SECO/VACUUM News

Another SECO/WARWICK solution for HART-TECH

Another vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK will technologically strengthen Polish commercial heat treater – HART-TECH. The Group already has over 10 SECO/WARWICK brand solutions, and the current contract related to the order of the Vector vacuum furnace will provide this Partner with the ability to implement their proprietary vacuum, which has not been previously offered commercially in Poland.

The proprietary process will be implemented thanks to Acetylene (LPC), Ammonia (LPCN) and a very efficient gas hardening system (25 bar).

“We can say that we have a kind of synergy with the HART-TECH hardening plant. Our Partner, just like us, loves science, research and development, and the common curiosity about the world motivates us to create further innovations. We are also connected to HART-TECH by passion and the constant desire for improvement, and the twelfth SECO/WARWICK vacuum solution certainly shows how we are developing the Polish industry together.” – says Maciej Korecki, Vice President of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s Vacuum Segment.

Vacuum furnaces for demanding applications

The Vector vacuum furnace on order is equipped with a working space of 900x900x1200 mm that will allow for the heat treatment of a very large range of steel types, with the ability to implement a wide range of processes from hardening through vacuum carburizing and carbonitriding. The furnace will efficiently heat treat large packages of research, test and production elements. The main purpose of the solution will be to work on the implementation of vacuum carbonitriding technology services that HART-TECH can now offer to a wide range of customers.

The characteristic features of this design includes a round heating chamber with very good temperature uniformity +/-5°C, convection heating – a system improving the heat transfer efficiency during heating at lower temperatures and a very efficient cooling system based on a fan controlled by an inverter ensuring maximum hardening pressure of up to 25 bar abs.

“The solution has an alarm system compliant with the CQI-9 tolerance for parameters such as temperature, pressure and carburizing flow or nitrogen pressure during cooling. Isothermal quenching allows the process to stop the temperature during hardening in order to achieve the appropriate transformation and maintain a uniform temperature during holding.” – explains Paweł Okińczyc, Sales Engineer at the SECO/WARWICK Group.

The partial pressure system used in the furnace helps to prevent sublimation of alloying elements from the load surface during the heat treatment process.

Three gases – HART-TECH’s proprietary carbonitriding method The Vector for the HART-TECH commercial heat treating plant has been expanded with a gas system equipped with two acetylene mass valves, a hydrogen mass valve and an ammonia mass valve. Thanks to the expanded gas cabinet, the furnace can use three gases for various technologies: acetylene, hydrogen and ammonia.

“This solution will help us to put into action a project concerning the implementation of vacuum carbonitriding technology at the HART-TECH plant with our customers in mind. We want to implement the low-pressure carbonitriding process and be able to use it in mass production. By expanding the machine park with a new vacuum furnace, we will also significantly shorten the waiting times for heat treatment for our current and future customers. The large workspace will significantly increase our capabilities for processing elements hardened in gas. Thus, we will be able to gradually switch from hardening elements in oil to hardening in gas, which is more efficient, cleaner and ensures smaller deformations.” – says Dr. Eng. Robert Pietrasik, President of HART-TECH.

Many years of cooperation with SECO/WARWICK

HART-TECH is a company specializing in the processes of hardening, carburizing, nitriding, sulfur nitriding, steel tempering, supersaturation and aging, annealing, vacuum brazing and low-friction layers, hardening of machine and tool elements. This commercial heat treater currently uses two flagship SECO/WARWICK products, i.e. multi-chamber furnaces – CaseMaster Evolution and single-chamber furnaces – Vector. Both solutions are the most frequently chosen furnaces for vacuum heat treatment used by commercial heat treaters from all over the world. The common denominator of both solutions is the vacuum carburizing process, in which SECO/WARWICK specializes.

Carburizing and carbonitriding as well as cooling in gas and oil in single- and multi-chamber furnace configurations are a guarantee of the heat treatment highest quality. The quality is guaranteed not only by high-class technology, but also by the competence of the partner in the form of scientists working at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering at the Lodz University of Technology. HART-TECH itself is a modern commercial heat treating plant with advanced heat treatment and thermochemical treatment technologies, using solutions allowing for the implementation of processes according to the latest vacuum technologies.