FEATURED NEWS

News From Abroad: €13 Million Melting Furnace, Oxygen Enrichment, And Bell Annealer Facility

/ FEATURED NEWS

In today’s News from Abroad installment, we highlight a new €13 million (that’s $14.9 million US) melting furnace which can recycle 7,000 tons of aluminum waste annually, an oxygen enrichment system for a European steelmaker’s billet reheating furnace, and a new bell annealer facility for copper.

Heat Treat Today partners with two international publications to deliver the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience – manufacturers with in-house heat treat. Furnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication, primarily serves the English-speaking globe, and heat-processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbH publication, serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets.

A €13 Million Dollar Recycling Furnace For Aluminum

Aluminium Dunkerque’s €13 million furnace will enable it to recycle 7,000 tonnes of aluminium waste a year.
Source: Furnaces International

“Aluminium Dunkerque has inaugurated a melting furnace dedicated to aluminium recycling. It said its furnace 8 will allow it to recycle 7,000 tonnes of aluminium waste each year and to produce an additional 20,000 tonnes of metal with a low carbon footprint. This represents a 10% reduction in CO₂ emissions per tonne of ingots produced, i.e. 25,000 tonnes of CO₂ avoided each year, and 96 GWh of electricity consumption avoided. The furnace also created an additional eight jobs. Furnace 8 is part of a broader approach to reindustrialisation and the reduction of imports of high-carbon aluminium. Guillaume de Goÿs, CEO of Aluminium Dunkerque, said: “Each year, France still exports nearly 500,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap that could be processed domestically. “By enabling on-site processing, Aluminium Dunkerque strengthens national sovereignty in critical metals while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

READ MORE: Aluminium Dunkerque inaugurates €13 million recycling furnace at furnaces-international.com

Oxygen Enrichment System For Billet Reheating Furnace

Fives installed an oxygen enrichment system at SN Maia Siderurgia’s furnace in Portugal.
Source: Furnaces International

“Fives has completed its first PREMIX oxygen enrichment project on an existing billet reheating furnace at SN Maia Siderurgia Nacional in Maia, Portugal. This marks a milestone in its efforts to optimise furnace performance and improve energy efficiency. SN Maia Siderurgia Nacional, the largest rebar production plant of the MEGASA Group – a European steelmaker, was looking to install a new oxygen system to reduce natural gas consumption, having the possibility to produce oxygen on site at a lower cost. The project was entrusted to Fives Steel Spain, which had previously modified the combustion system of the same furnace. The company developed a new technology called Premix, which injects additional oxygen into the combustion air duct upstream of the burners. Oxygen levels were increased to 25% with around 6% fuel savings, exceeding initial energy efficiency expectations.”

READ MORE: Steel group entrusts Fives with furnace oxygen system at furnaces-international.com

New Bell Annealer Facility For Copper Alloy

Poongsan Corporation order HICON/H2® bell annealer facility for capacity increase Source: Ebner

“Poongsan Corporation invests in an additional EBNER HICON/H2® bell annealer facility for bright annealing of copper and copper-alloy strip coils. The new facility comprises 2 heating bells, 4 HICON/H2® workbases and 2 cooling bells including necessary auxiliary equipment and a Visual Furnaces 6® Process Control System. With this facility the capacity will be increased, and it will be available for production in 2026. Poongsan Corporation is a world known quality producer and, among others, supplies their high-end products to the automotive, electronic and coin industry.”

READ MORE: Poongsan Corporation order HICON/H2® bell annealer facility for capacity increase at prozesswaerme.net

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U.S. Steel: An Uncertain Future Turned $4 Billion Steel Mill

/ FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

In today’s editor’s page, Heat Treat Today‘s Daily Editor, Tiffany Ward, provides a history of U.S. Steel and the recent Nippon Steel merger.

What is U.S. Steel’s history and what does the future look like for this company after a new merger? This short, informative post fills in the gap.

U.S. Steel Yesterday 

If you walk along a Pittsburgh street, the phrase “Steel City” will likely appear on a wall mural or passerby’s hoodie. In 1901 four men (J.P. Morgan, Charles Schwab, Andrew Carnegie, and Elbert H. Gary), formed the United States Steel Corporation (known simply as U.S. Steel). Its global headquarters are still located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it has a huge local impact. 

From its inception, U.S. Steel has made an impact across the country in producing steel for famous structures such as the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the United Nations Building in New York City, the “Three Sisters” Bridges in Pittsburgh, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and many others. During the Great Depression, the company suffered an all-time low in sales, but recovered, and by 2003 became the fifth largest steel producer in the world. 

“Three Sisters” Bridges in Pittsburgh. Source: Bridges and Tunnels

U.S. Steel Today 

Almost twenty years later, in 2022, U.S. Steel produced less steel than it had in its founding year, over a century earlier. This was the culmination of a long-standing decline in steel production in the United States, which affected many U.S. producers. On December 18, 2023, Nippon Steel Corporation, a Japanese company, made a $14.9 billion acquisition offer for U.S. Steel and the two companies entered into an official merger conversation. The potential merger agreement between Nippon and U.S. Steel included Nippon’s pledge to invest $2.7 billion to modernize U.S. Steel’s facilities in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and to keep U.S. Steel’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, making the agreement a locally invested issue.

The merger was met with political and economic controversy, facing direct executive orders and review interventions. Both former President Joe Biden, and current President Donald Trump made efforts to block the deal. On January 3, 2025, former President Joe Biden prohibited the acquisition through executive order, reserving executive powers to issue further orders on this matter if needed. According to a statement from The White House, the motivation for such a move was “a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains.” The Biden administration delayed, however, in enforcing that initial order. On April 7, 2025, President Donald Trump made use of those previously reserved powers to direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review the acquisition deal to see if further action may be appropriate. President Trump’s rationale mirrored that of former President Biden. He stated to reporters on April 13, 2025, “I don’t think a foreign company should control U.S. Steel.”

Despite this opposition, U.S. Steel affirmed in a press release on April 17 that the two companies were still in a “definite merger agreement,” and referred to the deal as a “pending transaction.”

In a recent development, President Donald Trump changed his tone of opposition to the deal. On May 23, the President made a social media post in support of the merger, which was met with deep appreciation by U.S. Steel in a corresponding press release.

U.S. Steel Tomorrow 

U.S. Steel’s Website Logo
Source: U.S. Steel Corporation

While the fate of the Nippon and U.S. Steel merger remains technically unsettled, lacking support from the White House has been the largest hurdle to its success. The impending deal brings with it a multi-billion dollar infusion into U.S. Steel’s infrastructure. Nippon now plans to invest $4 billion in a U.S. based steel mill, with the intention of investing $11 billion in total infrastructure projects by 2028.

The prospect of revitalized steel production in the United States brings excitement to many in the heat treatment industry.

References

“2022 Annual Report—U.S. Steel” 2022. https://investors.ussteel.com/sec-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0001104659-23-030780/tm231813d6_ars.pdf

“About Us – History,” United States Steel Corporation, Accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.ussteel.com/about-us/history.

Biden, Jr., Joseph R. “Order Regarding the Proposed Acquisition of United States Steel Corporation by Nippon Steel Corporation,” White House Archives. January 3, 2025. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2025/01/03/order-regarding-the-proposed-acquisition-of-united-states-steel-corporation-by-nippon-steel-corporation/

Biden, Jr., Joseph R. “Statement from President Joe Biden,” White House Archives. January 3, 2025. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/03/statement-from-president-joe-biden-13/.

Boselovic, L. “Steel Standing: U.S. Steel Celebrates 100 Years,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20181012210047/http://old.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20010225ussteel2.asp 

“Cleveland-Cliffs Proposes to Acquire U.S. Steel,” Cliffs. Cleveland Cliffs, August 13, 2023. https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/news/news-releases/detail/600/cleveland-cliffs-proposes-to-acquire-u-s-steel.

“Nippon Steel to invest $4 billion for new U.S. Steel mill,” Reuters, Accessed May 28, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/20/nippon-steel-to-invest-4-billion-for-new-us-steel-mill-reuters-.html

Trump, Donald J. “Review of Proposed United States Steel Corporation Acquisition,” The White House. April 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/review-of-proposed-united-states-steel-corporation-acquisition/.

“Trump Opposes Foreign Control of US Steel amid Nippon Steel’s $14 Billion Bid,” The Economic Times, April 14, 2025. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/trump-opposes-foreign-control-of-us-steel-amid-nippon-steels-14-billion-bid/articleshow/120267416.cms.

“United States Steel Corporation,” Accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.ussteel.com.

“United States Steel Corporation to Release First Quarter 2025 Financial Results on May 1, 2025,” United States Steel Corporation, April 17, 2025. https://www.ussteel.com/newsroom/-/blogs/united-states-steel-corporation-to-release-first-quarter-2025-financial-results-on-may-1-2025

“U. S. Steel Statement on President Trump’s Leadership,” United States Steel Corporation, May 28, 2025. https://www.ussteel.com/newsroom/-/blogs/u-s-steel-statement-on-president-trump-s-leadership

For more information: Contact Tiffany at Tiffany@heattreattoday.com

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Manufacturer Upgrades Hot Zone For Aerospace Industry

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

A prominent United States-based global aerospace company replaced a hot zone for their vacuum furnace. The company performs thermal processing on a variety of critical aerospace components used across multiple aircraft platforms.

John Hahn
Aftermarket Sales Manager
Solar Manufacturing
Source: Linkedin

Solar Manufacturing was contracted to replace an Ipsen VFC-924 hot zone.

John Hahn, aftermarket sales manager at Solar Manufacturing, noted: “They trusted our engineering and service teams to design and build a hot zone with key modifications that would enhance performance and longevity.”

The hot zone was implemented with improvements to boost hot zone efficiency, serviceability, and lifespan, such as graphite felt insulation for thermal efficiency, CFC 0.050” hot face for increased durability, and CFC edge trim throughout (door, bottom, and top bung) to extend hot zone life.

Press release is available in its original form here.

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ECM Mexico Now Operating As MEXVAC ECM, S.A. DE C.V.

/ FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

The Mexico heat treatment industry has a new vacuum furnace supplier entity – ECM Mexico, doing business as MEXVAC ECM, S.A. DE C.V., a subsidiary of ECM USA, Inc.

ECM Mexico‘s team is led by Pierre-Loic Rousset, and Dennis Beauchesne, and includes Juan Cruz (operations manager Mexico), and José López (field service & PLC Engineer). They are supported by the entire ECM USA team and are excited to announce this milestone in their continued dedication to expand service support in Mexico.

Press release is available in its original form here.

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US DOE Strategy: Why the Heat Treating Industry?

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, OP-ED

The heat treating industry is under pressure to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), and the response has been a noble effort to attain sustainability. In two previous articles in this continuing series, guest columnist Michael Mouilleseaux, general manager at Erie Steel, Ltd., discussed the U.S. Department of Energy’s initiative related to the decarbonization of industry and its potential impact on the heat treating industry.

The first installment, “US DOE Strategy Affects Heat Treaters“, appeared on April 10, 2024, in Heat Treat Today, as well as in Heat Treat Today’s March 2024 Aerospace print edition. The second in the series, “U.S. DOE Strategy: Ramifications for Heat Treaters“, appeared on June 18, 2024, and in the May 2024 Sustainability print edition. This informative conclusion to the series was first released in Heat Treat Today’s June 2024 Buyer’s Guide print edition.

The endeavor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), albeit noble in intent, begs the question: Why is the heat treating industry being asked to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions?

Some background:

  • The United States’ GHGE account for approximately 14% of the total worldwide emissions.
  • According to the U.S. DOE, U.S. industry accounts for approximately 23% of the total U.S. GHGE.
  • According to the U.S. DOE, “process heating” accounts for approximately 43% of the total GHGE generated by U.S. industry.
  • According to the U.S. DOE, heat treating accounts for approximately 2.8% of the GHGE they have attributed to process heating.
  • In sum, heat treating accounts for 0.3% of the total U.S. GHGE (23% x 43% x 2.8%), and 0.04% of the worldwide GHGE (14% x 23% x 43% x 2.8%).

Why is the Department of Energy imposing natural gas restrictions on an industry that they have calculated to be responsible for 0.3% of the country’s total emissions?

The answer has two parts. First, natural gas has been deemed “unacceptable” due to its generation of CO2 as byproducts of combustion, and our industry has been swept up in an uninformed effort to stem global warming (or as it is now known, climate change). Remember: Heat treating accounts for just 0.04% of global GHGE!

Second, this administration has spent something between several hundred billion and a trillion U.S. dollars to incentivize power, transportation, and industrial sectors in their effort to stem global warming. Years from now, we will look back at this as one of the greatest capital reallocations in our history. If we can accept that the “past is a prologue,” we have a storied history of government failures to determine the future of the agricultural, aircraft, and financial sectors. This is already happening in Western Europe: Power is substantially more expensive, and industrial output has dropped nearly 6% for the past two years — the European Investment bank attributes the reduction in industrial output to “elevated energy costs.”

Perhaps it’s time for us to take notice and slow down this effort until such a time that we have the technology in place to accomplish decarbonization without eviscerating our industrial, transportation, and power industries. A greatly overused term today is “existential threat” — but our livelihood, our national security, and our way of life are, in fact, on the line.

Attend the SUMMIT to find out more about the DOE’s actions for the heat treat industry.

On www.heattreattoday.com/factsheetDOE, you can utilize the one-page resource to let governmental officials know what our industry is, who we are, who we employ, and the effect this effort has in regulating us out of business.

I want to thank Heat Treat Today for providing me with this forum to speak on this issue, as I believe this needs to be said.

I want to thank Surface Combustion, Gasbarre, and Super Systems Inc. for the guidance they provided me with in navigating the technology of this subject matter.

Any errors contained herein are mine and mine alone.

About the Author:

Michael Mouilleseaux
General Manager at Erie Steel, Ltd.
Sourced from the author

Michael Mouilleseaux is general manager at Erie Steel, Ltd. He has been at Erie Steel in Toledo, OH since 2006 with previous metallurgical experience at New Process Gear in Syracuse, NY, and as the director of Technology in Marketing at FPM Heat Treating LLC in Elk Grove, IL. Michael attended the stakeholder meetings at the May 2023 symposium hosted by the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.

For more information: Contact Michael at mmouilleseaux@erie.com.  

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News From Abroad: Globally, Eyes Turn to the Future

/ FEATURED NEWS, FOUNDRY CASTING NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

Today’s News from Abroad installment investigates the influence AI is bearing on the global field of heat treating, as well as a 2023 sustainability report and a future-looking question about the German foundry model amid transformations and a shortage of skilled workers. 

Heat Treat Today partners with two international publications to deliver the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat. heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbH publication, serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, and Furnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication, primarily serves the English-speaking globe.

AI News No.1: Smart Manufacturing Proves Its Value

Viking Analytics and Bharat Forge sign a three-year contract

“A new agreement has been signed between Viking Analytics and Bharat Forge Kilsta (BFK) from Karlskoga. The agreement, which is for three years, provides BFK with the AI-based optimization tool ‘Smartforge’ after a 10-month implementation phase. Smartforge optimizes the forging process, primarily in the critical heat keeping process where the problems with scrap are greatest. The goal is to reduce discarded products by 50% and contribute to energy savings and a more environmentally friendly production.”

READ MORE: “AI-Driven ‘Smartforge’ To Enhance Forging Efficiency and Reduce Waste” – at heat-processing.com

AI News No. 2: Global Industry Goes “All In” With AI

Digital transformation and the concept of a sustainable economy go hand in hand with energy and environmental challenges.

“According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), nearly 80 percent of companies around the world consider innovation to be one of their three main priorities this year, and 66% of them plan to increase spending for this purpose, of which 42% are ready to invest up to 10% more than before. Innovation is one of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s values, embedded in its DNA. Industry 4.0 is the guiding principle in the Group’s mentality and strategic direction, which identifies AI, automation and digitization as a priority.”

READ MORE: “SECO/WARWICK Bets On Artificial Intelligence (AI)” at heat-processing.com

A Sustainability Commitment to a Greener, Equal Future Shows Results

Tenova’s 2023 Sustainability Report illustrates the company’s ESG-guided sustainability framework, including energy efficiency initiatives, circular economy solutions, and sustainable innovation.

“Tenova has announced the launch of its new Sustainability Report, which tracks the progress the company has made against its sustainability agenda over the past year. The Report illustrates the company’s ESG-guided sustainability framework, including energy efficiency initiatives, circular economy solutions, and sustainable innovation. . . . Tenova’s flagship technologies–Direct Reduction Iron (DRI), Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs), and the Silicon Steel ones–are essential in driving the decarbonization of both the metals industry and the planet. This is demonstrated by its major international projects, which are set to make a substantial impact on sustainability in Europe, China, and other parts of the world.”

READ MORE: “The 2023 Tenova Sustainability Report Reconfirms the Company’s Commitment to a Greener and Equal Future” at furnaces-international.com. 

German foundry Industry Navigating a Path Forward

At its third “Zukunftstag“ (Future Day), the German Foundry Association (BDG) discussed: Do we still need casting from Germany? And why is the industry currently facing such difficulties?

“At its third ‘Zukunftstag’ (Future Day), the German Foundry Association (BDG) posed a rhetorical question to stakeholders and the industry: Do we still need casting from Germany? And why is the industry currently facing such difficulties? The Federal Association of the German Foundry Industry launched the ‘Future Day’ format in 2020 in order to visualize and establish generally applicable topics from corporate management and framework conditions in open discourse with experts from outside the industry, in addition to the industry’s technically focused conferences. In addition to economic policy framework conditions, the program revolved around skilled workers in the afternoon. The German foundry industry, part of the energy-intensive SME sector, is struggling amid transformations and a shortage of skilled workers.”

READ MORE: “Energy-Intensive and Medium-Sized: Is German Foundry a Discontinued Model?” at heat-processing.com. 

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10 News chatter To Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry. Enjoy these 10 news items.

Equipment

  • Premier Furnace Specialists received orders for nine pieces of heat treating equipment to be delivered to a range of manufacturing operations, all of which are currently in various stages of completion and testing or delivery and installation.
  • A manufacturer in the composites industry recently received shipment of a cabinet oven from Gruenberg, an industrial oven and sterilizer manufacturer. The furnace will be used for curing composite parts under a vacuum.
  • A second nitriding system was installed by Nitrex to increase capacity at Balexco, an aluminum extrusion company in Bahrain focusing on increasing production capacity.
Nine furnaces in various stages of completion and testing on the floor at Premier Furnace Specialists
Gruenberg cabinet oven shipped to composites manufacturer
Nitrex nitriding system installed at Balexco

Company & Personnel

Greg Miller
National Business Manager
Superheat
  • Cognizant, a professional services company that helps clients modernize technology, announced intent to acquire Belcan, a global supplier of digital engineering services for multiple industries, including aerospace, defense, and automotive.
  • Greg Miller has joined Superheat as national business development manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Greg will continue to work from his base in Lanarkshire, Scotland, bringing experience in manufacturing and preventative maintenance, with a foundation in induction heating.

Kudos

  • On July 2, 2024, David Lynch celebrated 40 years with Induction Tooling, Inc. This milestone was accomplished by his commitment to excellence and consistent hard-work and dedication.
  • Superheat, an on-site heat treatment service provider based in New Lenos, IL, recently received two Industrial Safety Training Council (ISTC) Safety Achievement Awards: one for achieving three consecutive years with zero recordable injuries and another for celebrating five years without an OSHA lost workday case. Bret Cadenhead, regional HSE manager at Superheat, represented the company at the awards event in Beaumont, Texas.
  • StandardAero celebrates 60 years of providing service to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6A turboprop across four overhaul locations worldwide. In 1964, Dallas Airmotive (acquired by the company in 2021) became the first independent MRO provider to enter into a turboprop agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada.
  • Centorr Vacuum Industries celebrates its 70th year in business in the vacuum furnace industry. The company was founded in Somerville, MA, as Vacuum Industries in 1954, and Centorr Furnace Company in 1962 in Suncook. NH. The two companies merged in 1989 in their current facilities in Nashua, NH.
  • Sławomir Woźniak, CEO of the SECO/WARWICK Group, celebrates five years in the position, managing all three brands: SECO/WARWICK, Retech, and SECO/VACUUM.
  • StandardAero’s engine overhaul center in San Antonio, TX, has completed correlation of its first test cell for the CFM International LEAP-1B turbofan engine, as part of its introduction of LEAP-1A and LEAP-1B maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capabilities.
Bill Stuehr (L), president & CEO of Induction Tooling, Inc., congratulates David Lynch (R) on 40 years with the company
Bret Cadenhead, Superheat (R), receives ISTC Safety Achievement Award
Sławomir Woźniak
President & CEO
SECO/WARWICK Group
Centorr Vacuum Industries, Nashua, NH, location

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Automotive Manufacturer Expands Brazing Capabilities with Vacuum Furnace

/ AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS, BRAZING NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

A U.S.-based automotive manufacturer is expanding its production capacity for brazing stainless heat exchangers with the order of a single-chamber vacuum furnace. The equipment will be integrated into an existing line’s thermal process operations, which is located at their Mexico facility.

Peter Zawistowski
Managing Director
SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA
Source: SECO/WARWICK

The heat treater ordered the furnace from SECO/VACUUM specifically for immediate delivery, allowing brazing of automotive components to begin without delay.

“We built this furnace to be ready to be shipped and put into operation very quickly, which is just the solution they were looking for,” said Piotr Zawistowski, managing director of SECO/VACUUM.

The press release is available in its original form here.

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Gas Equipment Provider’s Acquisition Increases Reach to Heat Treaters

/ BULK GASES & SYSTEMS NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS, INSTRUMENTATION, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

A Georgia-based provider of natural gas measurement and control products and solutions has announced the acquisition of a distribution and service center for the natural gas industry, extending its capabilities for heat treating manufacturers.

Equipment Controls Company‘s acquisition of Tri-State Meter and Regulator Service, Inc. is expected to expand geographic reach and operational capabilities of both companies and merge field services, installation and testing, fabrication and design, and leak surveys.

“We’re excited to welcome the Tri-State team to Equipment Controls,” said Jeb Bell, president of Equipment Controls Company. “Tri-State has built its reputation on a foundation of exceptional service. Their motto, ‘The Service Matters,’ resonates with our values, and we’re eager to extend that level of service to our customers.”

“We look forward to our future with ECCO. Our shared vision and complementary strengths will enable us to deliver exceptional value to our customers and the natural gas industry as a whole,” said Paul Hayes, president of Tri-State Meter and Regulator Service, Inc.

ECCO will be keeping Tri-State’s brand, team, offices, products, and service offerings.

This press release is available in its original form here.

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Dual Chamber Vacuum Furnaces vs. Single Chamber Vacuum Furnaces — An Energy Perspective

/ FEATURED NEWS, GUEST COLUMN, Manufacturing Heat Treat Technical Content, OP-ED, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

The need to understand how certain furnace designs operate comes at a time when heat treaters are weighing each energy cost and benefit of their systems and processes. Read on for a quick summary on how dual chamber furnaces preserve energy.

On April 17-19, 2024, TAV VACUUM FURNACES provided a speaker at the 4th MCHTSE (Mediterranean Conference on Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering). The speech focused on the energy aspects of vacuum heat treatment, a subject towards which all of us within the industry need to pay attention for reducing the carbon emissions aiming at a zero net emissions future.

We have already analyzed the essential role that vacuum furnaces will play in this transition, with a focus on the optimization of energy consumption in our previous article. With this new presentation, we wanted to emphasize how selecting the right vacuum furnace configuration for specific processes may impact the energy required to perform such process. For doing so, we compared two different furnace designs — single chamber vs. dual chamber vacuum furnaces — detailing all of the components’ energy consumption for a specific process.

TAV DC4, dual chamber vacuum furnace for low pressure carburizing and gas quenching
Source: TAV VACUUM FURNACES

As a sneak peek into our presentation, we will summarize below how the main features of the two vacuum furnaces design are affecting their energy performance.

Let’s start by introducing the protagonist of our comparison: a single chamber, graphite insulated vacuum furnace, model TAV H4, and a dual chamber furnace TAV DC4, both having useful volume 400 x 400 x 600 mm (16” x 16” x 24”) (w x h x d).

In a single chamber vacuum furnace, like the TAV H4, the entire process is carried out with the load inside the furnace hot zone. This represents a highly flexible configuration that can perform complex heat treatment recipes with a multiple sequence of heating and cooling stages and to precisely control the temperature gradients at each stage.

Configuration of the TAV DC4 dual chamber vacuum furnace
Source: TAV VACUUM FURNACES

Alternatively, a dual chamber vacuum furnace, like the TAV DC4, is equipped with a cold chamber, separated from the hot zone, dedicated for quenching. Despite the greater complexity of this type of vacuum furnace, the dual chamber configuration allows for several benefits.

First, in dual chamber furnaces, the graphite insulated hot chamber is never exposed to ambient air during loading and unloading of the furnace; for this reason, the hot chamber may be pre-heated at the treatment temperature (or at a lower temperature, to control the heating gradient). But in single chamber vacuum furnaces, the hot zone must always be loaded and unloaded at room temperature to avoid damages due to heat exposure of graphite to oxygen.

Because dual chamber furnaces have more controlled heating, this will result in both faster heating cycles and lower energy consumption, as a substantial amount of energy is required to heat up the furnace hot zone. This advantage obviously will be more relevant in terms of energy savings the shorter the time is between subsequent heat treatments.

View of the cold chamber of the TAV DC4 dual chamber vacuum furnace
Source: TAV VACUUM FURNACES

Secondly, since the quenching phase is performed in a separated chamber, the hot zone insulation can be improved in dual chamber vacuum furnaces by increasing the thickness of the graphite board without compromising cooling performance. This translates into a significantly lower heat dissipation, to the extent that at 2012°F (1100°C) the power dissipation per surface unit (kW/m2) is reduced by 25% compared to an equivalent single chamber vacuum furnace.

Additionally, quenching in a dedicated cold chamber allows to obtain higher heat transfer coefficients and higher cooling rates compared to a single chamber vacuum furnace. Since the cold chamber is dedicated solely to the quenching phase, it can be designed for optimizing the cooling gas flow only without the need to accommodate all the components required for heating. All things considered, the heat transfer coefficient achievable in the TAV DC4 can be, all other things being equal, even 50% higher compared to a single chamber vacuum furnace. Secondly, since the cold chamber remains at room temperature throughout the whole process, only the load and loading fixtures need to be cooled down; as a result, the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated is significantly less compared to the single chamber counterpart.

CFD simulation showing a study on the cooling gas speed in a section of the cooling chamber for the TAV DC4 dual chamber vacuum furnace
Source: TAV VACUUM FURNACES

For heat treatments requiring high cooling rates, it is possible to process significantly higher loads on the dual chamber furnace compared to the single chamber model; translated into numbers, the dual chamber model can effectively quench as much as double processable in a single chamber furnace, depending on the alloy grade, load configuration and overall process. The savings in terms of energy consumption per unit load (kWh/kg) achievable in the dual chamber furnace for such processes can be as high as 50% compared to the single chamber furnace.

In the end, the aim of the speech was to highlight how the energy efficiency of vacuum furnaces is highly dependent on the machine-process combination. Choosing the right vacuum furnace configuration for a specific application, instead of relying solely on standardised solutions, will improve significantly the energy efficiency of the heat treatment process and drive the return on investment.

About the Author

Giorgio Valseccchi
R&D Manager
TAV VACUUM FURNACES

Giogio Valsecchi has been with the company TAV VACUUM FURNACES for nearly 4 years, after having studied mechanical engineering at Politecnico di Milano. 

For more information: Contact Giorgio at info@tav-vacuumfurnaces.com.

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