quench spray head cleanliness
  • Electrical contact face cleanliness of the inductor coil
  • Mechanical handling of the components to be induction heat treated
     

We will continue with a discussion about process stability in part 2.