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Heat Treating Furnaces
Heat Treating Furnaces
The use of batch equipment for heat treating usually requires considerable
labor for loading, handling, and unloading of the work and work trays.
Normally used to heat treat low volumes of parts (in terms of weight per
hour).
Also used to carburize parts that require heavy case depths and long cycle
times.
The basic box-type batch furnace can be upgraded to a semicontinuous
batch furnace with the addition of
1. Powered work-handling systems,
2. Slow-cool chambers, and
3. Some automatic controls
Batch Furnaces - Applications
Car furnaces are used from the lower stress-relieving ranges around
540°C to temperatures of over 1095°C for certain applications.
Similar to car-bottom furnaces except that the car and hearth are rolled
into position underneath the furnace and raised into the furnace by means
of a motor-driven mechanism.
Such furnaces are built to handle large, heavy loads and can be cooled
rapidly by a high-velocity internal or external circulating gas system.
Elevator-type furnaces are suited for heavy work and for the precipitation -
hardening nonferrous alloys, which must be quenched rapidly to retain a
supersaturated solid solution.
Either gas firing or electric heating is commonly used, with oil firing being
employed less frequently. The temperature range for these furnaces is
generally about 315 - 1200°C.
Elevator-Type Furnaces
Continuous Heating
Furnaces
Advantages
Repeatability
Simple to control
Continuous production of small parts
Easy to automate
Low operating and maintenance cost
Uniformity of atmospheres and temperatures
Straight - Chamber continuous furnaces
Types
Pusher-type furnaces
Walking-beam furnaces
Conveyor-type furnaces that use rollers or belts
Continuous furnaces with tumbling or inertia action of
the parts for movement
Pusher Type Furnace
“Tray-on-tray” concept to
move work through the
furnace
A pusher mechanism pushes a
solid row of trays from the
charge end until a tray is pushing
properly located in position
and then at the discharge
Pushing
mechanism
Roller type
Have almost the same design as skid rail except that roller
rails are used to support and guide the trays as they are
moved through the furnace.
Has movable rails that lift and advance parts along stationary
rails inside the hearth. With this system, the moving rails lift the
work from the stationary rails, move it forward, and then lower
it back onto the stationary rails.
The moving rails then return to the starting position and repeat
the process to advance the parts again.
A typical walking-beam furnace of this design is used for
moving steel slabs. The frequency of lift and length of stroke
determine the total processing time.
Firing is with burners mounted either in side walls or roof.
Operating temperature range is 150 -1300°C.
Walking-Beam Furnace
Stationary rail
Moving rail
Industrial Heating: Principles, Techniques, Materials, Applications, and Design, Yeshvant V. Deshmukh, CRC Press, 2005
Conductivity of Salt Baths
Industrial Heating: Principles, Techniques, Materials, Applications, and Design, Yeshvant V. Deshmukh, CRC Press, 2005
Vacuum Heat Treatment Furnaces
Apart from this hot wall (no water cooling of the exterior walls)
and cold wall (water-cooled walls) options are available.
Vacuum Heat Treating Furnace
Vacuum Heat treating Furnace
Vacuum Heating Furnaces: Bottom Loading
Reliability
Repeatability
Cleanliness
Bright, oxide-free treatment of most metals and alloys
Outgassing and purging of entrapped volumes of gas
Retained surface finish
Removal of surface volatiles
No heat added to local environment
No chemical effect on furnace or work during treatment
Advantages
Easy control of furnace environment by controlling backfill gases
Highest-quality workpiece produced
Instant pushbutton start from cold
Low pollution
Wide operating temperature range in one unit
Safe operation
Fully automatic processing
Wide range of programmable heating and cooling
Vacuum Heating Furnaces: Disadvantages