Rex Heat Treat, a commercial heat treater specializing in the aerospace market, became the first company to install and commission SECO/WARWICK’s new Super IQ gas carburizing furnace. The hybrid system combines a conventional furnace and a vacuum furnace in one unit. Rex Heat Treat has commissioned several vacuum furnaces over the past several years at its Lansdale, Pa., location as part of a plant modernization initiative. The new furnace will allow the heat treater to upgrade its through-hardening and carburizing capabilities alongside its legacy harden and temper furnaces while using the existing loader, baskets and washing system.

In the global industrial heat-treating market, tens of thousands of products are sent through conveyorized ovens or furnaces each and every day. The thermal processing of these products – whether heat treating the core material or even curing a surface coating – is often critical to the quality or performance of the finished product. Whether aluminum brazing a radiator or curing paint on a car body, achieving the correct process times and temperatures is essential.

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Let’s investigate how high temperature is used in large industrial equipment and processes.

No. 1040 is a 2200°F (1204°C) inert-atmosphere pit furnace that can be used for heat treating automotive parts in baskets.

Abbott Furnace Company received an order from a global automotive supplier for a continuous-belt brazing furnace. The electrically heated furnace, which will be installed in Mexico in the fourth quarter of 2020, will be used for brazing of fuel-delivery components. The four-zone furnace is rated for 2150°F (1177°C) and includes a 24-inch-wide belt and a silicon-carbide-domed muffle.

Armil CFS Inc. shipped a hydraulic pusher furnace designed to burn out and preheat investment-casting molds to a Midwest manufacturer of marine propulsion components. The furnace, which includes an automated tray extraction system and return conveyor, is designed to push a 48-inch-wide tray holding investment-casting molds up to 18 inches high. The combustion system is configured to promote clean firing of ceramic molds at temperatures up to 2150°F (1177°C).

Super Systems Inc. completed a nitrogen-methanol controls upgrade for an industrial furnace line at Liberty Wire in Johnstown, Pa. The scope of the project included a new control system and panel for a continuous annealing furnace line for processing coiled wire products. The SSI Matrix control system was incorporated to control the automated flow and mixing of the process gases. SSI HMI and eFlo 2.0 meters were also integrated to provide Liberty Wire with the latest in hardware, software and communications technology.

When it comes to heat treating, understanding the way the furnace works is key to optimizing the process. Fortunately, this understanding can be achieved with thermal profiling.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. received the final acceptance certificate from Indian steelmaker SAIL for a roller-hearth plate quench-and-temper system. It is designed to heat treat a wide range of plates from 0.25-4.0 inches (6-100 mm) thick x 118 inches (3,000 mm) wide up to 42.5 feet (13 meters) long in a variety of grades for commercial and non-commercial applications. With an overall line length of 400 feet (122 meters) and a restrained roller spray quench at the heart of the system, the heat-treatment process results in true flat plates with metallurgical properties that exceed contractual requirements. The auto-recuperative radiant-tube-fired atmosphere roller-hearth hardening furnace and direct-fired temper furnace run off coke-oven gas (COG), a byproduct of the steelmaking process.