Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) successfully installed a 14-foot-long car-bottom air furnace with a total load capacity of up to 30,000 pounds. The furnace was surveyed in accordance with AMS 2750 and is uniform within ±10°F (Class 2). It has a work zone 60 inches square x 168 inches long and a maximum operating temperature of 1450°F (788°C). This furnace accommodates tempering of large tool-steel components; age hardening of 15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, 13-8PH and nickel-based alloys; and annealing of titanium forgings.

Between May and December 2023, Nutec Bickley will manufacture and install five completely new furnaces for a U.S. manufacturer of high-quality alloy-steel and carbon-steel closed-die forgings. On-site work will be completed by Nutec Bickley one furnace at a time so that no more than one furnace will be out of operation in any given month to help the forging company keep its production schedules on track. The contract involves five lift-up furnaces: two for tempering and three for austenitizing. Each furnace will be fitted with a comprehensively modernized combustion system, control systems, complete fiber flues, and an exhaust and pressure control system. Operational temperature ranges will be 900-1950°F (480-1065°C) for the austenitizing furnaces and 840-1600°F (450-1065°C) for the tempering furnaces.

Wisconsin Oven Corp. designed, built and shipped an electrically heated conveyor oven with forced air cool-down to an automotive manufacturer. The oven will be used for tempering automotive parts and features a chain-style conveyor system with vertical pins. It has a maximum temperature rating of 500°F (260°C) and interior chamber dimensions of 3 feet, 6 inches wide x 20 feet, 10 inches long x 9 inches high. Guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±2.5°C at 163°C was documented with a temperature uniformity test. The recirculation system is designed with a top-down, bottom-up airflow configuration.

L&L Special Furnace built and delivered a highly uniform box furnace to a distributor of equipment to maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities throughout the world. The furnace has working dimensions of 11 inches wide x 10 inches high x 22 inches deep. It is capable of heat treating a wide variety of tool steels – from D-2 to high-speed M-2 tool steel – along with low-temperature tempering. It is equipped with a sealed case for inert-atmosphere capability, as well as a fully functional atmosphere control panel with pressure regulator, flow meter and manual shutoff valve.

L&L Special Furnace Co. shipped a dual-chamber heat-treating and tempering furnace to a global manufacturer of shopping carts and display cases located in the southeastern United States. The equipment will play a role in keeping key production equipment online along with thermal processing of various projects. The top chamber, which is rated to 2350°F (1288°C), is used for heat treating various steels and other nonferrous materials. The bottom chamber, which is rated to 1250°F (677°C), includes a recirculation fan and baffle for tempering, stress relieving or preheating. The effective work zone of the top chamber is 10 inches high x 11 inches wide x 22 inches deep, and the work zone of the bottom chamber is 10 inches high x 10 inches wide x 20 inches deep.

SECO/WARWICK received an order from Aalberts Surface Technologies for two vacuum furnaces to be delivered to the group’s TEY plant in Spain. One of the furnaces ordered is the largest from SECO/WARWICK’s portfolio: a horizontal retort furnace for high-efficiency tempering with vacuum purging. The retort furnace will increase the processing capacity of Aalberts’ hardening plant for tempering processes. The other furnace ordered, a Vector with a useful working space of 23.5 x 23.5 x 35.5 inches (600 x 600 x 900 mm), will increase the efficiency of the hardening plant.

ASM’s subcommittee recommends that a long-cycle deep-cryogenic treatment (DCT) followed by a low-temperature temper (LDCT+T) should be the standard DCT practice. Many investigations by researchers using this standard and case studies cited positive results, but there have also been investigations that cited negative results.

SECO/WARWICK will supply a vacuum furnace to Atlas Autos Ltd., the largest manufacturer of motorcycle parts in Pakistan. The furnace is intended for hardening and tempering processes, and it will be used for special large-size die production. The furnace, which has an effective work zone measuring 600 x 600 x 900 mm (23.5 x 23.5 x 35.5 inches), will improve and increase Atlas Auto’s hardening process capacity and will also improve the economics of the plant’s process production. It is currently in the production stage and will be shipped to Pakistan in the second half of 2022.

L&L Special Furnace Co. received orders for a floor-standing box furnace for heat treating saw blades and for a large floor-standing, fiber-lined furnace that will be used to stress relieve and temper large steel castings. The box furnace has an effective work zone of 34 inches wide x 34 inches high x 44 inches deep and includes an electric vertical door, an alloy hearth and a complete control system. The furnace's primary function is to heat treat a range of tool steels that are used for saw blades. The floor-standing furnace has an effective work zone of 36 inches wide x 36 inches high x 72 inches deep. It includes a pneumatic vertical door, 24-inch-high convection alloy fan, a complete control system, castable piers and a cast-alloy load platform for forklift loading.

A Czech manufacturer of industrial knives, mulching knives and chippers placed an order with SECO/WARWICK for a vacuum furnace with 10-bar high-pressure gas quenching. The furnace, which has been customized to enable the processing of long and straight items, will be used for tool-steel hardening and tempering. SECO/WARWICK engineers designed a nonstandard workspace measuring 600 x 600 x 1,800 mm (23.6 x 23.6 x 71 inches). The modification was implemented to fit the characteristic shape of the workpieces. Apart from the nonstandard dimensions of the chamber, the unit was fitted with a directional cooling option to effectively cool long and thin knives that are prone to distortion during the hardening process.