Heat treatment of gear parts – possibilities of time and cost savings

Atmospheric furnaces are “state of the art” for case hardening of transmission gear parts for the automotive industry, because many customers appreciate their advantages, like high efficiency, highest availability, process control via oxygen probe, process stability, etc. Increased demands concerning the reduction of process time, reduced heat treatment costs and improved energy efficiency can be met by technical and technological innovations. This paper shows different aspects of time and cost savings for heat treatment of gear parts. Furthermore different energy efficiency measures for continuous furnaces are recommended, including energy savings and energy recovery.