German companies PEER Energy GmbH and Schwing Technologies GmbH signed a long-term cooperation agreement to develop and market fluidized-bed technology for the heat treatment of metal components. The partnership between the two companies focuses on combining quenching processes with fluidized-bed technology. It includes research results and developments of heat-transfer rates. The application focus is on faster and more uniform heating and cooling processes for metal parts, with the aim of conserving resources and further reducing unit costs.

Low-pressure carburizing (LPC) has been largely used to heat treat low-alloy steels for mechanical components, especially for the automotive industry, for over two decades.

The lab-scale rotary furnace allows producers of advanced materials to optimize their process parameters on a small scale to ensure capability and quality requirements are achieved prior to investment in production-scale thermal-processing equipment.

Bodycote is expanding its hot isostatic pressing (HIP) capability in Greenville, S.C., by adding two vessels. The new HIP capacity, which will be online in the first half of 2022, will focus on developments in additive manufacturing (AM) and advanced materials. Bodycote’s Greenville site is a Nadcap-accredited and holds several core OEM approvals. The facility includes numerous vacuum furnaces and other capabilities well suited to support AM customers.

This article looks at ways our means of transportation – how we get from here to there – are heat treated. We start with aerospace and then consider vehicular transportation followed by manual propulsion.

German fabricator Edelstahl-Mechanik manufactured what it says is the world’s first hydroformed tensile architectural façade. Bodycote supported the company by providing heat-treatment services. A total of 12,800 steel panels in 14 different profiles were precisely fabricated and sculpted by Edelstahl-Mechanik using hydroforming. Hydroforming uses water pressure to shape thin metal plates against a mold to create custom pieces. Bodycote then annealed the stainless steel panels. Annealing is a heat-treatment process that alters the microstructure of a material to change its mechanical or electrical properties.

Using a Superheat SmartFurnace for heat treating pipe welds right in its own fabrication shop, rather than off-site, Manhattan Mechanical Services saved a large oil-refinery customer up to 40% on labor costs.

L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc. delivered a high-uniformity box furnace to Soil Lab, a community-based workshop based in Chicago, as part of the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. The front-loading, refractory-lined furnace has an effective work zone measuring 34 inches wide x 34 inches high x 32 inches deep. There is a horizontal double pivot door with a safety power cutoff switch. A ceramic hearth and standoffs are provided as a workspace for various ceramics and ceramic-based products. The furnace was delivered with a fast-track shipment of four weeks to be able to be part of the biennial workshop program, where local community groups will experiment and gain knowledge of ceramic production and various processes.

Lucifer Furnaces designed a multi-unit modular pot furnace system for an aerospace manufacturer in the United States. The end user is adding these furnaces to existing pot furnaces in order to increase heat-treating capacity. Each of the four furnaces is connected to a single freestanding NEMA 1 control panel, and each furnace is heated electrically with 18 kW of power to coiled elements in removable holders on all four sidewalls.