The furnace will serve the Portuguese and Spanish markets and be used for tool steel heat treatment.
This is one of two vacuum furnaces ordered by Treatnorte from SECO/WARWICK. This delivery is an important step in developing the local infrastructure for advanced metal heat treatment technologies.
Versatile vacuum technology for enhanced heat treatment
The furnace joining Treatnorte’s machine park is a medium-size system from the SECO/WARWICK vacuum furnace family. It is configured to provide the heat treater with the broadest possible process range and high production flexibility.
Its round heating chamber enables the processing of relatively large parts, and the combination of high-pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) of up to 15 bar absolute pressure (abs) and dedicated low-pressure carburising (LPC) technology allows for complete process cycles for a wide range of steels used by Treatnorte’s customers. The furnace’s design ensures excellent temperature uniformity and convection heating at lower temperatures, as well as directional cooling. This enables optimal control of quenching processes for complex and demanding geometries.
FineCarb: Redefining Precision in Low-Pressure Carburising
The key advantage of this solution is FineCarb technology, which is transforming how carburising is perceived in modern commercial heat treatment shops. FineCarb is a low-pressure carburising process carried out in a vacuum atmosphere, where carbon introduction is precisely controlled through successive pulses of carbon-bearing gases. Unlike traditional endothermic gas carburising, this process takes place under controlled vacuum conditions, ensuring superior process quality and cleanliness.
As a result, uniform and repeatable carburised layers are achieved while total cycle time is reduced and part distortion is minimised.
(Source: SECO/WARWICK)
