Parts travel on a belt or chain through a preheat zone, several heating zones and cooling zones. Most run under a protective atmosphere: nitrogen or argon for purging, and gases such as cracked ammonia, hydrogen or endogas for the process.
Chambers are either dense ceramic or muffle-based. Metallic muffles in stainless steel or high nickel-chromium alloys are corrugated to withstand thermal expansion. For heavier parts we offer plate belt and conveyor chain versions.
Specifications
| Temperature range | 800 to 1150 °C |
|---|---|
| Conveying | Mesh belt or conveyor chain |
| Insulation | Vacuum-formed ceramic fibre board, ceramic fibre blanket and module, or refractory brick lining |
| Heating elements | Nichrome, special alloy wire or silicon carbide |
| Atmosphere | Muffle for nitrogen, hydrogen, cracked ammonia or argon |
| Controls | Thyristor power control, programmable temperature controller, recorder, PLC, SCADA or HMI |
Applications
- Hardening, annealing, wire annealing, normalizing
- Sintering, pre-sintering, debinding and dewaxing
- Controlled-atmosphere brazing, including aluminium brazing for automotive parts
Advantages
- Very even part-to-part temperature
- Higher throughput
- Several processes in one line
- Lower upfront cost
- Short changeovers
Common questions
What is a continuous furnace?
Parts move steadily through preheating, soaking and cooling. Temperature stays constant over time and changes along the furnace length.