DO YOU KNOW
How to carburize
thick layers in a vacuum
pit furnace?
www.secowarwick.com
1. Collect the parts which you want to carburize on a given layer thickness
- Thoroughly clean the parts and remove any residues left after machining.
- Estimate the surface area of your parts with the help SECO/WARWICK’s user-friendly software.
- Place the parts on a dedicated fixture, make sure that the fixture is ready to withstand elevated temperatures.
2. Prepare your furnace
- Make sure that the furnace has been well maintained in accordance with the instruction manual.
- Check if the utilities are connected and available (you do not need endogenerator for this process, acetylene-based mixture is enough).
- Choose a proper recipe, vacuum carburizing can help you in gaining remarkable savings on process time.
- The furnace does not need to be conditioned, you can start your vacuum pit furnace on demand, when you need it.
3. Load the fixture with the parts
- Open the furnace (mind the temperature if the furnace is opened in hot conditions).
- Use the overhead crane to load the fixture with the parts into the furnace (it can be realized in an automated mode).
- Close the furnace.
4. Start the process
- Start the process using built-in HMI on the furnace’s control cabinet or use a remote control station of SCADA system.
- Control system of the vacuum pit furnace allows to keep thousands of recipes in database with immediate access.
5. Observe and control the furnace and the process
- Furnace operation during heat treatment process is fully automatic and kept in line by state-of-the-art PLC with fail-safe feature.
- Even though, it is wise to control the furnace operation periodically, either using the HMI on the control cabinet or remote access (even from your mobile devices).
- Preventive maintenance features will give you insight in every key sub-assembly of the furnace.
- Possibility of data storage in the cloud gives you limitless possibilities of archiving your files and keeping them safe.
6. Open the furnace and quench* the parts
- Open the furnace (caution: 1050°C is really hot).
- Yes, we are talking about opening a vacuum furnace with low pressure carburizing in hot conditions, it is possible.
- Use the overhead crane to lift the fixture with the parts (it can be realized in an automated mode) and place them in a quenching bath
*if you do not want to quench the parts you can cool them down with the furnace using its internal cooling system. - Load the next batch or shut down the furnace (you do not need the keep it on the temperature if it is not used).
7. Wash the parts
- After the quenching process, place the fixture with the parts in a washing machine.
8. Check the results of the process
- Check if the obtained results correspond with your requirements.
- Admire uniform effective case depth [ECD] and the fact that there is no intergranular oxidation [IGO] in your parts.
- Calculate your savings gained in comparison with traditional atmosphere pit carburizing furnace.