Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems designed, built and commissioned a 24-inch-wide, three-zone mesh-belt annealing furnace for a Midwest manufacturer of brass components. The furnace has a maximum operating temperature of 1650°F (900°C) and a capacity of 800 pounds/hour. It utilizes a blend of nitrogen and hydrogen atmospheres. The system incorporates an Allen-Bradley PLC and HMI with automated atmosphere and water temperature control and data logging. The integrated dew-point meter ensures precise process control for consistent and reliable part quality. 

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.

As a customer technical-support metallurgist, one question that customers ask over and over is whether their precipitation-hardenable steel is annealed or aged.

Centorr Vacuum Industries received orders for six high-vacuum furnaces for the precision processing of metals in heat treating, annealing and brazing applications. With sizes from 12 x 12 x 24 inches to over 48 x 48 x 48 inches and from 1 cubic foot to over 100 cubic feet, Centorr’s Workhorse furnaces can handle a variety of customer loads in either high vacuum or partial pressures of inert gas. The furnace design has a refractory-metal hot zone and high-vacuum pumping system for the processing of advanced materials requiring an extremely clean high-vacuum environment.

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.