Q: I have been asked to specify an oven or furnace to heat aluminum billets (6000, 2000, and 7000 alloys) for forging. It will be serving a fairly large forging press, over 2,500 tons. We hope to set the temperature without concerns about exceeding the recommended forging range. The capacity must be at least 1,000 lb/hour. Can you recommend suppliers or equipment that we should investigate?
A: Your specifications should include gas-fired ovens using radiant tubes only — no direct contact between products of combustion and the work loads. This helps to prevent atmospheric blisters on the forgings.
Electric-fired ovens might be too expensive to operate.
The gas-fired ovens should be designed to have some type of conveyor system, likely a chain-driven belt for continuous operation. Thermocouples should be located in both the mid-zone and the final work zone to monitor temperature. Periodic furnace temperature profiles with buried thermocouples in bars of up to 4-in. diameter should be used to evaluate temperature uniformity. Also, I would check the soundness of the radiant heating tubes periodically: Any leakages could result in the blistering mentioned.
If the furnace is used primarily for heating forging billets, the temperature controls need not be as precise as for heat treating. However, it is possible to use such a furnace for standby heat treating if the controls are adequate.
Calculating the furnace sizes for selected production output would take some time, and it would be based on the 1,000-lb/hour requirement.
Furnace suppliers may offer more details. Visit www.forgingmagazine. com and select "Forging Suppliers Directory," then "Pre-forging Equipment," then "Furnaces." There are several categories for your reference.
H. James Henning answers forgers' technical and operational questions. For more than 40 years he held key
technical positions in the forging industry, most recently as director of technology for the Forging Industry Association. He is president of Henning Education Services, Columbus, OH, specializing in customized education and
training in forging technologies.
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Guidelines and recommendations offered here are based on information believed to be reliable and are supplied in good faith but without guarantee. Operational conditions that exist in individual plants and facilities vary widely. Users of this information should adapt it, and always exercise independent discretion in establishing plant or facility operating practice.
