Products

Type IKU *2Plus*

Home > Products > Two chamber vacuum gas quenching furnaces > Type IKU *2Plus* > Type IKU *2Plus*

SCHMETZ 2-chamber gas quench furnace

 

Typ IKU overpressure gas quench furnace

 

SCHMETZ furnaces type IKU are appropriate for special heat treatment applications of low-alloyed steels in a 2-chamber system.

 

detailed description:

In 1995 we have developed the two-chamber-vacuum furnace, our system *2PLUS*, with separate quenching chamber.

 

By means of the double quenching speed of this furnace many steels that could have exclusively been hardened in oil- or salt bath, can now be hardened and tempered in environmentally-friendly vacuum furnaces with high-pressure gas quenching.

 

Compared to the one-chamber furnace its design with a separate hot zone and quenching zone enables to have shorter cooling times (up to 100 %) during the cooling by means of the cold cooling zone. In addition when using the residual heat in the hot zone for the subsequent tempering process the cycle time and the energy consumption can be reduced considerably.

 

SCHMETZ furnaces type IKU are predestined for the heat treatment at high temperatures for specific. The furnaces can be equipped with different cooling gas pressuresfrom 6-10 bar and achieve an intensive cooling speed according to the individual technical requirements of our customers. These vacuum furnaces can be equipped with a convection heating for faster and more uniform cycles in specific temperature ranges and with a multi-direction cooling to achieve optimized distortion-less results.

 

 

The applications can be: hardening, hardening and tempering, annealing and sintering. The furnaces are fully automated for a high reproducibility of the results with equal conditions.

Different models of two-chamber furnace type with intensive cooling speed (100 % more compared to a one-chamber version) are possible for large to small loads.

 

 

type IKU

maximum fine vacuum

maximum high vacuum

10-2 mbar-range

10-5 mbar-range

maximum temperature

1250°C

1350°C

max. cooling pressure

6 or 10 bar

loading

horizontal

standard / option

type IKU

useful zone

 

load weight

50 kg – 3 t

temperature uniformity

±5°C above 800°C

temperature uniformity system *FUTUR*

±5°C above 200 – 800°C

possible options:

 

process supervision

microprocessor-controlled programmer – various choices available

more direction cooling *2R*

 

more direction cooling *2x2R*

 

multi-zone regulation

 

diffusion pump

 

size

 

load dimension (w x l x h)

 

load weight (kgs) (gross)

 

1

400 x 600 x 400

200

2

600 x 600 x 400

300

3

600 x 900 x 600

600

 

buffer tank

 

 

loading car

 

 

loading support devices (grids)

 
In 1987 we were the first vacuum furnace manufacturer to integrate the hot gas circulation into a vacuum hardening furnace. Meanwhile the convection system *FUTUR* has become a standard system in vacuum hardening furnaces. By means of the hot gas circulation in the temperature range up to 850°C the heating time and thus the load time could be shortened at an improved temperature distribution. This in turn leads to a lower energy consumption.
Already in 1983 we developed the first furnace with alternating cooling, the system *2R*. By means of the alternating cooling (stream through) the cooling time and thus the energy consumption were reduced with lower distortion at the parts of the load at the same time.
Based upon the already in 1983 developed first furnace with alternating cooling, the system *2R* the version *2x2R* was integrated. It means the possibility to cool down from two directions in a vertical or horizontal cooling direction. Several additional combinations are possible. By means of the alternating cooling (stream through) the cooling time and thus the energy consumption were reduced with lower distortion at the parts of the load at the same time.

As another core part of the furnace the process control is programmed in this way that in all steps of a heat treatment cycle the necessary energy is used efficiently when using all provided possibilities.

 

When programming the cycle the customer should always act according to the motto to use only that much energy that is necessary for the heat treatment and not as much as possible.

 

At the heat treatment in vacuum furnaces the consistent use of the load thermocouples has an important function regarding the reduction of the energy consumption. The most important fact is the selection of the temperature deviation load to the set value. The correct choice of this temperature in connection with the set temperature of the heating for each process step reduces the energy consumption to a minimum. The possibility to program control times for each temperature section in the SCHMETZ *TMS* system assists you to use only the energy that is necessary to warm the parts to the requested target temperature.

 

Besides the SCHMETZ modules, that are described in the above mentioned chapters and are included in the furnace, also the necessary external periphery, for example water pumps, can be switched on by means of the process control only to that time when it is needed in the process run.
All rights reserved © www.schmetz.de 2011 - SCHMETZ, a MTH company - Site created by acti