Seco/Vacuum, a division of Seco/Warwick Group, was awarded the largest contracts to date for the division.
Fabrication has begun for three Vector® Vacuum Furnaces and six tempering furnaces with supporting auxiliary systems. They will be going to a returning heat-treat partner who is already operating 12 Seco/Vacuum furnaces at their various locations throughout North America.
These furnaces are a continuation of the heat-treater’s strategic planning to modernize all their facilities from atmospheric heat-treatment to vacuum processes which offer cleaner, safer, more cost-effective operation while also allowing for finer process control and a reduced carbon footprint.
The Vector is a single-chamber gas quenching vacuum furnace using high pressure quench (2 to 25 bar) which can be applied to a wide variety of heat-treating processes and applications, including hardening, tempering, annealing, solution heat treating, brazing, and sintering. It provides important capabilities for producing high uniformity in heat-treated parts, high consistency in workloads, and high speeds in batch processing with low consumption of power and process gases. These particular Vectors will be used primarily for hardening.
Tempering is a process primarily used to increase the toughness of hardened ferrous-alloy parts. The tempering process is typically applied after a hardening process. Seco/Vacuum’s line of tempering furnaces is designed for quick and efficient atmospheric tempering. Convection heating allows this tempering furnace to reach process temperatures and conditions, enabling smoother heat-treat process flow at an often-congested stage of the overall heat-treat process.
To maximize process throughput they chose to order six tempering furnaces to go with their three Vectors because, while the Vector is capable of tempering as well, for optimum throughput two dedicated tempering furnaces are required to keep up with the relatively shorter hardening cycle of a single Vector.
Each of the nine units, Vectors and tempering furnaces alike, are front-loading, horizontally configured furnaces with a 36 x 36 x 48 inch working volume and a 3300 lb. capacity.
Heat-treating operations will have to shut down entirely during the modernization changeover.
To minimize disruption and get the heat-treat partner back up and running as swiftly as possible, in addition to providing the furnaces, Seco/Vacuum will also serve as the general contractor, overseeing the installation of the new furnaces, auxiliary systems, wiring, piping, and ventilation needed prior to commissioning and operator training.
“Our relationship with this heat-treat partner goes back a long way,” said Piotr Zawistowski, Seco/Vacuum managing director. “It is a testament to our commitment to our partner’s success that they not only continue to return for more furnaces, but that they place their trust us in to manage the entire project in order to get them back to serving their customers as fast as possible.”
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