A NEW GAME IN TOWN

John Reger, President of Winston Heat Treat, authorized the shipment of a new vacuum purge/gas nitride furnace from Solar Manufacturing Inc. (Souderton, PA) to his plant in Dayton, Ohio. According to Reger, "I wanted a state-of-the-art nitride furnace to improve an old process traditionally run in archaic equipment, and they built it for me. For those who would say vacuum is overkill, Solar has cut cycle times in half, and the process and metallurgical data have been excellent."

The new furnace includes a rapid furnace heating rate of one hour to nitriding temperature, and an equally fast cooling rate back to ambient temperature with an assisted recirculating heat exchanger and 30 hp radial inert gas blower. Further, nitriding case depth and white layer performance are well within expectations, and as a result, Reger recognizes that this furnace will open new markets for his company because of fast turn-around time, and the nitrided case quality.

The horizontal front loading vacuum, batch type gas nitriding furnace uses electrical resistance heating elements designed for commercial and captive heat treating shops. Its work zone measures 30 in H x 36 in W x 48 in D. It uses energy efficient 2 in thick graphite insulation for temperature applications to 1250 deg F, with a temperature uniformity of approximately ±10 deg F. Its flat graphite resistance heating elements enable rapid, uniform radiant heat up and cool down, with high performance external gas quenching for rapid cooling at positive pressures.

The furnace for Winston HT utilizes Super Systems, Inc., electronic digital process control instrumentation for temperature, vacuum, and nitriding dissociation rate calculation. According to John Barron, Solar's vice president of engineering, "The furnace fully meets the objective of hands off complete cycle operation from one button start to finish." The system includes a large spring loaded safety relief port in case of gas over pressure. It meets the NFPA 86 safety standard and AMS 2750 D thermal standard.

William R. Jones, CEO of Solar, states, "This furnace has been in design, development, and construction for nearly one year. Full process testing required around-the-clock operation with actual product, supplied by Winston HT and Solar for nitriding and metallurgical evaluation, calling for nearly two months of in-depth evaluation for product performance."

Don Jordan, vice president of technology and corporate metallurgist for Solar, who supervised all aspects of furnace testing, confirmed performance metallurgy and noted: "The furnace uniquely operates with ammonia gas flow rate of only 25 percent of text book notations. At nitriding temperature, the furnace is also efficient with electric power consumption less than 0.75 watts per square in of the hot zone internal heated area."

Solar Manufacturing Inc. has filed a USA patent disclosure covering numerous aspects of the new furnace.

Solar Manufacturing, 1983 Clearview Road, Souderton, PA 18964, 267-384-5040, Fax: 267-384-5060, www.solarmfg.com.