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Heat Treatment Furnaces

Types of Furnaces
• Batch type furnaces • Continuous type Furnaces
Atmospheric Type Vacuum Type
• Operated at ambient (atmospheric) pressure • Operated at vacuum or sub-atmospheric pressure
• Load is heated and cooled in presence of air • May involve high pressure gas cooling using special
or in special gases (process atmosphere), in gases
liquid baths or in a fluidized bed.
• Includes ion or plasma processing equipment

Commonly used furnaces

• Integral quench furnace
• Roller hearth, shaker hearth, pusher,
mesh-belt, retort, etc.
• Vacuum furnace
• Fluidized bed furnace
• Car bottom furnace
• Salt bath furnace
• Pit furnace

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HT Equipment

Components of typical heat treating line

• Loading station
• Parts washer and dryer
• Heat treating furnace (Carburizing,
hardening furnace, vacuum furnace,
etc.)
• Atmosphere supply (generator or
commercial)
• Quench
• Washer or dryer
• Tempering furnace
• Unloading
• Quality control - Inspection

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Types of Heaters in Heat Treatment Furnaces

Natural Gas Heating Electrically Heated

Two major issues that Natural gas Heating Furnaces face are: NOx emissions and
efficiency

• Low NOx burners are available for all

temperature range

• Use of recuperators, regenerative burners

can increase efficiency of gas use by 25 to
40%

• Proper combustion control and selection of

right burner

Process (Heat Treating) Atmosphere – At A Glance

What is a Process (heat treating) Atmosphere?
A mixture of gases (CO, H2, CO2, H2O and N2) that protects the load or reacts with the load during heat
treating

Why use Protective Atmosphere? Why use Protective Atmosphere?

• To prevent oxidation, Loss of carbon (decarburization) and avoid • Natural Gas (Hydrocarbons) – Air reaction
corrosion • Natural Gas – Steam reaction
➢ Most gases containing oxygen (i.e. air, water vapors, CO2) • Ammonia dissociation or ammonia – air reaction
react with iron (Fe), carbon and other elements present in Or
steel ( • Mixture of common gases (N2, H2, & HC)
➢ Reactivity depends on temperature and mixture of gases in
contact with steel.

Types of HT Process Atmospheres Commonly used HT Atmospheres

• Protective • Rich and Lean Endothermic (DX) gas
➢ To protect metal parts from oxidation or loss of carbon & • Rich and Lea Exothermic (RX) Gas
other elements from metal surfaces • Dissociated Ammonia
• Reactive • H2 – N2 mixture
➢ To add non-metallic (i.e. C, O2, N2) or metallic (i.e. Cr, B, V) • Natural Gas (HC) – Air reaction
elements to base metal • Natural Gas – Steam reaction
• Purging • Mixture of commercial gases (N2, H2, and HCs)
➢ To remove air or flammable gases from furnaces or vessels

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Importance of Protective Atmospheres in HT

• Proper composition and concentration in a furnace to achieve required properties

• To overcome a cost associated with loss of atmosphere control that results in

unacceptable parts

• To avoid potential dangerous gases that can result in explosion and life threatening
effects

• Provide use of advances in measurement techniques and control of atmosphere to allow

precise controls to produce quality parts

Electric Heating for Heat Treating – At A Glance

Types of Electric Heating Major Applications for Heat Treating
• Resistance Heating • Vacuum heat treating furnaces
• Induction Heating • Sintering (PM) furnaces
• Direct Current • Plasma or Ion Nitriding, Carburizing or Surface coatings
• Laser Heating • Low temperature tempering or Draw furnaces
• Electric Beam Heating • Liquid (water, quench oils or polymer) heating tanks
• Plasma Heating • Gas generators (Endo gas and Ammonia dissociators)
• Arc Heating • Salt bath furnaces
• Pit (underground) furnaces
Advantages
• 100% efficient
• Better temperature uniformity and Disadvantages
controllability • Higher operating cost – 2 to 3 times for conventional
• Can be used for higher temperature processes HT applications
• Safe – no explosion hazards • Heating elements burn-out, short life or expensive to
• No flue gases to deal with replace
• No pollution or emissions of NOx, etc. • Danger of element shorting due to metal part drop
• Low initial cost of furnace • May need expenses for transformers
• Easy to install and operate • Corrosion, soot deposition, etc
• Can be easily automated • Longer furnace length for same heat input

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Electrically Heated Vacuum Furnace for Heat Treating

Major Components
• Vacuum vessel with water cooled shell
➢ High temperature heating elements (Graphite, Molybdenum, etc.)
➢ Insulated shield between the element and water cooled shell)
• Gas circulating fan with water cooled heat exchanger and gas
accumulator
• Water re-circulating and cooling system
• Vacuum pumping system
• Controls
• Material handling system

Reasons to Use Vacuum Furnaces

• Process repeatability Disadvantages
• Temperature uniformity • Higher capital cost
• Reliability of operations • Higher utility (electricity) cost
• Better operating environment • Higher overall operating cost
• No or no environment problems • Lower overall capacity
• Automation – better application for computer control • Less flexibility

Factors Affecting Efficiency of Gas Fired & Electric Equipment

Gas Fired Equipment Electric Equipment
• Flue (exhaust) gas temperature • Power factor
• O2 or CO2 in flue gases • Losses in distribution system (from meter to use)
• Combustion air temperature (to the burner) • Water cooling of components
• Oxygen injection or enrichment (if any) in the • Induction coil and load coupling
incoming combustion air

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FUEL SAVING MEASURES IN HEAT TREATMENT

1. Increase productivity and reliability
2. Use technology for 100% combustion
3. Use latest techniques to eliminate down time
4. To compete with best in Industry, else try to reach theoritical norms.
5. Use heat pipe technology for recovery of total wastage of heat through flue gases.
Good combustion and Furnace design requirements
o Good burner system
o Good Air-Fuel ratio control
▪ Good air to fuel Ratio Control can be achieved by correct analysis of CO, CO2 , O2
and using this to control air to fuel ratio.
o Good furnace design for maximum heat utilization
o During low production rate, control of oil and air is a must since losses (Radiation) from
furnace are constant.
o Use Recuperator to pre-heat air to 2500C min. to recover loss heat from flue gases