VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

New Furnace Line for Railroad Component Manufacturer

A supplier to the railway industry has ordered a technological line consisting of two vacuum furnaces, three tempering furnaces, and two washers. The line will be utilized for hardening processes of steel parts used in railway rolling stock.

The SECO/WARWICK line for voestalpine Fastening Systems consists of an electric chamber furnace, a washer, a cooling station, and an endothermic atmosphere generator. The hardening process will be carried out in a controlled atmosphere with temperatures up to 1742°F.

Additionally, the technological line includes an electric chamber furnace designed for the heat treatment of steel parts in a protective nitrogen atmosphere at temperatures up to 1292°F, along with a washer, cooling station and endothermic generator. The line will include a loader operating in automatic mode, a set of roller tables and a closed loop water system. The number of the supplied technological line units is selected to ensure the quality of manufactured components.

Mariusz Raszewski, Deputy Director of the Aluminum Process and CAB Furnaces Team, SECO/WARWICK (Source: SECO/WARWICK)

Mariusz Raszewski, deputy director of the Aluminum Process and CAB Furnaces Team at SECO/WARWICK said, “The line is configured in such a way that if the volume of the company products decreases, the customer can also offer commercial processing due to the wide technological spectrum of this main furnace unit.”

The whole solution will be supervised by a master system, which is used for the continuous monitoring of the heat treatment equipment operation and provides advanced data analysis for the production processes.

Mariusz Fogtman, COO, voestalpine Fastening Systems (Source: voestalpine Fastening Systems)

“The universal furnace solution will allow [us] to process details in various configurations,” Mariusz Fogtman, COO of voestalpine Fastening Systems commented. “Apart from technological parameters, it is important for us to limit the processed details’ deformations, which is possible in the ordered solution. SECO/WARWICK presented a partnership and flexible approach to the challenge of this order”

This press release is available in its original form here.

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Aerospace Manufacturer Adds LPC Furnace

An Asian aircraft parts manufacturer has chosen a horizontal vacuum furnace intended for vacuum carburizing aircraft parts. The furnace will produce gears used in aircraft structural sub-assemblies.

Maciej Korecki, VP, Vacuum Furnace Segment at SECO/WARWICK (source: SECO/WARWICK)

The SECO/WARWICK furnace is designed for low-pressure carburizing (LPC), equipped with a horizontal chamber with dimensions of 900 x 600 x 600 mm and a graphite chamber with a gas hardening system at a pressure of 6 bar.

“LPC technology,” said Maciej Korecki, Vice-President of the SECO/WARWICK Group Vacuum Segment, “is an increasingly popular solution. Its main advantage is the ability to carry out an efficient and effective carburizing cycle in a much shorter time than in atmospheric furnaces. This furnace ensures higher productivity and consequently, lower process costs and a quick return on investment. Carrying out the process in vacuum, on the other hand, increases the operational safety, because it does not involve explosive and flammable gases. LPC eliminates direct CO₂ emissions from the carburizing atmosphere.”

The original press release from SECO/WARWICK is available here.


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Vacuum Furnace for Global Wire Mesh Products Supplier in Auto Industry

A U.S.-based engineered knitted wire mesh solutions company and global supplier for the automotive, food service, and janitorial industries will receive a vacuum heat treat furnace. The furnace will be primarily utilized for vacuum annealing materials that are susceptible to adverse effects of their mechanical properties when exposed to any levels of oxygen or nitrogen.

Solar Manufacturing Mentor® Pro Model HFL-3036-2IQ furnace
Source: Solar Manufacturing
Jason Davidson
Northeast Regional Sales Manager
Solar
Source: solarmfg.com

This vacuum furnace features a molybdenum shielded hot zone measuring 18” wide x 18” high x 36” deep. It is capable of operating temperatures up to 2400°F and has a workload weight capacity of up to 1,000 lbs. Additionally, it includes the SolarVac® Essentials PLC-based control system. The internal gas cooling system with a 50 HP drive motor can reach quenching workloads at 2-bar positive pressure in either nitrogen or argon.

Jason Davidson, regional sales manager at Solar Manufacturing, states, “Our customer started running trials with our affiliate commercial heat treater, Solar Atmospheres. Once the trial results proved the heat treat cycle, and the [Mentor® Pro Model HFL-3036-2IQ] furnace demonstrated it could process the required quantities, the customer had confidence to place the purchase order with us.”

This press release is available in its original form here.


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Solar Atmospheres Increases Heat Treat Capacity for Superalloys

Mike Moyer
Vice President of Sales,
Solar Atmospheres, Eastern PA

Solar Atmospheres of Souderton PA commissioned a new vacuum furnace capable of utilizing high pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) at 20-Bar (about 300 PSI) to meet demanding cooling rate specifications for the heat treatment of nickel-based superalloys in the aerospace and power generation industries.

The vacuum furnace, manufactured by sister company Solar Manufacturing, has a working hot zone of 24” x 24” x 72” and utilizes unique hot zone design features to increase the quench rate. The furnace is rated for operation to 2400°F and temperature uniformity plus/minus 10°F.

Mike Moyer, vice president of Sales at Solar Atmospheres comments, “The furnace utilizes a 600-HP cooling motor and fan with a creative gas nozzle design to maximize gas flow as it moves through the hot zone and the heat exchanger and back across the workload.”

The full press release from Solar Atmospheres is available upon request.


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ZDT Glimag Leverages Vacuum Furnace for Mining Machines

Vacuum heat treat operations expand for ZDT Glimag, an entity providing services in the field of vacuum heat treatment, laboratory tests, and production of parts for mining machines.

The addition of this Vector® vacuum furnace will be the third vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK. The current design has an operating space of 600 x 600 x 900 mm and will be equipped with numerous options to allow a wide range of heat treatment processes for various steel grades. Main processes will include vacuum brazing, FineCarb® vacuum carburizing, and high-pressure hardening. The design of the chamber size will enable efficient heat treatment of large packages of test and research elements.

The efficiency of processes is also influenced by the ability to cool at 15 bar (which, unlike the old furnaces, eliminates the need to wash the parts after the process). In combination with inverter control, the system also helps reduce power consumption peaks, which are so problematic today. Another big advantage is low heat losses and appropriate temperature uniformity in the heating chamber, which is resistant to rapid wear and is easy to use and service.

Beata Kowalewska
President of the Management Board – Financial Director of ZDT Glimag
Source: LinkedIn

Beata Kowalewska, president of the Management Board – Financial Director of ZDT Glimag, comments: “Since the 1960s, we have been designing prototypes, conducting research and technological tests, and implementing new technologies for mining. We are currently in the process of materializing the project titled ‘Implementation of an innovative product resulting from research and development work: a brake pad with a composite friction layer with increased abrasion resistance,’ implemented under the European Funds for a Modern Economy (FENG) 2021-2027 Program. FENG is a program supporting entrepreneurs in the area of broadly understood innovation. It places great emphasis on R&D activities.”

He continues, “The new SECO/WARWICK furnace fits perfectly into the policy of broadly understood modernity implemented in this project. It will streamline and expand the scope of heat treatment processes and improve their economics, taking into account energy savings and the graphite chamber efficiency. It will also ensure the process cleanliness and velocity. With the FineCarb® vacuum carburizing option, the technology also increases our flexibility and research capabilities. Additionally, this technology will allow us to perform more difficult processes requiring extremely low contamination levels, thanks to the ability to obtain the appropriate vacuum needed for these processes.”

Maciej Korecki
VP of the Vacuum Furnace Segment
SECO/WARWICK
Source: SECO/WARWICK

Maciej Korecki, VP of the Vacuum Furnace Segment in the SECO/WARWICK Group, comments on ZDT Glimag saying, “It is a center very well oriented in the metal heat treatment industry, constantly testing new, innovative solutions that in turn make the mining industry more efficient. The new Vector will introduce revolutionary changes in the hardening plant, introducing innovation and a very wide range of precise processes.”

The Vector® line vacuum furnaces can be used in most standard vacuum carburizing, hardening, tempering, annealing, supersaturation, and brazing processes. At the same time, the solution can be adapted to the recipient’s individual requirements, and therefore to a specific industry, an attribute necessary for research centers that test innovative solutions for external customers.

The solution‘s characteristic features are convection heating, i.e., a system improving the heat transfer efficiency when heating at lower temperatures, and directional cooling, which allows complex, flimsy, and long elements to be cooled in various ways, minimizing their deformations. An additional advantage is the vacuum carburizing option, which allows users to carry out precise processes to increase the steel surface hardness (carburizing) during the entire thermal process.

The original press release from SECO/WARWICK Group is available here.


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Bodycote Expands Medical Market Reach with Lake City Heat Treating

Stephen Harris
Group Chief Executive
Bodycote
Source: LinkedIn
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Bodycote has announced its acquisition of Lake City Heat Treating, based in Warsaw, Indiana, which was successfully completed on January 19, 2024. The midwestern heat treater is a leading medical market provider of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and vacuum heat treatment services, primarily supplying the orthopedic implant market as well as civil aerospace.

Stephen Harris, group chief executive of Bodycote plc, commented: "This acquisition is an excellent fit, and it allows us to better address the growth opportunities in the medical and aerospace markets." With this acquisition, the heat treater will increase their range of specialist thermal processing and heat treatment solutions available to these industries.

Lake City Heat Treating is forecast to have achieved 2023 full year revenues of around $14m (£11m). The business revenue grew 30% in 2023 and looking ahead is expected to continue to deliver good progress.

Their constant growth reflects the high-quality business that has successfully gained share among distinguished medical and aerospace OEMs. The acquisition fits with Bodycote’s strategy to grow its Specialist Technologies businesses.

This Bodycote press release can be found in its original form here.

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EV Manufacturer Upgrades with New Nitriding Furnace

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An international electric vehicle manufacturer has selected a heat treat furnace supplier with North American locations for a second nitriding furnace to operate in parallel with an existing one.

The car maker already purchased an identical SECO/VACUUM nitriding furnace last year. The added heat treating capacity will ensure that the nitriding step does not become a bottle-neck in the plant’s high-pressure die casting tooling production process.

The retort furnace for gas nitriding has a chamber size of 1.6m (63”) diameter and 2.8m (110”) depth, accommodating a load up to 1m x 1m x 2.6m (40” x 40” x 100”). The furnace has 350 kilowatts of heating capacity divided into 3 heating zones. The durable Inconel 600 retort will offer many years of trouble-free service.

Peter Zawistowski
Managing Director
SECO/VACUUM Technologies
Source: SECO/VACUUM

Peter Zawistowski, managing director of SECO/VACUUM, said of the project, “This heat treat partner’s dies present quite a unique heat treating challenge. At SECO/VACUUM we love a good challenge, so we have built this solution with the dimensions and thermal capacity to nitride these large, heavy parts to exceed customer’s specifications”.

The nitriding furnace is also fitted with a device called a thermal oxidizer. Although the all-electric heat-treating process does not involve any combustion, the combination of ammonia and high temperatures still creates NOx emissions. The thermal oxidizer breaks down the harmful NOx molecules in the furnace discharge.

The tool and die market serving traditional and EV automotive markets uses vacuum heat treating technology extensively to produce bright, high-quality parts.

 


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Precision Heat Treater Expands Operations with New High-Pressure Gas Quenching Furnace

HTD Size-PR LogoA precision heat treatment company Vacu Braze recently partnered with a U.S. furnace manufacturer to procure new equipment to expand its processing capabilities.

The TM8 is the first high-pressure gas quenching furnace to be installed in Vacu Braze’s clean processing room. This high-purity furnace from TM Vacuum Products expands the heat treater’s high-pressure gas quenching capacity for large and small jobs, while offering increased processing cleanliness.

The TM8 is equipped with a molybdenum all-metal hot zone and a cryogenic pump capable of helping the furnace reach the 10-7 vacuum scale. With a qualified work zone of 12” x 12” x 24”, small batches of parts made from a wider array of materials can be processed more quickly than with traditional atmospheric methods.

The new furnace is fully compliant with AMS 2750 class 2 pyrometry and fit for processing critical parts for aerospace applications. As clean processing capabilities expand, Vacu Braze is proud to provide innovative solutions to industries requiring precision, purity, and cleanliness from their heat treatment provider.

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Research Institute Expands R&D Capabilities with Heat Treat Furnace 

A technology research institute has chosen a heat treat vacuum furnace which will support research and development in the fields of materials engineering and machine construction and operation.

SECO/WARWICK will supply a Vector® vacuum furnace with high-pressure gas hardening and will include options for vacuum carburizing, pre-nitriding for carburizing technology, low-pressure nitriding (LPN), and low-pressure carbonitriding (LPCN).

This configuration provides precision performance in vacuum, ensuring steel detail surfaces are protected, and the ability to carry out hardening processes through the use of high cooling gas pressures (15 bar).

The small vacuum furnace will have a working space of 400x400x600 mm. With a round heating chamber, the furnace, despite its small size, can be used to test and perform research on many sizes of parts including work with large dimensions.

Says Sławomir Woźniak, CEO of the SECO/WARWICK Group, "We cooperate with scientific institutions all over the world because we are aware that industry development depends on their work. Many groundbreaking discoveries have already been made, but I am sure that many more are yet to come."

The R&D institute deals with methods of refining metal products by increasing their corrosion resistance and increasing mechanical properties, especially fatigue strength and resistance to wear in friction processes. The technological institute strives to disseminate and apply in practice the results of scientific research and development work, develops new technologies, and conducts service activities.


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Heat Treat Supplier Receives Patent for Vacuum Furnace Control Thermocouple

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Solar Manufacturing has received a patent for an improved vacuum furnace control thermocouple design. The new thermocouple design offers an advantage when controlling at operating temperatures from ambient up to 1200°F (649°C) especially in smaller diameter hot zones of 36” (91.44 cm) or less.

William Jones CEO and Founder/Owner, Solar Atmospheres

The new thermocouple configuration was developed to lessen the undesirable thermal conduction losses of the thermocouple assembly. This thermocouple design has also demonstrated to improve temperature uniformity survey results. To satisfy AMS 2750 standard temperature uniformity specifications, it is critical to have the control thermocouples in the proper location of the hot zone for satisfactory survey thermocouple measurements without correction factors.

The patent inventor is William R. Jones, owner of Solar Manufacturing, Inc.

Under these conditions, the outer ceramic protection tube of the conventional control thermocouple design acts as a heat sink. This thermal conduction, or the heat loss, is compounded by the shorter length of the thermocouple assembly and causes the control thermocouple to operate at a lower temperature, thus increasing the power output to the furnace heating elements to maintain set-point temperature. The result is the workload temperature hotter than the furnace temperature. The phenomenon is more pronounced at lower processing temperatures (<1200°F/649°C).


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