Batch
ALLCASE® BATCH INTEGRAL QUENCH FURNACE
A heat treating furnace where the load enters the quench tank at predetermined times, all at once. For example, a Surface Combustion Allcase® batch furnace may have a 2500-pound load entering the quench tank once every two hours. Maximum operating temperatures up to 1950°F, with vertical and horizontal radiant tube configurations. Allcase® family also includes RTB and ACT.
BATCH FURNACES
Heat treats one load at a time. Furnaces that carry out more than one process, such as sealed quench furnaces with their heating and cooling chambers, may have a batch in each chamber. These are sometimes referred to as semi-continuous furnaces.
BATCHMASTER® BOX FURNACE
Single-chamber large box furnace is a cost-efficient, reliable, pre-engineered design that is also low maintenance. Standard loading widths and heights between 24” and 72” with a standard loading weight up to 20,000 pounds. Maximum operating temperatures of 2400°F.
POWER CONVECTION® VACUUM FURNACE
The inner chamber is typically graphite-based rigid board and/or felt with machined graphite resistance heating elements. This gives the workload a very uniform band of heating through the operating temperature range which is typically from 1400°F to 2400°F.
UNI-DRAW® BATCH TEMPERING FURNACE
Designed specifically to temper or draw metal parts after oil quenching. Due to the porosity of the powder metal parts, oil is retained from quenching. The oil is released in the form of smoke during the temper cycle. Designed as a companion temper/draw furnace to the Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace.
VERSAQUENCH™ QUICK QUENCH FURNACE
Quick Quench Furnace maximizes capacity while minimizing required floor space. Obstruction-free work chamber, large capacity re-circulation fans, and strategically located heated sources to ensure rapid heat transfer, low energy use and excellent temperature and carbon uniformity. Class 2 Furnace, gas or electoral heated system with temperatures 1200°F and up.
CLOVERLEAF™ VACUUM FURNACE
An innovative and versatile style of furnace that is a first in the industry. The low pressure carburizing (LPC), hardening, oil, and high-pressure gas quenching furnace was designed to satisfy a growing dissatisfaction with other LPC technologies.
RTB™ SINGLE-CHAMBER ATMOSPHERE BOX FURNACE
The RTB™ (Radiant Tube Box) Single-Chamber Atmosphere Box Furnace is a flexible, economical, pre-engineered design based on the hot zone of Surface’s legendary Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace. Gas-fired radiant tubes or electric elements allow controlled atmosphere heat treatment with indirect heating – no internal alloy muffle assemblies are required.
LIFT COVER, TILT TOP & CARBOTTOM FURNACES
Lift Cover Furnaces – With lift cover furnaces, the upper furnace assembly is vertically lifted off the base to allow for loading/unloading of the furnace hearth area.
Tilt Top Furnaces – Designed for batch in/out operation. The furnace is similar to the cover and base design but utilizes a tilting mechanism to tilt the upper furnace assembly to allow for loading or unloading work to or from the stationary hearth.
Carbottom Furnaces – Also known as bogie hearth furnaces. The workload is placed on the hearth and the car moves into and seals to the furnace, forming the bottom and door. The furnaces can be designed in multiple sizes to meet specific requirements.
Continuous
MESH BELT FURNACE
The mesh belt conveyor furnace can be used in either an exothermic atmosphere furnace or an endothermic atmosphere furnace. This continuous furnace is often used for smaller parts.
CAST BELT FURNACE
The belts are roll or skid supported (top and bottom) and the belt returns for higher temperature models are within the furnace for better fuel efficiency. The cast link belt is made with alloy link pins for heavier loaded product types.
ROLLER HEARTH FURNACE
Roller hearth furnaces are used for long product like pipes, tubes and bars and for heavier loading of product in baskets. The rolls are a high-grade alloy construction. Roll drives are electrical motor driven via zone drives which are synchronized and appropriately clutched.
ROTARY HEARTH FURNACE
The rotary hearth furnace allows for placement of large pieces or baskets of product onto a solid refractory or alloy hearth. From the point of entry, they rotate in a horizontal circular motion similar to a lazy susan mechanism until the rotation is complete.
ROTARY RETORT FURNACE
A high-quality alloy retort or drum which is centrifugally cast. The furnace style is a revolving retort which is a horizontally oriented drum with internal flights that while rotating, it tumbles and conveys the load from one end to the other. This action of tumbling provides uniform heating and process gas distribution for very small and densely packed workloads.
PUSHER FURNACE
Pusher furnaces are best suited for automotive and tooling components that are loaded into baskets and carburized and through hardened as well as larger forgings and coils of steel that are annealed.
SLAT CONVEYOR FURNACE
This type of belt is used for specific gears or other shapes that lend themselves to this type of a large contact area style of belt
BELT FURNACE
One style of furnace used for fasteners, stampings, forgings or other components is a belt type furnace. Within this belt furnace style, individual or bulk loaded parts are placed onto the belt which is then conveyed through the furnace.
Atmosphere
ALLCASE® BATCH INTEGRAL QUENCH FURNACE
Introduced in the 1950s, the batch integral quench (BIQ) furnace was designed to serve a growing post World War II industrial boom which required many types of heat treating processes to be performed.
VERSAQUENCH™ QUICK QUENCH FURNACE
The VersaQuench™ Quick Quench Furnace will solve your non-ferrous heat treat challenges. The double deck quench elevator configuration allows recharging of the furnace while work is being quenched.
UNI-DRAW® BATCH TEMPERING FURNACE
The Uni-DRAW® batch tempering furnace is a companion furnace to the Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace. Designed for pre-heating and tempering, the Uni-DRAW can also be used as a stand-alone heat-treating system. It provides excellent wind distribution throughout the effective work zone without the need for movable baffles.
RTB™ SINGLE-CHAMBER ATMOSPHERE BOX FURNACE
A flexible, economical, pre-engineered design based on the hot zone of Surface’s legendary Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace. Gas-fired radiant tubes or electric elements allow controlled atmosphere heat treatment with indirect heating – no internal alloy muffle assemblies are required. Easy to operate and maintain, the RTB can be customized to meet numerous process, product, and material requirements and is available with the same standard sizes and hearth loadings as the Allcase.
ROTARY RETORT FURNACE
The drum is installed in an electrically heated or gas fired insulated chamber. Inside of the retort, an endothermic atmosphere is typically used while through hardening. The drum is electrically driven via a chain or a rack and pinion drive. Batch styles will convey the load (tumble) within the retort moving forward and then in reverse.
LIFT COVER, TILT TOP & CARBOTTOM FURNACES
For atmosphere processing, Surface is your best partner. All Surface Combustion batch furnace designs allow for flexibly tailoring each portion of the heat treat cycle: purging, heating, soaking, and cooling. Surface batch furnaces are designed to be used for multiple different cycle recipes, allowing one furnace to flexibly perform a diverse range of materials, products, and processes.
GAS NITRIDING FURNACE
Surface® Combustion’s classic gas nitriding furnace and equipment starts with a high alloy retort. This high alloy retort contains the ammonia, nitrogen, hydrogen, and hydrocarbon atmosphere required for the nitriding process. Ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) can be performed in the same chamber also with different temperatures and different gas mixes.
BELT FURNACE
Surface® Combustion’s belt furnaces start with an insulated hot zone which typically includes a bricked floor and walls and a fiber lined roof. The belt style is either a woven mesh belt of a high-grade alloy construction for lighter loaded product types, a cast link belt with alloy link pins for heavier loaded product types, or a slat conveyor for specific gears or other shapes that lend themselves to this type of a large contact area style of belt. The belts are roll or skid supported (top and bottom) and the belt returns for higher temperature models are within the furnace for better fuel efficiency.
Vacuum
POWER CONVECTION® VACUUM FURNACE
The Power Convection vacuum furnace is best suited for higher temperature processing where radiant heat is the dominant heat transfer mechanism. The best applications are those over 1400°F. This is the transition point of the effectiveness of radiant heating versus convection heating. Typical processes include hardening, annealing, sintering, and brazing.
VACUDRAW® VACUUM TEMPERING FURNACE
Vacuum processing removes impurities with the advantages of heating and cooling under convection. The VacuDraw® incorporates an initial pump down to 50 microns to remove air, water vapor, etc. from the chamber. The goal in vacuum purged tempering is to cool the workload back down to ambient temperature to avoid workload discoloration and oxidation.
CLOVERLEAF™ VACUUM FURNACE
The ingenuity of the Cloverleaf design is that all chambers have vacuum tight sealed doors which allow different internal vacuum levels and process gases to be isolated from each other while all chambers are running. There is no cross-talk between any other chamber. This was a dramatic improvement over competing technology, and it revolutionized the heat treating industry with the inherent flexibility of this design.
MULTI-CHAMBER VACUUM FURNACE
Surface® Combustion took the multi-chamber concept and perfected it by offering true vacuum tight sealing between the heating chamber and the quenching chamber. A machined, vacuum-tight, inner door separates the chambers and provides true vacuum, partial pressure, or low-pressure carburizing processes to work independently and uninhibited from the gas quenching or oil quenching cooling chamber.
Related Processes:
ION NITRIDING
Ideal for extended life parts that benefit from this high precision nitriding process. Nitriding is a case hardening process that adds nitrogen to the surface of ferrous materials. A thin, uniform hard surface layer, known as the compound layer or white layer, develops.
Gas Generators
RX® ENDOTHERMIC GAS GENERATOR
Surface® Combustion pioneered the development of endothermic gas to be used as the carrier medium for today’s gas carburizing process. This revolutionized the heat treating industry from the pack carburizing process of yesterday and easily enabled the future of boost/diffuse carburizing, carbon control, and all the instrumentation and sensors that grew out of this invention. Surface named this miracle endothermic gas with a tradename of RX® gas.
DX® EXOTHERMIC GAS GENERATOR
Surface® Combustion leads the way with a versatile exothermic design that is used in many annealing, normalizing, and bluing applications used widely in the pipe, tube, wire, and motor industries. It is created by burning natural gas, consisting mainly of nitrogen and hydrocarbons.
Control Systems
Control Systems designed by Surface® Combustion offer OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) knowledge and support. The control system is the key to managing your furnace line for efficient production of quality product. These systems control temperature, atmosphere, motor speeds, and mechanical motions.
Companion Equipment
VACUDRAW® VACUUM TEMPERING FURNACE
Surface® Combustion was the first to recognize the advantages of vacuum processing to remove impurities with the advantages of heating and cooling under convection. As a vacuum furnace manufacturer, Surface Combustion pioneered the vacuum purged tempering process and has a wealth of data and applications to draw upon for your unique situation.
ALLCASE® COMPANION EQUIPMENT
Surface® Combustion’s Allcase BIQ furnace pairs ideally with a charge car system to convey the workload in and out of the furnace and to laterally move the workload between the furnace and a washer, a temper, a preheat, an air blast station, a rust preventative dipping tank, a salt quench tank, a weigh load cell, a scissors lift table, and/or a stationary table.
UNI-DRAW® BATCH TEMPERING FURNACE
The Uni-DRAW® batch tempering furnace is a companion furnace to the Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace. Designed for pre-heating and tempering, the Uni-DRAW can also be used as a stand-alone heat-treating system. The unique round design results in an efficient circular wind flow along the inside of the furnace wall and is covered by the U.S Patent No. 4,963,091.
WASHERS AND DUNK TANKS
Surface Combustion offers a variety of companion parts washing units which can use water-based washing solutions and can be stand alone or integrated into continuous furnace lines. Spray, spray/dunk, and immersion tanks are available. The continuous washers utilize conveyors that match the furnace line.
CHARGE CAR
The charge car is a companion loading system used with Allcase® Batch Integral Quench Furnace Lines. The charge car is typically operated by an operator riding on the car. Also available is an automated charge car allowing for unmanned operation. The car utilizes special heavy-duty chain and handler heads configured for the specific furnace application to unload work trays.
QUENCHING SYSTEMS
Surface® Combustion offers quench systems with respect to equipment layout and processing requirements. Surface engineers to NFPA 86 (National Fire Protection Agency) safety standards, and we consider the non-equilibrium transitions that occur during the quenching step (e.g., temperature and furnace pressure) in our designs.
MATERIAL HANDLING SOLUTIONS
Material handling solutions from Surface include charge cars, scissor lifts, storage tables, charge tables, gantry loaders, vacuum furnace loaders, baskets, trays, and fixtures. Contact us today, and one of our sales engineers will help you determine the right solutions for your heat treat line.
