Induction Hardening - Prestige Thermal

HARDENING

Overview	Our fully integrated team of experienced engineers and technicians are capable of meeting virtually any of your heat treating requirements including: Pattern development Production processing Design & manufacturing of new equipment. The scope of the equipment is dictated by the customer's production requirements and automation needs. Typically we can develop system around a standard component, such as a vertical scanner (300mm, 600mm, 1000mm), horizontal scanner or lift and rotate. We have supplied vertical scanners capable of handling 6000mm long parts and horizontal scanners capable of handling 10m long parts. Our staff is here to help develop a system tailored to your specific application requirements. Many types of steel are treated with heat to increase toughness and resistance to wear. The effectiveness of this process depends on the steel's carbon content. When the steel is heated above its transformation temperature (720°C), the carbon changes the steel's crystalline structure to an austenite. The harder, more brittle steel is then quickly cooled or "quenched". To make the steel less brittle and more usable, another process called "tempering" is used; the steel is slowly heated to just below the transformation temperature and then slowly cooled. There are two general types of hardening processes: through hardening treats the entire part, while case hardening generally treats the part surface area and some of the interior area, according to the depth of hardening requirements for a specific application.
Using Induction	Modern induction heating provides reliable, repeatable, non-contact and energy-efficient heat in a minimal amount of time. For hardening, induction provides the necessary control and accuracy to focus the heat to a specific area of the part. Solid state systems are capable of heating very small areas within precise production tolerances, without disturbing individual metallurgical characteristics. For case hardening, typical frequencies are 450 kHz for case depths of 0.030" to 0.080"; thicker case depths of 0.100 to 0.150" are typically hardened at 10 kHz. It is important to heat the part quickly with high power density, and then quench the part rapidly to prevent the inside of the part from exceeding the transformation temperature. Through hardening is generally defined more by the time required to heat through the part than the by the frequency of the power supply. Typical power supplies for hardening range from 5 to 1000 kW, depending on the material and application requirements.

Applications Database Links	Hardening Surgical Blades Hardening Seat Belt Gears Hardening Edges of Thin Cutting Blades Hardening Blades For Reel Type Lawn Mowers Hardening 250mm Surgical Knife Blades Hardening Cast Iron Pulleys Case Hardening An Armature Shaft

Quenching	The amount of hardening achieved is greatly influenced by how the steel is cooled or "quenched". The cooling rate of any steel part depends on the rate of heat energy extraction (which is a function of the characteristics of the quenching medium). The three most common quenching media are water, oil and air. The effectiveness of the quench can be improved by increasing the rate of flow over the part.