nitriding heat treat

An international electric vehicle (EV) automaker has ordered high-pressure gas quenching (HPGQ), tempering, and nitriding furnaces for heat treatment of large high-pressure casting dies, which will be used in the production of aluminum underbody components for electric vehicles.

The tool & die market serving traditional and EV automotive markets use vacuum heat treating technology extensively to produce bright, high-quality parts. SECO/VACUUM Technologies, a SECO/WARWICK Group company, will provide two furnaces and auxiliaries with working zones that can accommodate loads with dimensions up to 1000mm x 1000mm x 2400mm (40″ x 40″ x 96″) and up to 7.5 metric tons of weight.

“[We] have built a reputation with [this client’s] engineering team,” explained Piotr Zawistowski, managing director of SECO/VACUUM, “[and so] we are capable of achieving the required quenching rates within such a large envelope, which will be accomplished with a powerful 500kW quenching system. The [client] also appreciated the custom engineering that we put into handling such a heavy workload.”

The Vector® vacuum hardening furnace is equipped with a convection heating system to improve heat transfer at lower temperatures, thus reducing internal stresses; the cooling system can quench with nitrogen at pressures up to 25 bar. The furnace will exceed NADCA 207 requirements for the quenching process and Class 2 temperature uniformity requirements per AMS2750F.

The nitriding furnace is a pit-type configuration, with working dimensions to match the hardening furnace. The patented ZeroFlow® nitriding process uses uniform high convection heating, precision nitriding potential, and ammonia control, along with vacuum purging to reduce operating costs.