DO YOU KNOW

How to carburize
thick layers in a vacuum
pit furnace?

Name: SECO/WARWICK CORP.
Address: 180 MERCER, MEADVILLE, PA, 16335, US
Telephone: +1 814 332 8400

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

After the quenching process, place the fixture with the parts in a washing machine.

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.