#ukmfg #engineering In anticipation of growing customer demand for processing larger gears, shafts and other components, sub-contract heat treatment specialist Keighley Laboratories has increased the capacity of its largest pit furnace by 30% along with the capacity of the overhead crane that serves all seven pit furnaces (plus a salt bath and tempering equipment).
(www.keighleylabs.co.uk)Fitted with a custom-made inner shell of duplex stainless steel, the No 1 pit furnace now has a working diameter of 1,110mm and can handle components that are almost 1,800mm long. This investment has already paid off, with orders taken to heat-treat 1,108mm-diameter gear wheels for an offshore application and 1,755mm-long shafts for a renewable-energy project, so further pit furnace upgrades are now under consideration.
Divisional commercial director Michael Emmott says: “This has opened up a new market for us among engineering companies and OEMs that are looking to heat-treat larger components. This involves physical issues regarding accommodating the size of these parts, then lifting them out of the furnace and into the quench tank, as well as demanding special skills for treating very large workpieces without damage or distortion.”
Pit furnaces offer very high repeatability, extremely precise thermo-chemical treatment and flexibility. Keighley Labs uses them for carburising, carbo-nitriding, hardening and tempering, stress-relieving, homogenising and carbon restoration. It handles steel, iron, high-chrome iron, cast iron, austempered ductile iron and alloy steel materials for customers in the aviation, marine, defence, rail, mobile plant, energy and general engineering sectors.
The workpieces are held in a jig or charge basket in the furnace, with the inner retort protecting them from the direct radiation of heat (up to 980°C).