HEAT PROCESSING Induction Solutions (Vorschau)

International Magazine for Industrial Furnaces 

Heat Treatment & Equipment 

04 I 2012 

ISSN 1611-616X 

Vulkan-Verlag 

www.heatprocessing-online.com 

9 th - 10 th July 2013 

Congress Center 

Düsseldorf, Germany 

Organized by 

Induction solutions. 

Hard to beat!

EDITORIAL 

ITPS – The Key Event for 

Thermo Process Technology 

Within the frame of GMTN, the globally leading quartet of trade 

fairs with the slogan ‘The Bright world of Metals’ and taking 

place every four years in Düsseldorf, THERMPROCESS 2011 was an 

outstanding event for the experts of the Thermal Processing Industry. 

With a special focus on ‘Ecometals’ the industry also highlighted 

new materials and new technologies for reduction of emissions and 

consumption of energy whereby it has to be kept in mind that this 

topic has already since long been in the spot light of competing 

technologies. 

Looking into the future we see that in the meantime the economical 

environment for our customers in the material producing 

industries is becoming more and more challenging. The markets 

for equipment for thermal processing are regionally shifting. In 

Europe the pressure for reduction of emissions and for fuel saving 

is increasing further and energy prices are increasing. Efforts of 

the European Union but also of governmental authorities in 

other parts of the world are working on the preparation of new 

regulations for our undoubtedly energy intense equipments. One 

way to be exploited further is most probably to investigate in 

more depth not only the individual step of a thermal process in 

a whole production sequence for a material but into the whole 

line of processes from the raw material to the final product. This 

will require a close link between ourselves and our customers 

and even their other suppliers. 

It is therefore just the right time that CECOF, the European 

Association of the Industry for Industrial Furnaces, in co-operation 

with the Messe Düsseldorf as well as with Vulkan-Verlag – the 

publisher of this journal heat processing - is launching the International 

Thermo Process Summit 2013. More than any event before 

this will be the place where the top expert of this industry will 

discuss with the key customer industries as well as with representatives 

of the political authorities the ways to find solutions 

for our way into the future. 

Dr. Hermann Stumpp 

Chairman of the Association for 

Thermal Process Technology 

within VDMA 

heat processing 4-2012

International Magazine for Industrial Furnaces, 

NEWS Heat Treatment xxxx & Equipment 


BRAND NEW 

Already shopped 

Know-how today? 

The new web presence of hp 


Vulkan-Verlag 

2 heat processing 4-2012

xxxx 

NEWS 

4-2012 heat processing 

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4-2012 

8 38 

HOT SHOTS 

Gas carburising furnace in action 

REPORTS 

Energy-optimised heat treatment 

Reports 

Heat Treatment 

by Dominik Schröder 

37 Energy-optimised heat treatment 

by Christian Sprung 

41 Process routes for heat treatment, hardening and tempering of heavy plates 

Induction Technology 

by Günter Valder 

51 Single-billet induction heaters meet the most exacting demands 

Vacuum Technology 

by Björn Eric Zieger 

55 Purpose-directed hot zone and cooling-gas stream design of vacuum furnaces 


4-2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 

42 

REPORTS 

35 

Heat treatment of heavy plates 

CECOF CORNER 

New president: René Branders 

Burner & Combustion 

by Michael Angerstein 

59 Infrared drying with porous burners in industrial environments 

Research & Development 

by Jörg Neumeyer, Holger Schülbe, Bernard Nacke 

63 Hybrid processes in electrotechnology 

News 

10 Trade & Industry 

20 Diary 

23 Events 

30 Personal 

32 Book Review 

Visit our websites: 


www.heatprocessing-directory.com 


5

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4-2012 

52 24 

REPORTS 

Single-billet induction heating 

NEWS 

Aluminium shines with new records 

CECOF Corner 

34 Flashback CECOF General Assembly 2012 

Companies Profile 

100 KELLER HCW GmbH 

Focus On 

67 Edition 4: Paweł Wyrzykowski 

“Energy efficiency is the biggest potential in Europe” 

heatprocessing 

Stay informed and follow us on Twitter 

heat processing 

@heatprocessing 

heat processing is the international magazine for industrial furnaces, 

heat treatment & equipment 

Essen · http://www.heatprocessing-online.com 


4-2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 

69 

FOCUS ON 

Edition 4: Paweł Wyrzykowski 

Business Directory 

78 I. Furnaces and plants for industrial 

heat treatment processes 

88 II. Components, equipment, 

production and auxiliary materials 

96 III. Consulting, design, service and 

engineering 

97 IV. Trade associations, institutes, 

universities, organisations 

98 V. Exhibition organizers, training 

and education 

Are you 

playing it 

safe? 

FCU 500 

For monitoring and 

controlling central 

safety functions in 

multiple burner 

systems on 

industrial furnaces. 

In accordance to 

EN 746:2010. 

COLUMN 

1 Editorial 

8 Hot Shots 

76 Index of Advertisers 

101 Imprint 


Information about 

the functional safety of 

thermoprocessing equipment 

can be found here: 

www.k-sil.de 

Elster GmbH 

Postfach 2809 

49018 Osnabrück 

T +49 541 1214-0 

F +49 541 1214-370 

info@kromschroeder.com 

www.kromschroeder.com 

7

NEWS HOT SHOTS xxxx 


xxxx 

NEWS 

Gas carburising furnace in action 

Low-distortion heat treatment via removal of the component 

from a gas carburising furnace and subsequent individual 

hardening. 

Source: AWT e.V. 


9

NEWS 

Trade & Industry 

EMA Indutec to start up one of the 

biggest induction hardening machines 

Since the end of last year, one of the biggest 

vertical induction hardening machines 

has been operated with a power supply 

of EMA Indutec GmbH. This is a vertical hardening 

machine for shafts with a diameter 

of up to 1.000 mm and a length of up to 8 m. 

The machine was designed by a long-standing 

customer of EMA - the subcontract 

heat treatment shop Messrs. TermoIndüksiyon, 

Istanbul, Turkey - produced and built 

on their own. The aim for this investment 

was to build a vertical, inductive heat treatment 

machine with minimal distortion of 

longitudinal shafts for wind energy systems 

in the immediate vicinity of the manufacturer. 

So far, the shafts had sometimes to be 

transported to the United States back and 

forth for an inductive heat treatment. 

A converter of the EMA-type TIV-2D 

3k800 was chosen as power supply covering 

a frequency range of 1 to 3 kHz. With an 

output power of up to 800 kW, this allows 

a hardening depth of up to 15 mm (depending 

on the material). 

The adaptation of the AC-converter to the 

provided inductors is carried out via a transformer 

unit ensuring an operation of one- to 

three-turn inductors without any problems. 

In order to minimise the transmission losses 

on this 8 m vertical travel distance, the inductors 

are directly connected to the outputs of 

EMA matching transformers moving vertically 

along and mounted on a solid carrier. 

The “high-voltage” connection between the 

transformers and the power source is realised 

via flexible coaxial cables of corresponding 

length. The depicted “acceptance-shaft” 

being hardened has a length of 8 m and a diameter 

of 395 mm. The material was 42CrMo4 

and the achieved hardening depth 10 mm. 

EFD Induction opens new subsidiary in Brazil 

EFD Induction’s worldwide network 

expanded recently with the launch of its 

Brazilian subsidiary. The new company - with 

the formal name of EFD Induction Ltda. - is 

based in the city of Sorocaba, about 60 km 

from the metropolis of São Paulo. 

“This is a milestone in our growth,” says 

EFD Induction CEO Eivin Jørgensen. “We 

have previously sold many systems throughout 

Latin America. But having a subsidiary 

in Brazil’s economic heartland means 

we can offer better and faster support to 

customers in the region.” The new subsidiary 

is headed by Mr. Evandro Nishimuni, 

a mechanical engineering graduate who 

has previously worked in France and in the 

Brazilian automotive industry. “EFD Induction 

and Brazil have so much to offer each 

other,” says Mr. Nishimuni. “There is growing 

awareness throughout Brazil and the continent 

that sustained economic growth can 

only be maintained by investing in modern, 

efficient and proven technologies such as 

induction heating.” 

Although the subsidiary is new, Brazil and 

Latin America is no stranger to EFD Induction 

products and services. For instance, 

several of mobile Minac induction heating 

systems are being used to braze hydroelectric 

turbine stators at the Santo Antônio and 

Jirau dams, key structures in a new hydroelectric 

complex being constructed in Amazonia. 

And Basso, the world-renowned valve 

makers in Argentina, recently installed an 

EFD Induction hardening system. 

Mr. Evandro Nishmuni is however keen 

to stress that most of the new company’s 

business will most likely occur much closer 

to home: “True, if Brazil is the engine of 

South American economic growth, then the 

state of São Paulo where we are located is its 

dynamo. In fact this state alone is responsible 

for a third of all Brazilian GDP. That gives 

you some idea of just how economically 

vibrant the region is.” 



NEWS 

Loesche wins order for supply of coal milling and drying system 

Loesche has signed a contract with Doosan 

Heavy Industries & Construction for 

the supply of two Loesche coal mills type 

LM 43.4D for the coal-based integrated 

gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power 

plant (1 x 300 MW, net) to be built in Taean, 

South Korea. 

The scope of supply comprises the complete 

equipment from the raw coal feeding 

system to the product bag filter, including 

the Loesche grinding mills and Loesche hot 

gas generators, flaps, fans, electrical drives, 

and Loesche automation system. 

The throughput of the Loesche four roller 

grinding mill type LM 43.4D amounts to 

95 t/h coal with additives (dry-base) based 

on the fineness of 10 % residue on 90 

microns sieve. In this case the Loesche coal 

mill type LM 43.4D simultaneously grinds, 

dries, and classifies a mixture of coal and 

additives with more than 25 % moisture. 

The mill main drive power rating amounts 

to 1,600 kW. The required process heat is 

provided by Loesche hot gas generators 

type LF 36 with a maximum heat capacity of 

25 MW per each mill. The hot gas generator is 

operated with synthesis gas and natural gas. 

Loesche’s expertise and experience in 

the field of self-inert coal grinding plants 

was, amongst other Loesche advantages, 

one of the decisive reasons for Doosan to 

select Loesche vertical roller mills for coal 

grinding in the gasification industry. Selfinert 

grinding plants, which are mainly operated 

in the steel and iron industry, utilise 

recirculated gases occurring in the installation 

system itself. Up to now Loesche has 

sold more than 60 coal mills for self-inert 

coal grinding plants. 

The IGCC technology is a high-efficiency 

process whereby a synthetic gas consisting 

primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide 

is extracted from coal and used as 

fuel to generate electricity. This gasification 

technique is such an extremely advanced 

technology that there are currently only 

a few demonstration plants in operation 

worldwide. 

Complete delivery FOB North-sea port is 

scheduled for May 2013 and commissioning 

is scheduled for the first half of 2014. 

High-efficiency quenching and tempering plants 

based on comprehensive process expertise 

LOI Thermprocess GmbH - Tenova Iron & Steel Division 

Am Lichtbogen 29 - 45141 Essen / Germany 

Phone +49 (0)201 1891.1 - Fax +49 (0)201 1891.321 

info@loi-italimpianti.de - www.loi-italimpianti.com 

12058-12 LOI Anz Grobblech Heat Processing 4-2012.indd 1 08.11.2012 9:38:07 Uhr 


11

NEWS 


Schmidt + Clemens to implement organisational realignment 

The Schmidt + Clemens Group (S+C) with 

its home base in Lindlar, Germany, has 

consistently continued to implement the 

organisational realignment it started at the 

end of May 2012. The worldwide matrix organisation 

aimed at, combined with a clear division-oriented 

control and decision-making 

structure at the home base, continues 

to take shape. Apart from the merger of the 

German companies S+C Extrusion Tooling 

Solutions GmbH, S+C Märker GmbH and 

Schmidt + Clemens GmbH + Co KG into a 

single enterprise, planned for October 2012, 

it has already been possible to complete 

appointments to top management. 

Besides the chairman of the board, Engineer 

Jan Schmidt-Krayer, the managing 

director for finance, Dr Henning Kreisel and 

the managing director for marketing, Engineer 

Thomas Hellige (recruited in-house), as 

of September 1 st , 2012 it has been possible 

to fill the newly created management position 

for “Production and Engineering” with 

Engineer Dominic Otte. Dominic Otte has 

until now worked in responsible managerial 

positions for a family-owned company with 

worldwide operations in the airconditioning 

sector and has many years of experience in 

the field of international production. 

“Our goal is continuous growth that is 

profitable for everyone in the entire S+C 

Group. And not only in existing markets but 

in new ones as well and with innovative 

products,” says management chairman 

Jan Schmidt-Krayer. “The smaller business 

divisions of extrusion tools and forged product 

processing are precisely those that will 

benefit the most from the new organisation. 

That is where we want continuous further 

development.” 

The foundation for the old corporate 

structure was laid 40 years ago and was 

now no longer in tune with the times since 

it could no longer keep pace with the corporate 

group’s growth and with progressing 

internationalisation. 

Jan Schmidt-Krayer stresses in particular 

that, with the restructuring measures, no jobs 

are in jeopardy. On the contrary, the new corporate 

organisation opens up new perspectives 

in career development at S+C for some 

employees. “I am really happy that our works 

councils have welcomed this development 

and I thank them for their support,” says Mr. 

Schmidt-Krayer. 

Seco/Warwick delivers 

vacuum furnace to Spain 

Seco/Warwick delivered and commissioned a two-chamber 

vacuum furnace with oil-quench tank to a commercial 

heat-treatment plant in Spain. The furnace is designated for 

the heat treatment of aircraft landing-gear parts made chiefly 

from materials such as 35NCD16, 4340M and 300M. The heating 

chamber, which is 900 mm wide x 900 mm long x 1,200 mm 

high, incorporates a diffusion pump with a capacity of 30,000 l/s. 

In the quench chamber, right above the oil surface, there is a 

gas-quench system operating within the pressure range up to 

1.5 bar abs. 

Linde to build Vietnam’s 

largest air separation unit 

T 

he Linde Group has been awarded a long-term contract to 

supply Vietnamese steel company POSCO SS-Vina (PSSV) with 

industrial gases. The deal will see Linde construct the country’s 

largest air separation unit (ASU) at the Phu My industrial park in 

Ba Ria (Vung Tau province). 

The new state-of-the-art ASU will be able to produce 35,000 

normal m 3 of air gases per hour and is set to go on stream in 2014. 

It will supply the new steelworks that PSSV is currently building 

in Phu My with gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and argon. It will also 

manufacture products for the regional market in southern Vietnam. 


Powered by 


NEWS 

INTERNATIONAL 

THERM 

PROCESS 

SUMMIT 

Organized by 

The Key Event 

for Thermo Process Technology 



09-10 July 2013 

www.itps-online.com 


13

NEWS 


Aichelin forms new Brazilian subsidiary 

Aichelin Holding GmbH formed a new 

subsidiary in Brazil that started operations 

in June 1 st . A-Sistemas Tratamentos Térmicos 

Ltda. (A-STT) is located in Votorantim, 

São Paulo, and will serve all existing and new 

Aichelin customers in Central and South 

America with state-of-the-art heat-treatment 

technology. A-STT’s main focus will be 

sales and local production of heat-treatment 

equipment, process and safety consulting, 

and after-sales service (including modernization 

and spare parts for all Aichelin furnaces). 

Prior to the formation of A-STT, Aichelin sold 

all of its shares in Aichelin Brasil Ltda. and 

terminated its license agreement covering 

technology transfer for selling, manufacturing, 

usage and service of Aichelin Group’s 

heat-treatment products. 

Ipsen shipped turbo treater to USA 

Ipsen recently shipped a H3636 2-bar Turbo 

Treater® furnace to a commercial heat-treatment 

company located in the southeastern 

U.S. The high-temperature furnace included 

a 2-inch-thick carbon-composite/graphitefelt 

hot zone with a nominal work zone of 

24 inches x 24 inches x 36 inches and a gross 

load capacity of 1,500 pounds, configured for 

460 volts, 60 hertz, three phase. The furnace 

was equipped with the user-friendly Compu- 

Vac® supervisory control system as well as a 

nitrogen and argon partial-pressure system. 

Ruukki to initiate employer-employee negotiations 

Ruukki is to initiate employer-employee 

negotiations affecting Ruukki Metals and 

the marketing and communications function. 

These negotiations are part of Ruukki‘s 

projects launched this year to improve the 

company‘s competitiveness. It is estimated 

there is a need for a total of 250 redundancies. 

In addition to the efficiency improvement 

programmes underway, studies are 

being initiated to improve efficiency also in 

corporate administration. 

Ruukki Metals is to initiate employeremployee 

negotiations concerning the 

efficiency of its operations. The negotiations 

affect most of Ruukki Metals’ production 

organisation in Finland, which means a total 

of around 3,500 persons. The Raahe Works 

and Hämeenlinna Works are the largest units 

affected by these negotiations. An estimated 

maximum of 230 persons in all, of which 

160 are workers and 70 salaried employees, 

are affected by the need for redundancies. In 

addition, employer-employee negotiations 

concerning lay-offs of the entire personnel 

will be initiated at the Kankaanpää and Pulkkila 

sites in Finland. 

Also employer-employee negotiations 

will be initiated in the Marketing and 

Communications function in pursuit of 

improved operating efficiency. The negotiations 

affect around 70 persons in Ruukki 

countries. An estimated maximum of 20 

people in all will be affected by the need 

for redundancies. 

The negotiations now being initiated are 

part of Ruukki‘s projects launched this year 

to improve the company‘s competitiveness. 

The projects in the steel and construction 

businesses seek to achieve a total permanent 

annualised improvement of € 100 million 

in earnings performance and profitable 

business also when production is running 

at 80 %, which is low for the steel industry. 

„The flexibility and savings now being 

sought are important for the competitiveness 

of our business and we have worked 

with the personnel to identify ways to 

improve efficiency. In addition to improving 

ways of working, our efficiency improvement 

targets also regrettably require redundancies. 

Our aim is to improve our long-term 

competitiveness, which requires a permanently 

lower cost level, in addition to the 

challenges already referred to earlier. On top 

of this, the Sulphur Directive, for example, 

threatens to increase future transportation 

costs within our steel production,“ explains 

Olavi Huhtala, Executive Vice President of 

Ruukki Metals. 

The negotiations seek savings totalling 

around € 10 million in annual costs and it is 

estimated that the cost cuts will be achieved 

in full during the second and third quarters 

of 2013. Efforts will be made to carry out 

some of the redundancies through retirement 

and by deployment. 

In addition to the efficiency improvement 

programmes underway, studies will 

be initiated to improve efficiency also in 

corporate administration. The study affects 

all administrative functions that serve the 

whole of Ruukki or its divisions. 



NEWS 

ABP Induction receives order from China 

For the third time ABP Induction receives 

an order from FAW Foundry Group in 

China. This time FAW orders 6 Twin-Power® 

systems with 8 MW each and a total of twelve 

IFM 7 furnaces (12 t capacity). 

By signing this contract on August 7 th , 

2012, FAW #1 Chinas largest Automotive 

Company, decided again for the successful 

concept of ABP. The six Twin-Power® systems 

will be used both to retrofit an existing 

foundry and in a green field foundry which 

will be the most modern one in the FAW 

group in the future. 

Each of the twelve IFM 7 medium frequency 

furnaces will be equipped with the 

newly developed ABP Eco Top-Hood for 

fume-gas collection and de-dusting. Each 

two of these furnaces will be operate according 

to the ABP Twin-Power® principle with 

one power supply. With this principle switching 

times which have been common in 

the past will be obsolete and superheating 

of the melt will be avoided. Also the ABP 

parallel converter technology proves the 

innovation leader ship of ABP. Additionally 

PRODAPT®-MD is integrated in every Twin- 

Power® set. This melt processor designed 

and engineered by ABP allows the convenient 

control and supervision of the whole 

system during operation. 

Mr. Wei, GM of ABP China, is proud of 

this order. This is already the third order 

from the FAW group. This proves the ABP 

Induction is very well appreciate from its 

customers and that ABP holds its promises 

100 %. 

SCHMeTZ *RD pluS* 

with intensified cooling 

from the bottom 

• Round graphite hot zone 

• With intensified cooling from the bottom 

• Most efficient and uniformest 360° all around nozzle cooling 

• For large diecasting dies e.g. in automotive industry acc. to latest 


NADCA standard 

www.schmetz.de 

15 

We make the difference!

NEWS 


Baosteel passed performance test of hot-metal production 

One year following startup of the second 

Corex module at the Chinese steelmaker 

Baosteel in Shanghai, a successful performance 

test has now proven the economy 

efficiency of this alternative technology for 

the production of hot metal. After the successful 

performance test, on June 5, 2012, 

also the Final Acceptance Certificate has 

been signed by Baosteel. 

“As opposed to the conventional blastfurnace 

route, the Corex production costs 

are substantially lower,” Dieter Siuka said 

about the performance test. Mr. Siuka is 

responsible worldwide for iron production 

at Siemens Metals Technologies. Less 

expensive and locally available raw materials 

yield the same quality of hot metal as 

higher-quality imports. Siuka expects that 

the Corex route will now be further rolled 

out as an alternative to conventional blast 

furnace production, especially in markets 

with increasing hot-metal production. 

Following startup of the Corex plant in 

March 2011, Baosteel and Siemens have 

been working together over the past few 

months to optimize operation of the plant, 

which is designed for the production of 1.5 

million t of hot metal per year. “All performance 

parameters stipulated in the contract 

were achieved or exceeded,” Siuka reported. 

The performance test was completed in a 

total of 170 h. The guaranteed production 

rate of 175 t of hot metal per hour was achieved 

in addition to a reduction in the specific 

fuel rate from 950 kg to 870 kg/t of hot metal 

based on local raw materials. Uniformly high 

quality of the hot metal was achieved in 

spite of the heavy fluctuation in the quality 

of the raw materials. “The quality of the hot 

metal produced in the Corex plant is comparable 

to that found in the product of conventional 

blast furnaces,” Siuka emphasized. 

In light of the continuing depletion and 

the high cost of high-quality raw materials, 

and because of the environmental restrictions 

placed on blast furnace operation 

in numerous countries, the Corex-C-3000 

route offers an environmentally compatible 

and economically efficient alternative that 

conserves resources. The successful performance 

test is a “further milestone in commercialization 

of the Corex production technology,” 

Siuka emphasized, who expects 

demand “particularly in markets with increasing 

hot-metal production levels and where 

raw materials are readily available.” Current 

plans at Baosteel call for continued operation 

of the Corex plant at high capacity. 

The conventional blast furnace route 

consists of the sintering plant, coke oven 

plant and the blast furnace and produces 

hot metal from agglomerated iron ore (sinter) 

with the help of coke. In addition to high 

investment costs, the disadvantages of this 

route include the comparatively high emissions, 

for example, of sulfur oxides (SO x ), nitrous 

oxides (NO x ), dust and phenols. Liquid 

hot metal produced in the Corex route is 

melted directly from pellets and lump ore, 

and non-coking coal is the primary source of 

energy. In comparison with the conventional 

route, the production costs and emissions 

of the Corex route are lower because the 

coking and sintering plants (systems with 

the highest emissions) are not required. The 

Corex gas can also be used as an energy 

source to generate electricity or as a reducing 

gas in a direct-reduction plant. 


KNOWLEDGE 


NEWS 

for the FUTURE 

Five Stein to supply two 

vertical digital annealing 

furnaces in China 

Valin ArcelorMittal Automotive Co, Ltd. (VAMA), founded 

in September 2010, is a joint-venture between 

ArcelorMittal and the Chinese steelmaker Valin Group. 

VAMA is focused on establishing itself as a premier quality 

supplier of high-strength steels and value-added 

products for China’s fast growing automotive market. 

The new greenfield cold-rolling mill complex will be 

installed in Loudi, Hunan province, for an annual production 

capacity of 1.5 million t of steel strip and will 

include a continuous automotive hot dip galvanizing 

line and a continuous mixte annealing and aluminizing 

line. Both of these lines will be equipped with Fives 

Stein’s vertical Digital annealing furnaces and are scheduled 

to start-up by mid-2014. 

Fives Stein is engineering and supplying the complete 

furnace and related automation systems, including 

imported key process technologies from Europe and 

all local manufacturing and supplies in China through 

its local organization Fives Stein Shanghai which has 

an experienced team of more than 100 employees. 

Fives Stein’s vertical digital furnace technologies were 

selected thanks to superior performances in high efficiency 

digital heating sections and outstanding cooling 

performances of the patented Flash Cooling® system. 

A wide range of steel qualities can be processed in the 

two lines, including mild, high-strength, low-alloyed, 

IF, Dual-Phase, TRIP and bake-hardening (BH) grades. 

In particular, the latest Advanced High-Strength 

Steels (AHSS) can be processed in the line to respond 

to the needs of the automotive industry to produce 

lighter vehicles. Additional operation flexibility is also 

provided for the mixte continuous annealing and aluminizing 

Line through specific furnace features and 

automation system giving VAMA the possibility to produce 

uncoated as well as coated annealed strips in the 

same line. The new high added-value coatings will be 

the first introduced by VAMA in the Chinese market. 

The international magazine 

for industrial furnaces, heat 

treatment and equipment 

The technical journal for the entire field of industrial 

furnace and heat treatment engineering, thermal 

plants, systems and processes. The publication 

delivers comprehensive information, in full technical 

detail, on developments and solutions in thermal 

process engineering for industrial applications. 

Make up your mind on how to subscribe! 

The printed volume suits the classic way of reading. 

The e-paper issue offers the modern way of receiving 

information on a computer, tablet pc or smart phone. 

The printed volume + e-paper issue combine the best 

of both worlds. 

Available 

as print volume 

or as e-paper 

heatprocessing 

Stay informed and follow us on Twitter 


heat processing 

@heatprocessing 

heat processing is the international magazine for industrial furnaces, 

heat treatment & equipment 

Essen · http://www.heatprocessing-online.com 

For more information on 

subscription details, please check 


VULKAN-VERLAG GMBH 


Scan to purchase 

heat processing is published by Vulkan-Verlg GmbH, Huyssenallee 52-56, 45128 Essen 

17

NEWS 


ThyssenKrupp sells Tailored Blanks to WISCO 

ThyssenKrupp AG has signed an agreement 

with Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation 

(WISCO) for the sale of for its subsidiary 

ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks, which produces 

tailored steel blanks for the automotive 

industry. The parties have agreed not to 

disclose the purchase price. The sale is subject 

to approval by the supervisory bodies 

and the responsible regulatory authorities. 

It is a further step in the optimisation of the 

portfolio, which the Group announced on 

May 13, 2011 in connection with its strategic 

development programme. As part of the 

portfolio optimization, the Group is divesting 

businesses for which there are stronger 

alternative strategic options. ThyssenKrupp 

is proceeding fully according to plan, and 

sale agreements have already been signed 

or closed for around 95 % of the business 

activities up for disposal. 

ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks is an 

important supplier of body systems to the 

auto industry. Tailored products are made 

of individual sheets of different steel grade, 

thickness or finish, joined together by laser 

welding. The blanks are designed from the 

outset to meet the stresses in the parts in 

which they will be used. This results in significant 

weight and cost savings, for example 

in the production of body parts. 

Headquartered in Duisburg, Germany, 

the global ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks 

group has been producing tailored blanks 

since 1985 and is the leading supplier in this 

segment with a roughly 40 % global market 

share. The company has 13 plants in Germany, 

Sweden, Italy, Turkey, the USA, Mexico and 

China. It employs around 950 people and 

last year produced some 58 million parts 

for automotive OEMs. Sales in the 2010/2011 

fiscal year were approximately €700 million. 

Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation 

(WISCO) started production in 1958, making 

it one of China’s longest-standing steel 

producers. The internationally successful 

and fast-growing group headquartered in 

Wuhan has more than 80,000 employees 

and a capacity of around 40 million t. In 

2011, WISCO achieved a turnover of around 

€26 billion, produced nearly 34 million t and 

was China’s fourth biggest steel producer. It 

has subsidiaries and sales offices in over ten 

countries, and is ranked 321 in the Fortune 

500 ranking in 2012. 

Can-Eng Furnaces announces startup of atmosphere roller 

hearth reduction furnace 

Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited 

is pleased to announce the successful 

start-up of an atmosphere roller hearth 

reduction furnace at North American Hoganas 

in Niagara Falls, New York. The unit, of 

high temperature furnace construction, was 

the first of its kind to be built in nearly 50 

years. This electrically heated unit has the 

capability of reducing iron oxide powder to 

sponge iron in a 100 % hydrogen environment 

flowing at high capacity. 

In addition to the furnace, Can-Eng supplied 

a H 2 recycle system, consisting of an 

energy efficient heat recovery unit, spray 

towers, and auxiliary equipment for the purposes 

of decreasing the dewpoint of the 

process hydrogen atmosphere. A Preheat 

Furnace System was also supplied to heat 

the recycled hydrogen to near process temperature. 

The entire plant, measuring 200’ 

x 100’ x 50’ high, is arranged in a compact 

footprint making use of the existing building 

under truss space. The continuous roller 

hearth furnace employed unique sealing 

arrangements on the charge and discharge 

openings as well as a special gasket system 

on all rollers. The system came complete 

with LEVEL II Automation software from 

Can-Eng. 



NEWS 

Siemens to install slag 

stopper systems on 

converters in Belgium 

ArcelorMittal Belgium NV has placed an order with Siemens 

VAI Metals Technologies for the supply of two Simetal 

Vaicon stoppers. The slag stopper systems will be installed 

on two 300-ton LD converters at ArcelorMittal’s Gent works. 

Reducing slag carry-over to a minimum will improve the 

chemical composition and thus the quality of the steel. The 

modernization project is scheduled for completion in the 

first quarter of 2013. 

At the company’s Gent works, ArcelorMittal operates LD 

(BOF) converters, with a tapping weight of 300 t. In order 

to almost completely prevent slag carry-over with the steel 

towards the end of the tapping procedure, Siemens will equip 

each of the converters with a Simetal Vaicon slag stopper 

system. In this solution, the taphole is pneumatically sealed 

with nitrogen gas. This non-contact technology ensures reliable 

operation irrespective of possible taphole wear. The slag 

stopper systems ordered by ArcelorMittal Gent can be operated 

either in manual or automatic mode and will be able to 

reduce the slag content in the liquid steel to levels lower than 

4 kg/t, which will result in reduced rephosphorization and 

resulfurization of the steel. 

Cover 

Induction solutions. Hard to beat! 

SMS Elotherm 

Elotherm is a worldwide technology leader and your reliable partner 

for high performance induction machines and technologies. 

With pioneering designs tempered by many decades of industrial 

experience, SMS Elotherm designs and builds both individual 

machines and complete systems for seamless integration into your 

production line. 

Induction heating and heat treatment lines 

■ 

Induction heating of metals 

for forging and rolling 

■ 

Induction hardening and 

quench & temper 

■ 

Induction welding, annealing 

and special technology for tubes 

www.sms-elotherm.com 

■ 

Continuous induction 

strip heating 

■ 

Induction kinetics 

■ 

Laser technology 

■ 

Global service 

ArcelorMittal unveils new steel “Nature” 

ArcelorMittal has launched a range of 

organic coated steels that have eliminated 

the need for the chemical Strontium 

chromate (SrCrO 4 ). This chemical that has 

been used by the construction industry in 

coated steels for decades will be banned 

in 2016 under the European REACH regulatory 

framework (Registration, Evaluation, 

Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical 

Substances), which came into force on 

June 1, 2007. 

Long-standing research programmes 

undertaken by ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon 

Europe (FCE) in partnership with paint 

suppliers have led to the development of 

new corrosion-inhibiting pigments, such as 

polyphosphates, silicates and ion-exchange 

resins. These effective, neutral and durable 

substitutes are the result of nearly 15 years 

of research by ArcelorMittal. 

ArcelorMittal has long led the way in 

developing sustainable steel solutions for 

the construction industry, and the Nature 

range is the latest stage in that long tradition. 

In 2011 alone, ArcelorMittal invested 

$306 million in researching and developing 

new steel products, solutions and processes 

to support a low carbon world, demonstrating 

the sustainable advantages available 

through product innovation. 

For many years, steel has been the responsible 

choice for the construction industry. 

Its natural advantages - strength and 

flexibility - coupled with its infinite recyclability 

mean that steel recovery within 

the construction industry is as high as 

85 %. Organic coated steel is widely used 

in the building industry, in facades, roofing, 

cappings, ceilings and lighting. In these different 

applications, the coating ensures that 

the product can withstand the effects of 

weather and corrosives. 


19

NEWS 


DIARY 

7-10 Jan. Tekno Tube Arabia 

in Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

www.tekno-arabia.com 

16-19 Sept. IFEX 2013 

in Kolkata, India 

www.ifexindia.com 

SMS Elotherm 

receives order for 

induction heater in Brazil 

5-7 Feb. E-world energy & water 2013 

in Essen, Germany 

www.e-world-2013.com 

8-12 April Hannover Messe 2013 

in Hannover, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)511/ 89-31127 

www.hannovermesse.com 

18-21 June Beijing Essen Welding & Cutting 

in Shanghai, China 

www.beijing-essen-welding-cutting.com 

25-28 June Metallurgy-Litmash 

in Moscow, Russia 

www.metallurgy-tube-russia.com 

9-10 July ITPS - International Thermo Process Summit 

in Düsseldorf, Germany 


17-19 Sept. Tube Southeast Asia 

in Bangkok, Thailand 

www.tube-southeastasia.com 

17-19 Sept. wire Southeast Asia 

in Bangkok, Thailand 

www.wire-southeastasia.com 

17-19 Sept. Hybrid Expo 2013 

in Stuttgart, Germany 

www.hybrid-expo.com 

25-26 Sept. International Colloquium on Refractories 

in Aachen, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)2624/ 947-317 

info@ecref.eu; www.feuerfest-kolloquium.de 

1-3 Oct. Pipe & Tube 2013 

Conference 

in St. Petersburg, Russia 

nfo@itatube.org 

www.itatube.org 

1-3 Oct. TUBOTECH 2013 

in São Paulo, Brazil 

www.tubotech-online.com 

9-11 Oct. 69 th Heat Treatment Congress 

in Wiesbaden, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)421/ 522-9339 

www.awt-online.org 

I 

n June 2012, the Brazilian Forjasul placed the order 

for an EloForge induction heater for their Canoas 

plant in Rio Grande do Sul. The SMS Elotherm 

EloForge is a compact member of the modular 

ForgeLine family of induction machines for 

heating Forjasuls’s billets up to 51 mm. With the 

nominal power of approx. 500 KW the systems 

heats up to 1,250 kg steel billets per hour to the 

required 1,250 °C. 

SMS Elotherm has re-engineered their line of 

induction heaters which resulted in a modular machine 

system enabling the configuration of the induction 

units depending on the production requirements. 

Starting with the EloForge for billets with diameters 

up to 100 mm the modular systems also allows for 

high production lines for slabs up to 240 mm diameter 

or even bar material of up to 360 mm OD. 

“With this excellent reference for an EloForge 

at Forjasul we have the possibility to showcase also 

the compact model of Elotherm’s ForgeLine in 

southern Brazil”, says Jose Machado, General Manager 

of Elotherm’s Brazilian operations. “This latest 

order ranges next to a high production billet heater 

type EloForge L, which is placed at a world renown 

supplier in Brazil”, so Mr. Machado. 

Forjasul Canoas S.A. is part of the Tramontina 

group and since 1959 pioneering in the field of 

forged products for the high voltage transmission 

lines, steel industry, shipyard and oil applicationsas 

well as hand tool. Their products range from forged 

hooks, forged electrical hardware to forged vises, an 

exclusive Forjasul product on the Brasilian market. 



NEWS 

Otto Junker’s strip processing lines commenced 

production in Shanghai 

Chinalco Shanghai Copper Co. Ltd., a 

company evolved out of the Shanghai 

Non-ferrous Metals (Group) Co. Ltd., is 

a Chinese enterprise with a long tradition 

in the manufacture of copper and copperalloy 

strip. As early as in the 1990s, Otto 

Junker supplied the first strip processing 

line comprising a strip flotation furnace to 

this customer. In the context of Chinalco 

Shanghai’s ambitious project of setting 

leading standards in the manufacture of 

copper products while simultaneously 

expanding their strip processing capacity 

from 70,000 to 120,000 t/year, Otto Junker 

had recently delivered a state-of-the-art 

annealing line built around a strip flotation 

furnace, in addition to two strip cleaning 

lines. The equipment successfully entered 

production service in the summer of 2011. 

While the technology and key components 

were supplied by Otto Junker from 

Germany, a substantial part of the systems 

was built locally by Junker Shanghai, a 

wholly owned enterprise of Otto Junker. 

The strips are annealed continuously with 

minimum tensile force at speeds up to 100 

m/min, either in air or in a protective gas 

atmosphere attaining a residual oxygen content 

of as little as 10-22 bar partial pressure. 

The protective atmosphere mixing plant, 

which delivers a mix of disassociated ammonia 

and nitrogen, was likewise supplied by 

the German supplier. 

Apart from its engineering leadership in 

copper strip treatment technology which 

Otto Junker has succeeded in maintaining 

for many decades, the company’s 

local presence yields decisive benefits. 

Otto Junker’s sales office in Beijing and its 

Shanghai manufacturing site with its service 

base ensure a competent and timely 

customer service, both in and after the 

production launch stage. Chinalco Shanghai 

not merely aims to enhance its high 

product and service standards but is also 

committed to international environmental 

protection targets. In line with that policy, 

e.g. a number of standards reflecting the 

German Water Resources Act “WRA” requirements 

were implemented. 

Andritz Maerz to supply anode furnaces and converters 

International technology Group Andritz has 

received an order for supply of two anode 

furnaces and four Peirce-Smith converters 

for Kansanshi Mining Plc, a subsidiary of First 

Quantum Minerals Ltd., Zambia. Start-up is 

scheduled for 2014. 

The scope of supply includes the latest 

Andritz Maerz combustion and refining 

systems, slag settling tanks, drive units and 

control system, as well as the steel structures 

for the furnaces and converters. With the furnaces 

and converters, more than 300,000 t 

of anode copper can be produced annually 

from copper matte. 

This order confirms the position of Andritz 

Maerz as one of the globally leading suppliers 

of fire refining furnaces and converters 

for the copper industry. 


21

NEWS 

Events 


Events 

NEWS 

ITPS - International Thermprocess Summit 

for the first time in Duesseldorf 

The No. 1 key event and B2B-forum for executives 

and the top management is to be 

held in the Düsseldorf Congress Centre (Germany) 

from July 9 to 10 2013. The 2-day event 

is organized by Messe Düsseldorf, VDMA, 

CECOF and the magazine heat processing. 

The four technology trade fairs GIFA, 

METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST 

caused a stir in the industry in June 2011. 

With 79,000 visitors from 83 countries and 

1,958 exhibitors, the four events provided 

impressive confirmation of their position as 

the leading trade fairs in their industry. As far 

as the corporate exhibitors were concerned, 

the good business done both during and after 

the trade fairs was a particularly convincing 

demonstration of the excellent position held 

by the “Bright World of Metals, as the international 

technology forum is often known as well. 

It was primarily the experts from overseas, 

especially those from India, who opened new 

sales markets up for the THERMPROCESS exhibitors. 

However, since the innovation cycles in 

the industry are becoming increasingly short, 

Messe Düsseldorf, VDMA (with the German 

thermoprocess technology trade association, 

Frankfurt), CECOF (European Committee 

of Industrial Furnace and Heating Equipment 

Associations, Frankfurt) and the trade magazine 

“heat processing” published by Vulkan- 

Verlag are initiating an International Thermprocess 

Summit known as ITPS, a first-rate congress 

for which the experts from the industry 

are being invited to come to Düsseldorf. 

The target group for the event will be 

the CEOs and senior executives from the 

relevant markets – such key industries as 

metal production and processing, automotive 

manufacturing, glass, ceramics, 

cement, chemicals and petrochemicals. 

Messe Düsseldorf Director Friedrich-Georg 

Kehrer: “We have a very specific aim here, 

which is to bring the users together with 

the plant manufacturers and to offer them 

a highly professional lecture programme 

as well as time for technical discussions.” 

Kehrer also points out that both sides will 

enjoy tremendous additional benefits from 

attending the ITPS as a result of the ideal 

combination of networking and opportunities 

to talk about technical issues with other 

experts from the industry. 

The ITPS programme reflects the pressing 

issues of our time, with the focus on 

sustainability, minimisation of resource 

consumption and energy efficiency. These 

are particularly tough challenges that the 

representatives of the key industries have to 

tackle today and in future. The topics include 

the future of energy-intensive industries in 

Europe, the current economic situation on 

the market, technical development trends 

in thermoprocess technology and the requirements 

made by customers on the manufacturers 

(the motto here: “Technological 

innovation driven by the customer”). 

Alongside the lecture programme, customers 

who are interested can act as ITPS sponsors 

and present their companies in the foyer 

of the Congress Centre CCD South at Messe 

Düsseldorf during the Summit. The sponsoring 

arrangements are not limited exclusively 

to the two days of the event; they also include 

a website presence at www.itps-online.com. 

The website also incorporates all the Internet 

tools that exhibitors and visitors are familiar 

with from THERMPROCESS. Admission to 

the ITPS costs € 1,500, with a discount for 

bookings that are made early: the sooner 

the ticket is bought, the lower the price. For 

further information please visit: 



23

NEWS 

Events 

indometal 2013: Introducing new showcase 

At the first edition of indometal 2013 - 

international metal & steel trade fair for 

southeast asia scheduled in Jakarta from 20 

to 23 February 2013, the exhibition will introduce 

a special showcase on machine tool 

products, solutions and applications called 

“indotools”. This new innovation and dedicated 

platform on machine tools will feature 

one main category - metal cutting machine 

tools, alongside ten sub categories from drilling 

machines to surface technology. 

indotools is slated to be the bedrock of the 

region’s machine tool industry and will offer 

all the necessities and innovative solutions 

to tooling challenges. Visitors can expect to 

maximise the investment in their machinery 

and equipment by finding up-to-date technology 

that will allow for minimum setup and 

machining time and the latest innovations in 

metal cutting equipment including machining 

centres, turning centres and a comprehensive 

range of metal cutting technology. 

Dedicated to bringing more business 

opportunities directly to both trade exhibitors 

and visitors, more effectively by bringing 

technology closer to companies and 

facilitating their innovation, “The indotools 

showcase will extend the spectrum of offerings, 

and will be a one-stop business and 

sourcing platform for the metal, steel and 

ALUMINIUM 2012 shines with new records 

machine tool industries in Indonesia and the 

region in one unique location,” says Beattrice 

Ho, senior project manager. 

Located in the exhibition area, the indotools 

showcase will complement the seven 

key categories which include metallurgy 

technology, foundry machinery, equipment 

and supplies, semi-finished and finished products, 

thermo process technology, accessories 

and components, metal cutting machine 

tools, and tube manufacturing technology. 

For further information please visit: 

www.indometal.net 

Exhibitor numbers up ten percent, exhibition 

surface up 20 % and a visitor plus 

of 23 %: for ALUMINIUM which was held in 

Düsseldorf for the first time after its move 

from the Ruhr to the Rhine, it was the perfect 

premiere. With 961 exhibitors from 51 countries 

(previous event: 872 from 47 countries) 

and 21,300 visitors (17,200) the world’s largest 

trade fair of the aluminium industry emphasised 

its position as one of the most successful 

industry fairs. The move from Essen 

where ALUMINIUM had been held since 1997, 

occupying 65,000 m² at the last event, had 

become necessary to meet the current need 

for exhibition space of 78,000 m². 

“With the move to Düsseldorf 

and the associated 

increase in international 

participation, ALUMINIUM 

has completed its entry into 

the first league of industry 

fairs “, says Hans-Joachim 

Erbel, CEO with organiser 

Reed Exhibitions. 60 % of 

the exhibitors and more 

that half of the visitors came 

from abroad; one third of 

international visitors came 

from countries outside 

Europe - a mark of excellence 

which demonstrates 

that the reach and relevance of ALUMINIUM 

continue to increase further. “ALUMINIUM 

ideally fits into the ensemble of metal trade 

fairs the Düsseldorf location is known for 

the world over”, says Markus M. Jessberger, 

Event Director of the lightweight construction 

trade fair. 

The increased internationality also proved 

attractive for the entire industry, as 

had been hoped during the preparatory 

phase. In Germany, the Gesamtverband 

der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA) expects 

the current financial year as a whole to 

remain almost stable, despite a slight drop 

in production in the first half: “We do not 

expect stagnation or recession “, says GDA 

Executive Director Christian Wellner who 

talked about an “impressive trade fair”. In 

some parts of Europe, however, the drop 

in production is felt in the order books, 

according to Patrick de Schrynmakers, Secretary 

General of the European Aluminium 

Association. On the other hand, there are 

strong impulses for growth coming from 

countries and regions outside Europe. The 

increase in the number of visitors from 

these regions was particularly pronounced 

at this year’s ALUMINIUM. 

This is a market situation also reflected 

in the business index which is compiled 

by a market research organisation in connection 

with ALUMINIUM: according to 

this survey, currently a third of the companies 

interviewed respectively expect 

slight increases, a roughly stable development 

or an economic downturn in the 

industry. In the medium term, however, 

more than 54 % of the companies expect 

marked increases. Until 2030, the use of 

aluminium in the automotive industry 

alone is going to treble from today’s five 

to then 15 million t. 

The next ALUMINIUM, World Trade Fair 

and Congress will take place from 7 to 9 

October 2014 in Düsseldorf. 


Events 

NEWS 

7 th International Foundry Forum was successful 

hinking global – acting local, these 

“Tare the investment consequences 

for suppliers in consideration of the shift to 

Asia on one side and the re-industrialisation 

trends in the US as well as in Europe on 

the other side” Gabriele Galante, President 

of CEMAFON states. More than 240 CEOs 

of the world’s leading foundries and their 

suppliers from the mechanical engineering 

and foundry chemical products industry discussed 

with representatives of the main casting 

purchasers about future expectations, 

challenges and current industry trends at 

the seventh International Foundry Forum 

– where the CEOs meet – in Prague on 

September 21 to 22, 2012. The IFF is jointly 

organised by CAEF (The European Foundry 

Association) and CEMAFON (The European 

Foundry Equipment Suppliers Association). 

Internationally leading management consultancies 

dissected the investment situation 

in the US, Asia and Europe. They determined 

the factors important for individual 

investment philosophies and came to the 

conclusion that there is no investment oneway-street. 

Strategically investment plans 

cannot simply extrapolate former trends and 

growth rates. The decision makers have to 

be aware that in the wake of China and India 

other nations, part of the so called “Next 

Eleven”, are developing fast and these economies 

are not all located in Asia. In addition 

a new industrial rebuilding trend in the US 

caused e.g. on the shale gas exploration is 

visible. Furthermore the European Union has 

announced a new eindustrialisation strategy. 

On the other hand the requirements of 

the customer industries are developing constantly 

– whether through modified needs of 

the market or political conditions: The truck 

industry presented future motor concepts 

and defined the forthcoming demand. Innovative 

castings, multifunctionality and light 

weight are the identified relevant contribution 

to the energy and CO 2 efficient requirements! 

In this context the truck industry 

is acting as follower of the passenger cars 

industry regarding these specific needs. 

While casting requirements in aerospace 

need highly specialised foundries for light 

weight castings used in extreme conditions, 

bionic is one of the upcoming trends. This 

could be an advantage for the European 

foundry industry: The traditional cooperative 

industrial research between foundries, 

customers and universities is the best basis 

to fulfil these demands. 

The off-highway industry, a long standing 

customer, is balancing their purchasing 

strategies to face the local content interests 

of the different world regions. Under these 

circumstances the old mantra “castings are 

produced where castings are needed” is 

still valid. On the other hand new customer 

sections are generating. The casting needs 

of tidal energy plants are gradually taking 

shape. In a few years this could be a new 

interesting demand especially for ferrous 

and steel castings. 

The second day of the conference was 

again dedicated to the status and outlook 

of the leading casting producing regions. 

Speakers of South America, North America, 

Japan, Russia, India, China and Europe, 

representing more than 90 % of the global 

casting production gave an interesting 

insight of the major trends and challenges 

of the world foundry industry. 


25

NEWS 

Events 


Events 

NEWS 

HYBRID Expo staged for the first time in 2013 in Stuttgart 

With HYBRID Expo, the world’s largest 

trade show organiser Reed Exhibitions 

further expands its materials trade fair portfolio. 

HYBRID Expo, a trade fair for hybrid 

materials, components and technology 

will premiere next year 

in Stuttgart (Germany). 

“With HYBRID Expo we 

offer the industry another 

high-power trade 

fair in the future market of 

lightweight construction 

which dovetails ideally 

with the existing materials trade fairs”, says 

Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO of Reed Exhibitions 

Deutschland GmbH. 

Reed Exhibitions already organises 

COMPOSITES EUROPE, European trade fair 

for composite materials, and the ALUMINI- 

UM world trade fair. With more than 1,300 

exhibitors, these two fairs have become the 

most successful and fastest-growing lightweight 

construction trade fairs in Europe. 

Meanwhile both events are also held successfully 

in, among other places, Shanghai, 

Mumbai, Dubai and Sao Paolo. 

Hybrid materials – such as Glare, a glassfibre 

reinforced aluminium especially developed 

for aircraft construction – combine 

several contrasting properties of materials 

such as plastics, ceramics, composites and 

metal and cumulatively exploit the combined 

advantages of the respective materials. 

Main users of hybrid components are 

the automotive, aerospace and electronics 

industries. “This is where the most significant 

overlap is to be found with those sectors 

already taking advantage of Composites 

Europe and ALUMINIUM”, says Hans-Joachim 

Erbel. Together, both fairs attract more than 

20,000 trade visitors, 40 percent of whom 

come from abroad. 

Similar to both these fairs, HYBRID Expo 

also focuses on the complete 

production and value chain: 

from materials research and 

technology, to manufacturing 

and processing methods, 

machinery and plant, and 

all the way to the finished 

component. At the first HYB- 

RID Expo event which will be held at the 

Stuttgart Exhibition Centre from 17 to 19 

September 2013 at the same time as COM- 

POSITES EUROPE, Reed Exhibitions expects 

150 exhibitors and 6,000 visitors. Altogether, 

5,000 m² of exhibition space will be available 

in Hall 2. For further information please visit: 

www.hybrid-expo.com 

Strong future subjects at E-world energy & water 2013 

The 13 th E-world energy & water which 

will take place at Messe Essen on February 

5 to 7, 2013 will consistently place its faith 

in pioneering subjects close to the market. 

Questions relating to energy efficiency and 

innovations will play a superordinate role in 

this respect. For example, the megatrend 

of “smart energy” will occupy its own fair 

hall for the first time at the premier fair in 

the energy and water industries. Around 

70 exhibitors who will show their innovations 

with regard to the main focal points of 

intelligently controllable grids (smart grids), 

meters (smart meters) or networked house 

technology will be expected on an area of 

3,000 m 2 in Hall 4. 

“smart energy” is a branch of the economy 

with a future: First introduced on 

the occasion of E-world 2010, this complex 

of subjects is encountering ever greater 

interest as a source of impetus and innovation 

motor for more energy efficiency. 

Even now, the “smart energy” hall already 

has a very good booking level - only a few 

free places are still available. Until now, the 

exhibitors will include companies such as 

Thüga MeteringService, the IT service provider 

Soptim, the energy data management 

firm Enexoma, the grid operator Alliander or 

Bosch Software Innovations. In the middle of 

the exhibition area, a forum with specialist 

lectures and podium discussions will offer 

the opportunity to obtain comprehensive 

information and to exchange experience. 

As a supplement to the “smart energy” 

section, the “Future of Mobility” special 

show will indicate to the visitors how mobility 

can be organised in such a way that it is 

not only efficient and climate-friendly but 

also safe and affordable. In the Galeria, exhibitors 

will provide information about “new 

mobility” such as bio fuels or electric vehicles 

on three days of the fair. The popular 

Segway course will once again be a part of 

the special show. Further information visit: 

www.e-world-2013.com 


27

NEWS 

Events 

Clear Impulses generated by glasstec 2012 

Trade visitors look to the future with optimism: 

glasstec 2012 sent out clear signals 

in an ambivalent economic climate. This was 

the general tone expressed by the large 

majority of the about 43,000 trade visitors. 

Far more than half these specialists assess 

the future economic climate in the sector as 

positive. The response from the 1,162 exhibitors 

at the world’s most important trade 

fair in the glass sector also underline this 

good mood. 

Visitors from the fields of mechanical 

engineering, industry, skilled trades, 

architects/(facade) planners as well as the 

solar sector all gave glasstec 2012 a ‘good 

report’. Alongside the positive mood for 

the future their ratings in terms of achieving 

visiting goals and the quality of the 

trade fair range were excellent. Both these 

areas scored significantly over 90 %. With 

that result glasstec underlines its status as 

the world’s leading trade fair with a constantly 

high number of international visitors 

accounting for well over half of the 

audience. Also continuing at the highest 

level is the proportion of visitors from mid 

to top management who account for over 

two-thirds of glasstec attendees. What is 

particularly striking is the significantly higher 

willingness to invest amongst German 

management. 

“glasstec 2012 sent out a clear positive 

signal for the sector in economic times that 

are difficult to predict, and proved its quality 

as a fair of innovations and the key meeting 

point for the sector,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing. 

Udo Ungeheuer, President of glasstec 2012 

and Chairman of the Management Board 

of Schott AG. “Exhibitors reported good 

order activity amongst their customers. This 

shows that glasstec came exactly at the right 

time. This news does the sector good and 

underlines the international importance of 

the fair,” commented Hans Werner Reinhard, 

Deputy Managing Director at Messe Düsseldorf. 

The range of special shows was complemented 

by the Skilled Trades Center “Zentrum 

Handwerk” – impressively demonstrating 

at its glass house the glass solutions 

available from the skilled trades for and in 

the house – and by the “glass art” exhibition. 

Specially designed for auto glass specialists 

was the “Autoglass Arena” with its international 

auto glass contest and the German 

championship plus its comprehensive, specialist 

plenary meeting. 

Aimed at architects, civil engineers and 

related professions were the “engineered 

transparency” conference with its technical 

focus on glass construction technology 

and the architects’ congress featuring 

internationally renowned speakers. Already 

a day ahead of the fair top-flight experts 

from the glass and solar industry discussed 

their interfacing markets at the conference 

“Solar meets Glass – 3 rd Industry Summit for 

Markets, Costs and Technology”. As early as 

2013 Düsseldorf will already provide them 

with further opportunity to discuss these 

issues at the next edition of the conference 

on 9 and 10 October. “With this platform we 

wish to offer our customers the opportunity 

to benefit from targeted specialist exchange 

also in the ‘glasstec-free’ year. This means 

despite the current economic climate new 

sales opportunities can be opened up for 

the glass industry in the medium term while 

the solar industry can use the know-how of 

the glass industry on its path to achieving 

greater efficiency levels and lower production 

costs,” explained Hans Werner Reinhard. 

The next glasstec/solarpeq will be held in 

October 2014. 

Euro PM2012 - Basel hosts Europe’s PM event of the year 

The historic riverside city of Basel hosted 

this year’s Euro PM Congress organised 

and sponsored by the European Powder 

Metallurgy Association. A truly international 

event it included delegates from some 40 

countries. Although a more focussed event 

in its areas of interest, its appeal meant that 

it attracted nearly 200 oral and poster presentations 

with over 600 attendees. 

The event also included a sell-out exhibition 

area with 74 stands covering companies 

from all parts of the PM supply chain. Jonathan 

Wroe, EPMA Executive Director said: “Basel has 

proved an excellent and efficient venue for this 

event with its focus on MIM, Hard Materials, 

HIP and PM Applications. We would like to 

thank the EPMA Swiss members, plus the technical 

programme committee and delegates 

for their support, which is much appreciated”. 

During the Congress plenary session 

EPMA President Mr Ingo Cremer presented 

the EPMA Distinguished Service Award for 

2012 to Dr Volker Arnhold formerly of GKN 

Sinter Metals GmbH in Germany. In addition 

EPMA Thesis awards were presented to 

Dr. Catalina Jiménez from the Helmholz- 

Centre, Berlin and Mr Bruno Marques who 

was studying at Aveiro University in Portugal. 

A full social programme included a welcome 

reception and factory visits in addition 

to the traditional Gala Dinner. This was held 

at the elegant Stadtcasino, Basel in the heart 

of the city and provided a suitable finale to 

an enjoyable and productive event. Work is 

already underway for Euro PM 2013 to be held 

in Gothenburg, Sweden from the 15 to 18 September 

2013. To receive further information 

on this and other EPMA events please contact 

the EPMA at: 

www.epma.com 


Events 

NEWS 

International Heat Treatment & Industrial Furnace Expo 2013 

2013 is the glory 10 th year of the International 

Heat Treatment & Industrial 

Furnace Expo (HTIFE). In order to promote 

the development and deepen interaction 

within the industry, HTIFE 2013 will be held 

at the China International Exhibition Center 

on 16 to 18 October, with a new image, the 

show will present to new and frequent customers 

from home and abroad. HTIFE went 

through a decade of trials, this year, is the 

year to seek development and innovation. 

Based on the previous exhibitions, HTIFE 

will integrate industry resources and regional 

advantages, improve service system, 

strengthen the organization and operational 

capability. This edition of exhibition area is 

expected to increase by 20 % compared 

with the last one, there will be hundreds of 

exhibitors from Asia, Europe and Americas 

join the event,enterprises and top-class 

representatives would be invited to gather 

in Beijing to further explore the future of the 

thermal processing industry. 

Founded in 2004, HTIFE always adhere to 

the principle of resource sharing, win-win 

benefit, the show displays various products 

and devices while focuses on combination 

of up and down stream industrial chain 

to create a cooperative pattern for project 

development, product sales, technical service 

so as to deepen international cooperation 

and exchange. The traditional thermal 

processing industry usher in a broad development 

prospects as the rapid progress 

of new manufacturing industry like steel, 

automobile, equipment manufacturing, 

shipbuilding, aerospace in recent years. 

Numerous enterprises take advantage of 

this favorable opportunity to research and 

develop new technologies according to 

industry needs, to improve technologies 

and product quality, accelerate the pace 

of industrial upgrading. Based on domestic 

market, the show follows the trend of the 

markets, it has become a vital important 

platform for trade and exchange among 

thermal processing enterprises, and favored 

by companies from applications sector. 

Powered by 

INTERNATIONAL 

THERM 

PROCESS 

SUMMIT 

Organized by 

ITPS is a unique discussion platform for 

international thermo process experts 

worldwide! 



Dr. Herman Stumpp 

President of THERMPROCESS 2011 

and Chief Technology Officer of 

TENOVA Iron & Steel Group 

29

NEWS 

Personal 

Otto Junker decides upon personnel restructuring 

In June 2012, the Otto Junker Foundation, 

owners of Otto Junker GmbH, appointed 

Dr. Stefan Miskiewicz (President), Dr. Torsten 

Bahke and Udo vom Berg new members 

of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Ambros 

Schindler was appointed a member of the 

Foundation‘s Executive Board and of the 

Supervisory Board of Otto Junker GmbH. 

Otto Junker GmbH have restructured 

their Managing Board in the course of their 

strategic orientation. In its yesterday‘s meeting, 

the Supervisory Board appointed Mr. 

Markus D. Werner, former company CFO, 

Chairman of the Managing Board with 

immediate effect. Mr. Frank Donsbach (47), 

Mr. Atilla Somuncu (52) and Dr. Elmar 

Westhoff (45) were appointed new members 

of the Managing Board. They head the 

induction melting equipment, thermoprocessing 

plant and high-grade steel foundry 

divisions as COOs. 

Mr. Markus D. Werner, new Chairman of 

the Managing Board, states: „The reorganization 

shall further strengthen the company‘s 

value-oriented growth strategy. I appreciate 

the trust shown in me and my colleagues 

by the Executive Board and the Supervisory 

Board. We are now facing the exciting challenge 

of further strengthening our market 

position and technological leadership, filling 

our highly-motivated employees with 

enthusiasm for our targets and pushing forward 

the internationalization.“ 

Mr. Markus D. Werner supersedes Dr. 

Hans Rinnhofer at the head of the company. 

Dr. Rinnhofer took over as Chairman of the 

Managing Board in August 2008 and was in 

charge of the restructuring of the company 

as a consequence of the worldwide financial 

crisis. The Executive Board and the Supervisory 

Board of Otto Junker GmbH wish to 

thank him for his work and for the good 

cooperation. Mr. Heinz Keweritsch (President 

of the Supervisory Board): „We are greatly 

indebted to Dr. Rinnhofer.“ 

Loesche announces Daniel Strohmeyer 

to Head of PT 

One year upon his leave, 

Dr. Daniel Strohmeyer returns to the 

Rhine area and has taken over the position 

as Head of Process Technology (PT) at Loesche 

GmbH starting September 2012. 

With even more experience, with new 

engagement and highly motivated Dr. 

Daniel Strohmeyer re-joins Loesche 

GmbH. The management, Dr. Thomas 

Loesche and Dr. Joachim Kirchmann 

as well as all members of the Loesche 

team welcome the former sales manager 

back in Duesseldorf. 

Dr. Daniel Strohmeyer dedicates 

himself to the challenges as head of Process 

Technology (PT). Together with his team, the 

40year old will initiate and lead F&E projects 

to further develop the Loesche technology 

and its proven and new applications in various 

industries. The optimization of the mill 

as well as of plant components with a focus 

on the quality of the products produced 

with vertical roller mills and on the overall 

plant performance are further missions of 

the PT department. 

For his new activities, the Loesche team 

wishes Dr. Strohmeyer all the best and is 

looking forward to a successful cooperation. 


Personal 

NEWS 

Bjørn Eldar Petersen is new CEO of EFD Induction 

Bjørn Eldar Petersen, a Norwegian executive 

with 20-plus years’ experience in 

the global automotive industry, has been 

appointed CEO of the EFD Induction Group. 

Petersen takes over from Eivin Jørgensen, 

who, as planned, has stepped down on his 

60 th birthday. 

“I’m honoured and flattered to be made 

CEO of this great company,” said Petersen 

from EFD Induction’s corporate headquarters 

in Skien, Norway. “In fact, I was once a 

satisfied customer of EFD Induction, back 

when I was a manager at Kongsberg Automotive 

plants in Hvittingfoss and Rollag, 

Norway. So I’m already familiar with EFD 

Induction, and how its products play key 

roles in everything from Formula One cars 

to wind turbines.” 

A native of Oslo, Petersen earned 

an MBA from the Norwegian School of 

Management before being recruited by 

Kongsberg Automotive, the multinational 

manufacturer of driveline systems, power 

electronics and other critical automotive 

components. Before taking over at EFD 

Induction, Petersen lived for more than 

three years in China, where he headed 

up Kongsberg Automotive’s Asian operations. 

For EFD Induction board member Truls 

Larsen, Petersen’s overseas experience and 

executive role in Asia mesh perfectly with 

the Group’s strategy. “EFD Induction is in the 

process of becoming a seamlessly integrated 

global player. It is a process that will no 

doubt be supported by our new 

CEO with his strong international 

background and outlook.” 

EFD Induction Group comprises 

19 companies in Europe, Asia 

and North and South America. 

EFD Induction also has a significant 

stake in an associated Canadian 

company called Tekna Plasma 

Systems. 

“These are challenging times”, 

comments Petersen. “The global 

economic outlook is still uncertain. 

But thanks in no small part 

to the hard work of my predecessor, 

EFD Induction is well 

positioned to thrive in a tough 

competitive environment. We 

have technologies and solutions 

that are proven to cut costs and 

improve quality for our customers. 

And we have the people, 

the locations and the resources 

to deliver those benefits to customers 

around the world.” 

A keen sportsman, Petersen enjoys literature 

and music, and spending time with 

his wife Tone and their three sons. Petersen 

formally took over the role of CEO on 

October 15. 

Thilo Lutz to resume management position at 

ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe 

Dr. Jost A. Massenberg (56), longstanding 

Chief Sales Officer of ThyssenKrupp 

Steel Europe AG, is leaving the company 

at his own request to take on a new professional 

challenge. Effective March 1, 2013 

Dr. Massenberg will become Chief Executive 

Officer of Düsseldorf/Germany-based 

Benteler Distribution International GmbH. 

The Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG 

thanks Dr. Massenberg for his commitment 

and dedication to the company over the 

past years. 

He shall be succeeded on the Executive 

Board of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG by 

Thilo Lutz (44), currently head of Auto Sales 

at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG. Thilo Lutz 

is a mechanical engineer who has already 

worked in various management positions 

for companies of ThyssenKrupp AG for more 

than seven years. Before joining the company 

he spent many years with the Boston 

Consulting Group as a project manager. 

The personnel changes are subject to the 

approval of the responsible supervisory bodies. 


31

NEWS 

Book Review 

INFO 

by Keith L. Richards 

October 2012 

CRC Press (London) 

384 Pages, hardback 

£ 82.00 

ISBN: 978-1-4398-9275-6 

www.crcpress.com 

Design Engineer‘s Handbook 

Student design engineers often require a 

“cookbook” approach to solving certain 

problems in mechanical engineering. With 

this focus on providing simplified information 

that is easy to retrieve, retired mechanical 

design engineer Keith L. Richards has written 

Design Engineer’s Handbook. 

This book conveys the author’s insights 

from his decades of experience in fields 

ranging from machine tools to aerospace. 

Sharing the vast knowledge and experience 

that has served him well in his own career, 

this book is specifically aimed at the student 

design engineer who has left full- or parttime 

academic studies and requires a handy 

reference handbook to use in practice. Full 

of material often left out of many academic 

references, this book includes important indepth 

coverage of key topics. 

This guide has been written not to replace 

established primary reference books 

but to provide a secondary handbook 

that gives student designers additional 

guidance. Helping readers determine the 

most efficiently designed and cost-effective 

solutions to a variety of engineering 

problems, this book offers a wealth of tables, 

graphs, and detailed design examples 

that will benefit new mechanical engineers 

from all walks. 

INFO 

by Franz Beneke, 

Bernhard Nacke, 

Herbert Pfeifer 

Volume 1: Fundamentals, 

Processes, Calculations 

2 nd Edition 2012 

Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

(Essen) 

700 pages, hardcover 

with DVD (eBook) 

€ 200.00 

ISBN: 978-3-8027-2966-9 

www.vulkan-verlag.de 

Handbook of 

Thermoprocessing Technologies 

The Handbook of Thermoprocessing 

Technologies provides a detailed 

overview of the entire thermoprocessing 

sector, structured on practical criteria, and 

will be of particular assistance to students 

of all relevant disciplines and to engineers 

in this field. The first volume examines the 

basic principles, procedures and processes 

involved in thermoprocessing technology. 

Content of the book: Introduction, Fundamentals 

of materials engineering, Heat transfer, 

Fuels and combustion, Electrothermal processes, 

Energy balances and energy efficiency for 

industrial furnaces, Thermoprocesses with gas 

recirculation, Furnace atmospheres, Materials 

for industrial furnace construction, Appendix. 

INFO 

by Müller-Steinhagen, 

H. U. Zettler 

PP Publico Publications 

(Essen) 

2 nd Edition (2011) 

474 pages, numerous 

tables, figures 

€ 58.00 

ISBN: 3-934736-20-3 

www.pp-publico.de 

Heat Exchanger Fouling 

Mitigation and Cleaning Technologies 

This handbook presents, now in the 2 nd completely 

worked over and enlarged edition, 

the most important technologies concerning 

the reduction of fouling in heat exchangers 

beginning with constructional disposition, 

preventional measures and the appropriate 

technologies of removal and cleaning. 

The authors completely are experts of involved 

companies and institutions from the european, 

anglo-saxon and american industries. So 

the handbook is an instructive advisor for engineers, 

maintenance managers and their staff, 

technical managers but also for students and 

career changers forced to get a rapid overview. 

32 


Book Review 

NEWS 


33

CECOF CORNER 

News from the European Committee of Industrial Furnace 

and Heating Equipment Associations 

Flashback CECOF General Assembly 2012 

The 40 th General Assembly was held in Vienna (Austria) on 

October 05, 2012, attended by delegates from Austria, Belgium, 

France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Romania and Switzerland. 

The associate members IHEA (US) and JIFMA (Japan) were 

also represented. 

The meeting focused on market and business trends as well as 

the economic situation. In addition, standardisation and technical 

issues were discussed. 

For the first time, a political keynote was held by Dr. Paul Rübig, 

Austrian Member of the European Parliament, covering the Energy 

policy in the European Union and the actual situation concerning the 

EuP Directive. His lecture and open comments during the discussion 

really added value to the meeting and were highly appreciated by 

the delegates. 

Dr. Walter Böhme (OMV, Austria) gave a trend lecture on „The Role 

of Oil and Gas in a Carbon Constraint World“. His lecture explains 

that from 2008 to 2035 the European oil demand will have decreased. 

However the European Gas demand will have grown by then. 

Contrary to the European oil demand, the global oil demand will 

grow. Business as usual (BAU) is no option for reducing the global 

warming and CO 2 emission. 

The „International ThermProcess Summit“, a new event for the 

thermo processing industry, created by CECOF/VDMA together with 

the partners Messe Düsseldorf and Vulkan Verlag, was presented by 

Dr. Timo Würz and Mr. Stephan Schalm to the delegates and was 

received with high interest. The congress is intended to fill the gap 

between the THERMPROCESS exhibitions and addresses executives 

from plant manufacturers and customers‘ sectors, offering a plattform 

for information interchange as well as for meetings between 

industry specialists. 

NEW CECOF PRESIDENCY 

Mike Debier resigned after twelve years from his position as President. 

Thanking him for his long-standing devotion to CECOF, he 

was in unison nominated Honorary President. 

René Branders (49), General Manager of FIB Belgium, has been elected 

unanimously as new CECOF President. His mandate will last 

from 2012 to 2015. 

The two Vice Presidents Dr. Karl Nolte (LOI Thermprocess) and 

Catharina Lindgren (Sarlin Furnaces) were re-elected for the period 

of 2012 to 2015. 

Dr. Peter Schobesberger (Aichelin Holding) was elected as member 

of the presidency, his mandate lasting from 2012-2015. Enrico 

Marranini (Forni Industriali Bendotti) will be holding this position 

until 2014, having been elected in 2011. 

The next General Assembly will be held on September 20, 2013 

in Antwerp (Belgium). 

AUTHOR: 

Annelie Heymann 

CECOF General Secretariat 

www.cecof.org 

34 


CECOF CORNER 

News from the European Committee of Industrial Furnace 

and Heating Equipment Associations 

New CECOF President 

René Branders 

Date of birth: 29 September 1963 

Married, 3 children 

Languages: French, English, Dutch and 

German 

Studies: 

• Graduated from the University of Brussels in chemical 

engineering in 1986 

Career: 

• Involved in the wire industry since 1988 

• General Manager of FIB since 1996 

• Development of technologies related to fluidized bed, 

including as main coordinator in the European 5th frame 

program “JOULE” 

• President of the consultative committee of SME’s of the 

national technological federation of enterprises AGORIA 

• Member of the national committee SME of the central 

federation of the enterprises of Belgium FEB 

• Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Walloon 

region (Brabant) 

• President of the network of alumni at the school of 

commerce ICHEC- Brussels 

• Member of the board of the IWMA (International Wire & 

Machinery Association) 

• Expert at the ISO TC 244 – Work Group II 

Powered by 

INTERNATIONAL 

THERM 

PROCESS 

SUMMIT 

Organized by 

The Key Event 

for Thermo Process Technology 



09-10 July 2013 www.itps-online.com

KNOWLEDGE 

for the FUTURE 

2 

free trial 

issues 

as print or 

as e-paper 

The international magazine 

for industrial furnaces, 

heat treatment plants 

and equipment 

The technical journal for the entire fi eld of industrial 

furnace and heat treatment engineering, thermal 

plants, systems and processes. The publication 

delivers comprehensive information, in full technical 

detail, on developments and solutions in thermal 

process engineering for industrial applications. 

heat processing is published by Vulkan-Verlag GmbH, Huyssenallee 52-56, 45128 Essen Germany 

Order now by fax: +49 (0)931 / 4170-492 or send in a letter 

Yes, please send me two successive issues of heat processing as trial copies free of charge. If I do 

not wish to subscribe, I will give notice within 14 days upon receipt of the second issue at the latest. 

Otherwise I am prepared to read the magazine on a regular basis for at least one year (4 issues) 

as a printed magazine at the annual price of 

€ 166.00 plus shipping (€ 12.00 within Germany / € 14.00 outside of Germany). 

as an e-paper magazine (PDF) at the annual price of € 166.00. 

as a printed plus an e-paper magazine (PDF) at the annual price of 

€ 227.80 (Germany) / € 229.80 (outside of Germany). 

Special offer for students (proof of entitlement) 

as a printed magazine at the annual price of 

€ 83.00 plus shipping (€ 12.00 within Germany / € 14.00 outside of Germany). 

as an e-paper magazine (PDF) at the annual price of € 83.00. 

as a printed plus an e-paper magazine (PDF) at the annual price of 

€ 119.90 (Germany) / € 121.90 (outside of Germany). 

Reply / Antwort 

Readers’ Service heat processing 

P.O. Box 91 61 

97091 Wurzburg 

GERMANY 

Company/Institution 

First name, surname of recipient (department or person) 

Street/P.O. Box, No. 

Country, postalcode, town 

Phone 

E-Mail 

Line of business 

VULKAN-VERLAG GMBH 


Fax 

 

Date, signature 

PAHEAT0412 

Please note: According to German law this request may be withdrawn within 14 days after order date in writing at Readers’ Service heat processing, P.O. Box 91 61, 97091 Wurzburg, Germany. 

After the first period the agreement can be terminated in writing with 2 months notice to the end of each year. In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being 

recorded and stored. It is approved that this data may also be used in commercial ways by mail, by phone, by fax, by email, none. This approval may be withdrawn at any time.


REPORTS 

Energy-optimised heat treatment 

by Dominik Schröder 

Energy efficiency starts with plant engineering. Burner technology is a key factor. However, even optimum firing system 

efficiency will only result in energy efficiency if the process and production are carefully harmonized with the plant and 

plant capacity. Conversely, this means that a plant must be purchased specifically for the process and type of production 

required. This article presents process optimization possibilities in steel and aluminium heat treatment and also focuses 

on capacity utilization, the heating-up curve and dynamic structural transformation processes. 

Anyone who has not already started to complain 

about higher energy prices will certainly have ample 

opportunity to do so in the future. Although no one 

can make precise predictions concerning future price rises, 

there is no reason to doubt that energy price increases will 

outpace the rate of inflation. As a result, energy costs will 

account for an ever greater share in total production costs. 

For economical production, it will therefore be essential to 

ensure that energy is used efficiently. This not only applies 

to heat treatment processes in industrial furnaces but to all 

sectors of industry and private consumers. 

ENERGY-OPTIMIZED HEAT 

TREATMENT PROCESS 

Initially, energy-optimized heat treatment processes call 

for the use of firing systems with optimized design. In 

general, industrial users select a firing system with investments 

which can be recouped during two or three years of 

plant operation. This means that it is not always the most 

energy-efficient firing system that is installed. For example, 

complex regenerative systems are normally only used for 

process temperatures above 1,000 °C. It would be beyond 

the scope of this article to deal with this aspect. The firing 

system is only a tool for the process, which consists of a 

metallurgical structural transformation with the aim of 

obtaining specified material properties. 

AVOIDANCE OF UNNECESSARY 

PROCESS STAGES 

Following the austenitizing of steel or the solution annealing 

of aluminium, the metal must be „frozen“ in the 

solution-annealed condition by rapid cooling. For the hardening 

of steel, rapid cooling is also required, producing 

martensite, bainite or pearlite structures. Rapid cooling 

(„quenching“) is followed by tempering or age hardening. 

Especially in the case of the low-temperature tempering of 

steels, it is necessary to check whether the quenching stage 

cannot be interrupted in a controlled fashion at 250 °C 

and the material cannot then be tempered using the residual 

heat. The question to be answered is whether the steel is 

given sufficient martensitic hardness by quenching to 250 °C. 

In addition, it is necessary to consider whether simple 

cooling as a tempering process is sufficient to meet the 

specified tolerances on the mechanical properties of the 

material. Fig. 1 shows the different procedures. 

Although latent cooling during the tempering stage is 

certainly acceptable because the tempering process is a 

function of temperature and duration, „simple tempering“ 

during cooling can only be used if the material is not allowed 

to cool in an uncontrolled way following quenching. 

The temperature must not fall below the tempering temperature 

required. This means that the material must be 

transferred rapidly and heat losses must be avoided. Tem- 

Fig. 1: Heat treatment with “separate” tempering (left) and tempering during cooling (right) 


37

REPORTS 


Fig. 2: Comparison of the specific surface losses of a furnace 

plant charged to full and 50 % capacity 

Fig. 3: Heating-up curve of a plate with a thickness of 

20 mm in a continuous roller hearth furnace 

pering may take place in a separate chamber or, in the case 

of a continuous furnace plant, also in an insulated tunnel. 

However, the tunnel must be closed to avoid heat loss. 

CAPACITY UTILIZATION 

The heat loss from the surface of any plant is a function of 

the process temperature (Fig. 2). The plant must be heated 

to the temperature required for the process irrespective of 

whether it is charged to full capacity, 50 % capacity or is 

even empty. The total surface loss remains constant. With 

a plant charged to half capacity, the specific surface loss 

is therefore double the figure for a plant operated at full 

capacity. In order to save energy, this means that material 

flow must be planned in such a way as to ensure that the 

full capacity of the plant is always reached. Material and 

temperature changes call for careful planning and must 

be adapted to the possibilities of the plant. 

Considerably more energy can be saved by effective 

material flow planning than by further optimization of the 

burner system. 

AVOIDANCE OF UNNECESSARY 

TEMPERATURE PEAKS 

The energy which can be transferred is determined by the 

surface area of the charge. If too much energy is available, 

the excess energy is simply wasted and escapes with the 

flue gas. 

For example, let us assume that the charge in a continuous 

furnace with a length of 80 m is to be heated to 

the final temperature when it has passed the first 70 m 

of the furnace length. In the first third of the furnace, the 

charge has almost reached the target temperature. The 

temperatures of the first furnace zones can be set to values 

significantly below the target temperature without any 

noticeable adverse effect on the performance of the furnace. 

However, energy can be saved by reducing flue gas 

losses (Fig. 3). 

At a furnace temperature of 1,000 °C, a radiant tube can 

reach a heat transfer rate of 25 kW/m², corresponding to a 

heat output of 50 kW with a radiant tube surface area of 

2 m². The efficiency of recuperator burners is typically 68 %. 

The burners in the radiant tubes should therefore not be 

set to a heat input of more than 73 kW. 

PROCESS REVIEW 

The purpose of a process review is to investigate whether 

the mechanical properties required could be obtained 

by a process requiring a lower energy input. For example, 

the diagrams below show that different methods can be 

used to obtain virtually the same results in the elevated 

temperature age hardening of aluminium. 

The left-hand graph in Fig. 4 shows mechanical properties 

as a function of temperature. The graph on the right 

shows the hardness which can be obtained as a function 

of treatment time for various process temperatures. The 

red mark indicates the mechanical properties which can 

be obtained at a temperature of 170 °C with a process 

duration of almost 7 hours. The green mark indicates the 

mechanical properties with a temperature of 180 °C and 

a duration of only 4.5 h. The mechanical properties which 

can be obtained are virtually identical. By reducing the 

process duration by more than 25 %, it would be possible 

either to boost production by 20 % or to use a plant which 

was 20 % smaller. Shorter process durations also reduce 

time-dependent energy losses. 

SELECTION OF THE RIGHT PLANT 

The example of a heat treatment plant for aluminium coils 

shows that furnaces must be used in a process-centred way. 

In multiple-chamber furnaces, several coils are heat-treated 

at the same time. In contrast, in a single-coil lifting hearth 

furnace, only one coil is heat-treated, using a treatment program 

adapted to the size and alloy of the coil. The left-hand 

photograph in Fig. 5 shows a multiple-chamber furnace; 



REPORTS 

on the right, several single-coil lifting 

hearth furnaces are installed 

in a row. 

Coils of the same size made 

from the same alloy may be treated 

either in single-coil lifting 

hearth furnaces or in multiplechamber 

furnaces. All the coils of 

a batch are heat-treated using the 

same program. 

Nowadays, companies are 

increasingly called upon to meet 

individual customers‘ wishes. This 

means that there may be significant 

differences between the diameters, 

widths and sheet thicknesses of coils. There are of 

course also variations in the alloys used. If coils of different 

sizes and alloys are to be treated together in a multiplechamber 

furnace, the program must be selected for the 

largest coil with the longest treatment time. 

In contrast, single-coil lifting hearth furnaces allow 

the operator to select the program that is best suited for 

reaching the metallurgical properties specified for the individual 

coil. This means that the storage capacity for coils 

waiting to be heat-treated can be significantly reduced as 

it is not necessary to wait for a group of coils with the same 

size and alloy to be assembled for charging into a multiplechamber 

furnace. If flexibility is needed for meeting customers‘ 

requirements, the highest quality standards can 

only be reached using single-coil lifting hearth furnaces. 

CONCLUSION 

Energy saving starts with the selection of appropriate heating 

systems. The main objective is for the process to meet 

Fig. 4: Relationship between the mechanical properties of 

the charge and process temperature and duration 

the highest possible quality requirements. Frequently, the 

main focus is still on economics at the expense of selecting 

the most energy-efficient heating system. 

However, effective energy optimization goes far beyond 

the selection of the most energy-efficient heating system. 

In fact, it starts with the selection of the right furnace plant, 

the analysis of optimum process parameters and the operation 

of the furnace. If these factors are taken into consideration, 

it is possible to ensure energy-optimized heat treatment. 

AUTHOR 

Dr. Dominik Schröder 

LOI Thermprocess GmbH 

Essen, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)201/ 1891-865 

dominik.schroeder@loi-italimpianti.de 

Fig. 5: Individual-chamber and multiple-chamber furnaces for the heat treatment of aluminium 

coils (left: multiple-coil furnaces, right: individual-coil furn) 


39

Handbook with 

additional media 

files and e-book 

on DVD 

Handbook of 

Thermoprocessing Technologies 

Volume 1: Fundamentals | Processes | Calculations 

This Handbook provides a detailed overview of the entire 

thermoprocessing sector, structured on practical criteria, and 

will be of particular assistance to manufacturers and users of 

thermoprocessing equipment. 

In Europe thermoprocessing is the third largest energy consumption 

sector with a very diversifi ed and complex structure. Therefore it is split 

into a large number of subdivisions, each having a high importance for 

the industrial economy. Accordingly we fi nd the application know-how 

for the design and the execution of respective equipment represented 

by a multitude of small but very specialized companies and their experts. 

So this second edition is based on the contribution of many highly 

experienced engineers working in this fi eld. The book’s main intention is 

the presentation of practical thermal processing for the improvement of 

materials and parts in industrial application. Additionally it offers a summary 

of respective thermal and material science fundamentals. Further 

it covers the basic fuel-related and electrical engineering knowledge and 

design aspects, components and safety requirements for the necessary 

heating installations. 

Editors: F. Beneke, B. Nacke, H. Pfeifer 

2 nd edition 2012, approx. 700 pages with additional media fi les and e-book 

on DVD, hardcover 

Vulkan-Verlag 



Yes, I place a fi rm order for the technical book. Please send 

___ copies of Handbook of Thermoprocessing Technologies 2 nd edition 2012 (ISBN: 978-3-8027-2966-9) 

at the price of € 200,- (plus postage and packing) 

___ copies of Handbook of Thermoprocessing Technologies 2 nd edition 2012 (ISBN: 978-3-8027-2966-9) 

at the special price of € 180,- (plus postage and packing) for subscribers of heat processing 

Company/institution 

First name and surname of recipient 

REPLY / ANTWORT 

Vulkan Verlag GmbH 

Versandbuchhandlung 

Postfach 10 39 62 

45039 Essen 

GERMANY 

Please note: According to German law this request may be withdrawn within 14 days after order date in writing 

to Vulkan Verlag GmbH, Versandbuchhandlung, Postfach 10 39 62, 45039 Essen, Germany. 

In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being recorded and stored. It is approved that this data may also 

be used in commercial ways by mail, by phone, by fax, by email, none. This approval may be withdrawn at any time. 


Country, Postcode, Town 

Phone 

E-mail 


✘ 


Fax 

PAHTT12012


REPORTS 

Process routes for heat 

treatment, hardening and 

tempering of heavy plates 

by Christian Sprung 

The great diversity of grades producible today in heavy-plate production requires a huge variety of different equipment 

or in fact is only possible with that variety. To manufacture products with highest strength and ductility values, 

optimized and high-performance heat treatment equipment is of particular importance. The article tries to give a 

principal overview of the possible process routes and the corresponding plant technology. A special focus is put on 

the different furnace types used for these purposes and a rough guideline is given on which criteria are decisive in 

order to find the ideal solution. 

The development of the most different kinds of 

steel grades for heavy plate products, driven by 

the enormous demand in this sector, has experienced 

rapid progress in the last years. In this context, 

both the variety of grades available today and the attainable 

quality of the material properties, especially as 

regards strength and toughness values as a function 

of the alloying elements, has increased significantly. 

Thus, high-strength and wear-resistant steel grades 

are among the bestselling products in the heavy plate 

sector. Under economic aspects, another driving factor 

of course can be found in the possibility of achieving 

a certain strength level using a lower amount of alloying 

elements. Furthermore, a reduction of the carbon 

content and the alloying elements usually leads to an 

improvement in weldability. 

Driven by this development, or rather hand-in-hand 

with it, the plant technology required for these purposes 

has significantly advanced as well. Today, operators can 

choose from a wide range of plant technology options. 

Taking into account the specific requirements and the 

desired range of products, production sites can be provided 

with the ideal equipment. Here, the broad range 

of products from SMS Siemag AG offers the possibility to 

compile an integrated tailor-made solution from one source 

for every specific application. 

TYPICAL PROCESS ROUTES IN 

HEAVY PLATE PRODUCTION 

In the production of heavy plate, two basic process routes 

can be distinguished: conventional normal rolling and 

temperature-controlled rolling. In the case of normal rolling, 

the aim is to achieve the required product dimensions with 

a minimum of rolling passes and at high output rates. By 

contrast, in the process of temperature-controlled rolling, 

deformation and temperature control are harmonized precisely 

with each other. In the case of the so-called thermomechanical 

(TM) rolling, the last passes are executed in the 

non-recrystallizing temperature range of the austenite. 

Fig. 1 [1] shows a diagram of the further diversifications 

of these two process routes after hot rolling. 

In the case of normal rolling, three different variants 

can be distinguished following the deformation process: 

firstly, simple cooling in air and cooling in air followed by 

normalizing and cooling in air for a second time (N). Fig. 2 

shows the process of discharging a uniformly heat-soaked 

plate from a roller hearth furnace after normalizing. 

Austenitizing annealing followed by high-pressure water 

quenching (Q), represents a further process route. The combination 

of both steps is referred to as conventional water 

hardening or normal quenching. Following the quenchhardening 

process, the final properties of the product can 

be set exactly as required by means of temper annealing. 


41

REPORTS 


Water quenching followed by tempering allows the production 

of materials that fulfill even the highest demands 

as regards strength and toughness. This process route is 

one possibility for the production of high-strength and 

wear-resistant steel grades. 

Plates can be quenched in two different types of quenching 

units. One of them is the batch-operated so called 

platen quench. If this quenching station is used, the plates 

are stopped after their rapid discharge from the furnace 

and clamped by means of clamping jaws. After clamping, 

water is applied by means of nozzle pipes, which are arranged 

above and below the plate. 

In the case of a continuous quench, the plates pass 

through the plant without being stopped (although stopping 

the plates in a continuous quench is basically possible, 

this does not correspond to the plant‘s normal mode of 

operation). Therefore, in the case of continuous quenches, it 

is possible to make use of different sections, i.e. one section 

with maximum water spray density and thus maximum 

cooling rates and one section with medium cooling rates. 

Fig. 3 shows an example for a continuous quench. The 

bottom right side of the figure shows a plate moving into 

the intensive cooling section immediately after leaving the 

furnace. The major advantage of the continuous quench 

as compared to the platen quench is the possibility of 

using individual stages with different cooling rates and the 

associated implementation of a short section with a higher 

cooling intensity. Furthermore, as soon as water is applied 

in the case of a platen quench, differences in temperature 

will occur between plate head and tail ends that due to the 

plant‘s discontinuous operation cannot be entirely avoided. 

On the other hand, platen quenches have the advantage 

that due to the firm clamping, warping of the plate is largely 

prevented. In the case of the continuous quench, this can 

only be achieved by very sensitive adjustment of the local 

amounts of water applied. 

For both types of quenching machines, the actual quenching 

process is characterized by very high dynamics. In 

doing so, extreme cooling rates are implemented by means 

of enormous amounts of water and special nozzle systems. 

Monitored and controlled by the plant automation systems, 

cooling must take place homogeneously across the entire 

length and width of the plate, since even the smallest 

variations in the cooling conditions may result in flatness 

deviations and warped plates. 

In the case of thermo-mechanical rolling, different rolling 

strategies can be combined: rolling with subsequent 

cooling in air, rolling immediately followed by accelerated 

cooling (ACC) or rolling immediately followed by 

high-pressure water quenching using a spray cooling 

system. The latter is also referred to as „direct quenching“. 

Since cooling always takes place immediately after the 

rolling process, it makes sense to speak of in-line heat 

treatment methods here. 

Fig. 1: Schematic overview of the different process options in heavy-plate production 

Fig. 2: Discharging of a plate from a 



REPORTS 

For ACC, plants with laminar cooling are typical. Here, 

water is applied to the top and bottom surface of the plate 

via a large number of U-pipes. In contrast, in the case of 

spray cooling systems, pressurized water is applied by 

means of special spray headers. Squeezer roll pairs are 

arranged between the cooling headers. They guide the 

strip, ensure the controlled application of water onto the 

plate and at the same time protect the spray headers that 

are installed close to the plate surface. 

As regards design, a laminar cooling system is the 

simpler solution. Furthermore, less energy is required for 

its operation. On the other hand, spray cooling systems 

necessarily achieve higher cooling rates. The cooling rates 

achieved here are on a similar level as those achieved in 

the continuous quenches described above. 

Both cooling systems can be used on a stand-alone 

basis. However in many cases both systems are combined. 

The entry section is executed as a spray cooling 

system, which is followed by the laminar cooling system. 

Fig. 4 shows an example of such a combined system 

arranged directly downstream of the rolling mill. On the 

figure, the two different sections consisting of the spray 

cooling system for high cooling rates and the laminar 

cooling systems for the medium cooling rates can be 

clearly distinguished. 

The diagram in Fig. 5 summarizes the effects the different 

cooling rates have on the final microstructure composition. 

The variation „quenching and self tempering“ (QST) 

is explained in the following section. 

The decision on which of the different process routes 

is applied for which final product depends on various 

factors. Here, also the various operators pursuit different 

concepts and strategies. Direct cooling after the rolling 

process has the advantage that quenching is carried out 

immediately without having to re-heat the plates, thus 

making a significant contribution to reducing the energy 

consumption. Furthermore, the microstructure subjected 

to the transformation process here is the same that has 

been set in a well-targeted manner during the preceding 

rolling process. However, the direct connection of rolling 

and quenching also involves some disadvantages. For 

example, a certain distance must be covered by means 

of roller tables between the rolling mill and the cooling 

system. That is why with the final pass, especially thin plates 

must be discharged from the rolling mill at high speeds of 

approx. 150 m/min in order to reach the cooling system 

in time (i.e. before the transformation sets in) and to avoid 

that the difference in temperature between plate head and 

tail end becomes excessive. In the case of „normal quenching“, 

the quench can be arranged directly downstream 

of the furnace. Thus, maximum speeds of approx. 60 m/ 

min are sufficient here. This difference becomes apparent 

in the design of the plants and their reduced overall length. 

Furthermore, during re-heating, the temperatures in the 

roller hearth furnace after normalizing 

Fig. 3: Continuous quench installed downstream of a hardening furnace; 

bottom right side of the figure: plate moving into the intensive cooling 

section of the quench 


43

REPORTS 


Fig. 4: 

Combined cooling 

plant comprising 

a spray cooling 

system and a 

laminar cooling 

system arranged 

downstream of a 

rolling mill 

plate can be set very precisely and with a high degree of 

uniformity. That is why in many heavy plate rolling mills, 

equipment for both variants is available. 

PROCESS MODELS FOR THE HEAT 

TREATMENT OF HEAVY PLATE 

In the case of the quenching methods described above, 

it is also possible to quench only the subsurface zones of 

the plate. Here, cooling is stopped in a controlled manner 

before the core zones of the plate have reached the martensitic 

transformation temperature. The remaining heat in 

the core that will re-heat the near-surface zones after the 

water cooling has been stopped then leads to a kind of 

self-tempering or recovery (Fig. 5). Thus, separate temper 

annealing is no longer required, which is desirable especially 

as regards optimizing energy consumption. This process is 

referred to as „quenching and self-tempering“ (QST). 

This cooling variant requires a holistic understanding 

of the process and thus an integrated process control of 

the temperature curve, the forming process and the subsequent 

quenching, respectively the processes of heating 

and subsequent quenching. In order to reflect the complex 

and to some extent highly dynamic processes, various 

mathematical models are used and combined to form an 

integrated approach. The motivation for this however does 

not only lie in the mode of operation described above. 

Also in the case of classical modes of operation, the various 

requirements placed on precise process control already 

necessitate the application of the respective models. Furthermore, 

complex calculations must already be carried out 

in advance to achieve an optimum design of the machine, 

so that it is ensured that the respective requirements can 

be met once the machine is in operation. 

A plant‘s energy-efficient mode of operation, controlled 

cooling of the plates, forecasting and setting of the 

mechanical properties resp. the required microstructure 

composition as well as compliance with the narrow flatness 

tolerances serve as relevant reference variables for the 

simulations and the derived plant control system. In this 

context, the plate flatness is calculated „offline“, since an 

„online“ calculation would involve an excessive amount of 

time and resources required for computing. 

Fig. 6 shows an example for the result of a plate flatness 

simulation. In the case shown here, the extreme effects 

of a head-to-tail temperature rundown in the area of the 

plate head are simulated in connection with an otherwise 

homogeneous discharge temperature distribution. From 

the results obtained, suitable „countermeasures“ can be 

derived for the process control of the quenching process. 

ANNEALING PROCESSES IN 

HEAVY-PLATE PRODUCTION 

To be able to select the ideal furnace type for the possible 

annealing processes in heavy-plate production, it is 

of course necessary to first know the time-temperature 

diagram of the respective annealing method. 

The typical annealing processes used on heavy plate 

after hot rolling are normalizing, hardening and tempering 

as well as stress relief annealing in the case of carbon steels 

and solution annealing in the case of high grade steels. 

The purpose of normalizing is to develop a homogeneous, 

fine-grained microstructure in the material. This 



REPORTS 

method is applied to rectify uneven and coarse microstructures. 

In the case of hypoeutectoid steels, the normalizing 

temperatures lie approx. 30 to 50 °C above Ac 3 , i.e. at 

approx. 900 to 950 °C. In the case of hypereutectoid steels, 

the temperatures lie approx. 30 to 50 °C above Ac 1 . The 

heating phase is usually followed by a holding phase. In 

any case, the material must be completely austenitized. 

The hardening process has already been described in 

the previous section. The target temperatures to be achieved 

usually lie in a similar range as for the normalizing 

process. In most cases, a holding phase is intended here as 

well. Thus, from the furnace manufacturer‘s point of view, 

it makes no difference whether normalizing or hardening 

is applied. 

The tempering process takes place at temperatures 

between the room temperature and below Ac 1 . For lowand 

medium-alloyed quenched and tempered steels, temperatures 

of 200 to 680 °C are applied. The time for which 

the material is held on this temperature depends on the 

mechanical properties required. The aim of tempering lies 

in the reduction of stresses in the material that have developed 

during hardening as well as in setting the desired 

technological properties such as tensile strength, yield 

point, elongation and area reduction of fracture. 

Stress relief annealing serves to reduce stresses in the 

material at temperatures below Ac 1 . Common temperatures 

for stress relief annealing lie between 450 and 650 °C. 

If quenched and tempered material is to be subjected to 

stress relief annealing, the required temperature must lie 

approx. 30 to 50 °C below the last tempering temperature 

in order to avoid any negative effects on strength. 

Solution annealing is a heat treatment process which 

is used for austenitic steel grades. The material is held at 

temperatures of between approx. 1,000 °C and 1,100 °C 

for 30 min and subsequently quenched in water. In this 

way, carbide precipitations, delta ferrite or sigma phase are 

dissolved, and the water quenching prevents the formation 

of new precipitation. 

SELECTION OF A SUITABLE FURNACE 

TYPE FOR HIGH-TEMPERATURE 

APPLICATIONS 

The annealing methods described above and the resulting 

temperature ranges to be covered by the furnace already 

define important criteria for the selection of the suitable 

furnace type. Furthermore, of course the geometry of the 

plate to be treated, i.e. plate width, length and thickness, 

as well as production data, i.e. the required capacity, product 

range and typical batch sizes, determine the type of 

furnace used. 

For normalizing, in the case of high plate loads and 

large plate widths, basically two furnace types can be used: 

chamber furnaces and double walking beam furnaces. This 

also applies for solution annealing at elevated temperatures 

(if possible, also in combination with high plate loads). As 

regards the parameter hearth load, i.e. the combination of 

plate load and temperature, these furnaces have almost no 

restrictions. In individual cases, also bogie hearth furnaces 

are applied for similar sets of requirements. 

Chamber furnaces are batch-operated furnaces with 

a fixed hearth. These furnaces are characterized by their 

high degree of flexibility and are thus typically used in the 

Fig. 5: Schematic overview of the different cooling concepts 

and their effects on the resulting microstructure 

composition 

Fig. 6: Simulation of the effects of non-uniform temperatures 

on plate flatness during quenching 


45

REPORTS 


Fig. 7: 

Roller hearth 

furnace for 

hardening and 

normalizing 

case of low capacity requirements and frequently changing 

batches. Depending on the case of application, the hearth 

can be subdivided such that heating of the plate bottoms 

can be implemented at least in parts of the furnace. On the 

longitudinal side, the furnaces are equipped with a large 

door. Through this door, the plates are introduced into and 

discharged from the furnace by means of a machine. For 

plate transport to the furnace and away from the furnace, a 

conventional roller table is installed along the longitudinal 

side of the furnace. 

Double walking beam furnaces are continuously operated 

furnaces. That is why they are used for throughput 

capacities that cannot be efficiently covered using batchtype 

furnaces. In this type of furnace, the hearth consists of 

two frame systems each comprising several furnace beams, 

covering the entire length of the furnace. Both frame systems 

move in an endless cycle consisting of an upward, 

forward, downward and backward movement. Here, the 

cycle of the two systems are slightly offset to each other. 

That is why one part of the furnace beams always is in 

contact with the plates, conveying them forwards. During 

the conveying process, the plates themselves always are 

on the same transport height. The described conveying 

method of the double walking beam furnace provides for 

a very gentle transport of the plates, since the plates are 

in contact with the hearth across their entire surface. Furthermore, 

there is no risk of scale sticking to the hearth of 

a double walking beam furnace, since the hearth consists 

of prefabricated ceramic parts. 

For the quenching and tempering of plates, however, 

the two furnace types described above are only suitable 

to a limited extent. In the double walking beam furnace, 

for example, it is not possible to move plates at different 

speeds inside the furnace due to the continuous hearth. 

Rapid discharging from the furnace, as it is required for the 

quenching of thin plates, thus cannot be implemented. In 

the batch-type furnace, the plate is exposed to air cooling 

for a certain period of time before it reaches the quenching 

station. For design reasons, this period of time cannot be 

reduced as desired by increasing the discharging speed 

of the handling machine. Furthermore, batch operation 

necessarily involves temperature differences between the 

plate head and tail ends at the beginning of the quenching 

process. Thus, both furnace types can be used only if the 

planned quenching processes are uncritical as regards time. 

This only applies for thick plate or special steel. 

A roller hearth furnace is not subject to these restrictions. 

The strengths of a roller hearth furnace can thus be 

found in variable speeds for the individual plates as well 

as in high maximum speeds. That is why in plate rolling 

mills, this type of furnace is the one used most frequently 

for continuous heat treatment. Fig. 7 shows an example 

for a roller hearth furnace. It has a length of 98 m and is 

designed for plate widths of up to 3.5 m. 

The furnace housing of the roller hearth furnace has the 

shape of a long tunnel. The hearth itself consists of rollers 

arranged transversely to the direction of transport. The 

distance between the rollers must not exceed a maximum 

dimension, as otherwise there would be a risk of the plates 

„diving“ below one of the rollers. This maximum dimension 

thus is determined by the bending behavior of the thinnest 

plate at the highest possible temperature. The roller hearth 

divides the furnace into a top and a bottom section and 

thus provides the possibility of heating from both sides. 

The hearth usually consists of high-alloy centrifugal cast 

rollers and is the core component of roller hearth furnaces. 

On the one hand, the rollers are a decisive factor as regards 

the costs of such a furnace system, which again depend to 



REPORTS 

a large extent on the price fluctuations, especially for the 

main constituents Cr and Ni. On the other hand, the rollers 

may also impose restrictions on the system design. A sufficient 

lifetime of the rollers can only be guaranteed if the 

hearth load as a combination of temperature, plate load per 

roller and bearing center distance (which again is directly 

linked to the plate width) does not exceed certain limits. 

For heating, basically two options are available: open 

heating or indirect heating via radiant tube burners with 

the furnace chamber being rendered inert using nitrogen. 

The second option is preferably used where scaling of the 

plates is to be kept as low as possible (even when using 

nitrogen, it is not possible to generate an entirely oxidationfree 

atmosphere, since the opening of the furnace doors 

during the charging and discharging process as well as 

the plates themselves lead to the introduction of moisture 

into the furnace chamber, so that no sufficiently low dew 

point values can be attained). Surface qualities showing 

only a low degree of scaling are for example desirable for 

the quenching process, since otherwise, the scale would 

negatively affect the homogeneous cooling conditions 

and heat transfer coefficients at the boundary layer between 

water and plate. The diagram in Fig. 8 shows the 

cross-section of a roller hearth furnace with radiant tubes. 

For indirectly fired furnaces, however, significantly higher 

investment costs and additional operational costs must be 

expected due to the nitrogen consumption. The higher 

investment costs result from the radiant tubes, the flame 

tubes, the recuperator burner, the gas-tight doors and 

attached roller bearing assemblies as well as the equipment 

required for nitrogen injection. Furthermore, these 

furnaces must be designed with an increased length, since 

due to the rapid introduction and discharging of the plates 

(the doors may only be opened for a short while to avoid 

excessive ingress of oxygen and moisture), useful furnace 

length is lost. 

Furthermore, it must be considered that due to the 

mode of operation described above, temporarily, large 

sections of the furnace hearth are not occupied, which 

necessarily leads to increased specific energy consumption. 

(This issue of suboptimal hearth utilization also applies for 

all other types of heating furnaces.) If a heat treatment 

process has to cover several tasks, it thus must always be 

checked whether it would be more cost-efficient to allocate 

the individual types of heat treatments to different furnaces 

instead of using a single large furnace with expensive 

equipment for all tasks. This would be the case for example 

if a large number of plates has to be normalized (no particular 

requirements on the scaling behavior) and only a 

smaller number of plates requires hardening. 

In the case of indirect heating, the radiant tubes are 

equipped with recuperator burners. In the case of furnaces 

with an open firing system, however, it is recommended 

to install high-velocity burners arranged transversely to 

the flow of material which can be operated in an on/offmode. 

Thanks to this cycle operation, good convection is 

ensured on both sides, which is particularly important in 

the case of low temperatures – e.g. during tempering – in 

order to attain good temperature uniformity. In this way, 

when normalizing carbon steels (i.e. target temperatures 

of between 900 and 950 °C) and plate thicknesses

REPORTS 


Fig. 9: 

Combination of 

hardening furnace 

and tempering 

furnace with the 

pertaining roller 

tables 

exhaust gas leaves the furnace at lower temperatures. Thus, 

if the temperature in the entry section is reduced, a system 

with a state-of-the-art central recuperator can be operated 

at the same gas consumption rates as an installation with 

recuperator burners. The situation is different, however, if 

the furnace is charged with preheated plates and thus the 

target temperature can be defined as setpoint across the 

entire length. Here, the gas consumption can be reduced 

by using recuperator burners. 

SELECTION OF A SUITABLE 

FURNACE TYPE FOR LOW- 

TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS 

When tempering plates, the roller hearth furnace with an 

open heating system is under almost all circumstances 

the best choice. At the lower temperatures, even high 

specific hearth loads can be handled with a roller hearth. 

Scale formation is no issue in this tempering temperature 

range either, as a significant quantity of scale only begins 

to form at higher temperatures. The exact temperature 

pattern with highest degrees of uniformity in the plate can 

easily be attained when heating the roller hearth furnace 

from both sides. 

If required, the open heating system can be extended 

by a so-called exhaust gas jet. As a general rule, for tempering 

a higher temperature uniformity is required than 

for normalizing. On the other hand, the temperature level 

on a whole and thus also the heat portions which enter 

the material by heat radiation are lower than during normalizing. 

For this reason, it is important to ensure a good 

convection in the furnace. When a tempering furnace is 

operated at operating points which are at the upper level 

of its design values, i.e. at maximum temperature and maximum 

throughput, a sufficient convection is ensured by the 

frequent on/off-cycles of the burners. If the temperature 

level in the furnace and the throughput are at the lower 

level of the design parameters, an increase of convection is 

recommended. For this purpose, parts of the exhaust gas 

which have left the furnace and have passed the central 

recuperator can be returned to the furnace and be injected 

via nozzles. This has two effects: On the one hand, the 

injected gases directly increase convection in the furnace 

chamber; on the other hand, the activities of the heating 

system are enhanced as the injected exhaust gas has a 

lower temperature than the atmosphere in the furnace 

chamber and must therefore be heated up again. The 

resulting increased burner activity is in turn equivalent to 

more convection. By means of this very simple system it is 

possible to attain a temperature uniformity of within 3 °C 

over the thickness for plate thicknesses


REPORTS 

temporarily) they can normally not be used at all or only 

with considerable expenditure for the materials used for 

applications with temperatures >900 °C. 

Whether both high-temperature and low-temperature 

applications are realized with one furnace only decisively 

depends on the product range and on the space conditions 

in the production bay. As a general rule, a change between 

high-temperature and low-temperature operation always 

results in a loss of useful production time, as a furnace naturally 

requires a certain time until the modified temperature 

level has adjusted itself. Moreover, a temperature change 

from low to high temperatures is always accompanied by an 

energy loss as the refractory lining has to be heated up to the 

required temperature. If high portions of high-temperature 

and low-temperature applications are to be realized within 

one product range, it is advisable to allocate these two tasks 

to two furnaces. Fig. 9 shows an example for such an arrangement. 

On the right side of the figure the hardening furnace 

and on the left side the tempering furnace can be seen. 

The figure does not show the quench, which is installed 

downstream of the hardening furnace. 

CONCLUSION 

Today, where increasingly efficient plate materials are 

developed, a growing variety of manufacturing processes 

is available, the general requirements on the quality 

of the final product are continuously rising and the focus 

is increasingly laid on energy-efficient production, special 

attention must be paid not only to the technical efficiency 

of individual components but to the planning and layout of 

the complete plant. The question which processes can be 

performed best with which individual units and/or which 

processes can be combined in one unit must be examined 

in detail. There is no ready-made solution, as a multitude 

of specific factors, such as product range, lot sizes, space 

conditions, material flow, investment costs, maintenance 

expenditure must be taken into account in each individual 

case during the planning phase. An optimum and tailormade 

solution can therefore vary considerably depending 

on the respective task to be performed. 

LITERATURE 

[1] Streißelberger, A.; Schwinn, V.: Die Grobblechherstellung aus 

verfahrenstechnischer Sicht. Stahl-Informations-Zentrum, 

Dokumentation 570, 2001 

[2] Heavy-plate production from the point of view of process 

technology. Steel Information Center, Documentation 570, 

2001 

AUTHOR 

Dr. Christian Sprung 

SMS Siemag AG 


christian.sprung@sms-siemag.com 

Tel.: +49 (0)211/ 881-6724 

Hotline Meet the team 

Managing Editor: Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Schalm +49(0)201/82002-12 s.schalm@vulkan-verlag.de 

Editorial Office: Annamaria Frömgen +49(0)201/82002-91 a.froemgen@vulkan-verlag.de 

Editor: Silvija Subasic +49(0)201/82002-15 s.subasic@vulkan-verlag.de 

Advertising Sales: Bettina Schwarzer-Hahn +49(0)201/82002-24 b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 

Subscription: Martina Grimm +49(0)931/41704-13 mgrimm@datam-services.de 

Hotline_184,5x35.indd 2 15.12.11 15:13 


49

Arabia Essen 2013 

Welding & Cutting 

International Trade Fair Joining, Cutting, Surfacing 

Supported by: 

Tekno Arabia 2013 

International Trade Fair for Industrial Machinery, 

Sheet Metal, Metal working, Machine Tools & Die Moulds 

Tube Arabia 2013 

International Trade Fair for the 

Tube & Pipe Industries 

Supported by: 

7 – 10 January 

Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, 

Dubai, UAE 

In co-operation with: 

In conjunction with: 

ARABPLAST 2013 and 

COMPOSITE Arabia 2013 

Messe Düsseldorf GmbH 

P.O. Box 10 10 06 

40001 Düsseldorf 

Germany 

Phone +49/211/45 60-77 93 

Fax +49/211/45 60-77 40 

RyfischD@messe-duesseldorf.de 

www.messe-duesseldorf.de


REPORTS 

Single-billet induction 

heaters meet the most 

exacting demands 

by Günter Valder 

Otto Junker GmbH offers both gas-fired heaters (GBE/ KombiGAS) and induction heaters (IBE) for reheating extrusion 

billets. This paper presents the available range of induction-type billet heaters and their advantages. The description 

is supplemented by a review of the handling systems employed from the billet or log feeding station to the point of 

billet transfer to the extrusion press. Calculations of operating costs and CO 2 emissions are given for diverse materials 

and key European countries, and some current reference projects are mentioned to round out this presentation. 

In a heater of the type “Induction billet heater” (IBE), the 

part responsible for heating the extrusion billet consists 

of a water-cooled coil wound in multiple layers. The 

shape of this coil is adapted as closely as possible to the 

billet geometry for maximized efficiency, Fig. 1. Energy 

is transferred as the magnetic field produced by the coil 

induces a current in the aluminium billet and thereby 

heats it. In a single-billet heater, more than 1,000 kW of 

electric power can be transferred per m² of product surface, 

irrespective of the billet surface condition (as-cast 

skin / scalped). 

As a result of these features, this heater is characterized 

by high heat-up rates and comparatively low space requirements 

for the heating unit, i.e., the coil. On the other hand, 

the electric power supply and the indispensable cooling 

system need additional space which must be taken into 

account in layout planning. Temperature control quality 

depends on the number of control zones; Otto Junker 

warrants a reproducibility of the heating process to within 

+/- 5K, Fig. 2. The temperature measurement carried out 

for this purpose is performed in the 12:00 o’clock position; 

this prevents the billet from moving upon application of 

the thermocouples and ensures a defined contact configuration. 

Wear of the thermocouple tips needs to be 

addressed by maintenance personnel at regular intervals 

of time. The company has significantly increased these 

intervals by the so-called “blind heating” approach whereby 

the thermocouples are applied only in the critical phases, 

i.e., at the start and end of the heating cycle. All additional 

information is calculated via a mathematical model coupled 

to the IGBT frequency converter. 

INDUCTION BILLET HEATER (IBE) 

Since only a single billet is heated at a time and the high 

power density mentioned earlier leads to short heating 

times, the IBE system exhibits the highest flexibility among 

all other known billet heaters. As virtually no heat is stored 

in the system, temperature changes in either direction may 

be effected at any time, and the minimum contract lot size 

becomes „1“ from a heating point of view. Another major 

advantage of an induction heater lies in its ability to apply 

an axial temperature profile („taper“) to each billet. Induction 

heaters of Otto Junker design achieve this goal, again, 

with a reproducible temperature accuracy of +/-5K, Fig. 3. 

Such taper heating is employed chiefly in direct aluminium 

extruding applications. Direct extrusion means that 

friction forces will be acting on the press container enclosing 

the billet. The friction work needed to overcome these forces 

is fully converted into heat, most of which goes into the 

billet. Consequently, the billet temperature and hence, the 

temperature of the extruded semi-finished product will rise 

as extruding proceeds at a constant speed. However, since 

the dimensional stability, surface quality and microstructural 

properties of an extruded semi-finished product are 

essentially a function of temperature, the aim is to keep the 

temperature of the extruded product constant throughout 

the process. In order to achieve this, either the extrusion 

speed (and hence, press throughput) must be progressively 


51

REPORTS 


Fig. 1: Front view of a taper-heating plant built 

to the point of billet transfer 

into the extrusion press. 

Always included in the basic 

scope of supply is a product 

tracking capability that supports 

documentation and 

archiving of all production 

data (target & actual) so that 

the requirements of modern 

quality management will be 

fulfilled. 

At this point, special 

mention should be made of 

several devices which have 

been enjoying brisk demand 

of late and are often supplied 

along with the billet 

heater: 

reduced or else it needs to be ensured that the billet already 

exhibits an opposed temperature profile, the so-called taper, 

beforehand. Today, tapers of up to 100 K per m of billet length 

can be realized. It is state-of-the-art practice to calculate 

the necessary taper with the aid of mathematical models 

integrated into the extrusion press and to redefine it, from 

one billet to the next, on the basis of measurement readings. 

These calculations may even call for a non-linear taper, which 

can likewise be produced with an induction heater. 

The energy efficiency attained in the induction heating 

process depends on the magnetic and electrical properties 

of the material to be heated. The underlying physical 

interrelationships are too complex to review in this context. 

However, as an engineering “rule of thumb”, it may be stated 

that the energy efficiency of an induction heater operating 

at a constant frequency will be the better, the lower 

the thermal conductivity of the charge material (Table 1). 

The use of variable power and frequency IGBT (insulated 

gate bipolar transistor) converters is now state-of-the-art. 

Otto Junker, benefiting from synergy effects gained 

in the manufacture of induction-heated coreless melting 

furnaces, has been using a proprietary IGBT converter technology 

that has proven its merits in over 100 installed systems 

since 2004. Like the induction heater itself, every IGBT 

converter cabin is built – without exception – at the Lammersdorf 

factory and subjected to testing and adjustments 

together with the induction heater before shipping so as 

to reduce the commissioning effort at the customer’s site. 

RANGE OF PRODUCTS 

Naturally, apart from these billet heaters, Otto Junker 

also supplies all billet handling equipment tailored to 

on-site conditions, from the billet or log feeding station 

■ Especially when processing aluminium logs, it has 

remained a challenge to minimize the amount of scrap 

produced by the sawing or cutting operation. By combining 

a log welder with a cold saw, it is possible to 

avoid the formation of scrap altogether, except for the 

inevitable sawing swarf. 

■ Before the welding operation, the log ends are moved 

flush against each other and clamped in such a manner 

that no air gap remains and zero radial offset is obtained, 

if at all possible. In this way, air inclusions are avoided to 

the maximum possible extent (Fig. 4). 

At the customer’s request, test welds can be carried out 

to make trial extrusions which can then be evaluated in 

preparation of an investment decision. 

The „narrow cut“ design (twin-blade cold saw) helps 

to reduce losses in the form of low-value swarf substantially. 

Due to the saw blade thickness of only around 3 to 4 

mm, a very thin cut is obtained compared to conventional 

single-blade saws. The two saw blades are mounted in a 

common frame and can be individually adjusted so that 

no undesirable steps will form on the sawn surface (Fig. 5). 

Ideally, the logs supplied to the saw are taken from a vertical 

log magazine (Fig. 6). Its log storage capacity, with a strict 

separation between material grades, is much larger than that 

of a horizontal magazine. Needless to say, logs withdrawn for 

production may also be put back into storage, e.g., if a job is 

to be aborted, and re-used at some later date. The requisite 

software is developed and commissioned by our engineers. 

OPERATING COSTS AND EMISSIONS 

From the operator’s viewpoint, the only disadvantage 

of an induction heater lies in the operating costs to be 

factored into the payback calculation. These are higher 



REPORTS 

than for a system relying on fossil energy. 

However, the drawback of higher 

CO 2 emissions tends to be relevant only 

at the national level as the specific electricity 

mix of a given economy needs 

to be considered here. For Germany as 

an industrial location, it remains to be 

seen how specific CO 2 emissions will 

develop in the next few years in view 

of the recently adopted phase-out of 

nuclear power and the country’s shift 

in focus towards regenerative energies 

(Table 2). 

As regards electricity prices, their 

direction appears clear: regenerative 

energy is currently more costly than 

nuclear power, and fossil energy costs 

can hardly be expected to come down 

in the long run if only because of the 

limitation of resources. This makes it 

more difficult to justify the use of electrical 

(instead of fossil) energy in extrusion 

technology from an economic 

viewpoint, to say nothing of the significant 

operating cost drawbacks which 

already emerge today when comparing 

the German situation to countries with 

similarly high labour costs (e.g., France 

or Sweden), Table 3. 

In calculating investment payback 

periods it is therefore recommended to 

consider not just the energy demand of 

the induction heater per tonne of heated 

aluminium but to relate this energy consumption 

to the actual product output 

obtained downstream of the extrusion 

press. The higher yield will then justify 

the use of an induction heater. Key arguments 

in favor of the induction billet heater 

include the following: 

fewer quality defects through accurate, 

reproducible temperature control, i.e., 

fewer rejects -low number of billets in 

the system at any given time, i.e., if a job 

is aborted, only one excess billet will be 

heated (contrary to the situation with a 

multi-billet heater). 

CONCLUSION 

The use of an induction heater based 

on IGBT technology, whether as a standalone 

unit or operating in series with a 

fuel-fired preheater, provides significant 

Billet temperature [°C] 

Temperature [°C] 

600 

570 

540 

510 

480 

450 

420 

390 

360 

330 

300 

270 

240 

210 

180 

150 

120 

90 

60 

30 

Sheathed thermocouple measurement on IBE 

D billet = 380mm, L billet = 1500mm, 

Heater target temp.: 530 °C, throughput: 7.35 billets / h 

0 

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510 540 570 600 

Kurve_IBE_OF_(E) 

Time [s] 

Fig. 2: Power-controlled heating of an aluminium billet to 530 °C 

± 5K at a maximum temperature head of +20K 

490 

480 

470 

460 

450 

440 

430 

420 

410 

400 

Measuring station control reading on IBE 

D billet = 380mm, L billet = 1500mm, 

Measuring station target temp.: 470 - 390 °C, throughput: 7.80 billets / h 

Coil projection 50 mm 

Kurve_Taperheating_IBE_OF(E) 

Core TSP 1 

Sheath TSP 1 

Core TSP 2 

Sheath TSP 2 

Core TSP 3 

Sheath TSP 3 

Core TSP 4 

Sheath TSP 4 

Core TSP 5 

Sheath TSP 5 

Core TSP 6 

Sheath TSP 6 

Furnace target temp. 

390 

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 

Coil length [mm] 

Meas. station target temp. [°C] Max. tolerance [°C] Min. tolerance [°C] Billet 1 

Billet 2 Billet 3 Billet 4 Billet 5 

Billet 6 Billet 7 Billet 8 Billet 9 

Billet 10 Billet 11 

Billet length 1500 mm 

Fig. 3: Result of the check-up measurement, conducted before the 

aluminium extrusion press, of a linear taper set to 50 K/m 

Table 1: Power consumption of an induction heater wirh multi-layer coil and IGBT frequency 

converter 

Specific energy consumption Aluminium Brass Copper 

Final temperature without taper 480 °C 800 °C 950 °C 

Specific enthalpy of charge 

material 

130 kWh/t Al 

99 kWh/t Ms 

113 kWh/t Cu 

Power consumption of IBE ≈ 215 kWhel/t Al 

≈ 152 kWhel/t Ms 

≈ 202 kWhel/t Cu 

Energy efficiency of IBE 60,5 % 65,1 % 55,9 % 


53

REPORTS 


Table 2: Comparison of CO 2 emissions based on national electricity mix 

[Eurostat, 2007] 

Table 3: Comparison of operating costs on the basis of 

average electricity prices [Eurostat, 2009] 

Specific CO 2 

Specific operating 

costs 

Aluminium Brass Copper 

emission 

Aluminium Messing Kupfer 

Sweden < 0,001 t CO2 

/t Al 

< 0,001 t CO2 

/t Ms 


REPORTS 

Purpose-directed hot zone 

and cooling-gas stream design 

of vacuum furnaces 

by Björn Eric Zieger 

The heat-treatment processes of various components and loads have most different requirements reg. uniform components 

cooling as well as for high quenching speed. Rectangular hot zone design with large scale gas through-streaming is 

still and again for many standards and also for special loads recommendable. In this way gas through-streaming, which 

corresponds to load plain, can even take place from various directions and with flow reversal. Round hot zones design 

with nozzle cooling can offer, however, advantages through higher cooling capacity for hardening processes of large 

size components. 

The development and application of heat treatment 

of metal tools and components has made significant 

progress since the eighties, these days constituting 

a fixed component of heat treatment in-house and on 

sub-contracting. 

Annealing processes, hardening, tempering, sub-zero 

treatment, high temperature brazing and possibly thermochemical 

processes can be reproducibly performed in 

modern vacuum furnaces, fully automatically and without 

supervision. 

SINGLE CHAMBER VACUUM FURNACE 

TYPES 

Single chamber vacuum furnaces may basically be grouped 

into three different types: 

■ Chamber furnaces (horizontal, front loading design) 

■ Bottom loader (vertical, with lifting platform) 

■ Top loader (vertical shaft furnace). 

Globally, the horizontal front loading vacuum chamber 

furnace is the most commonly deployed furnace (Fig. 1). Its 

main advantage lies in its high flexibility. This space-saving 

design makes low demands on the location for installation. 

BASIC VACUUM FURNACE DESIGN 

Vacuum furnaces are electrically heated and designed 

according to the “cold wall” system – i.e. with doublewalled 

water-cooled furnace shell. This reduces the thermal 

load on the metal furnace housing, since the no-load 

losses are conducted to the cooling water in the jacket. The 

generally cylindrical external housing may be of horizontal 

or vertical design. 

Inside the furnace there is the hot zone chamber with 

insulated lining and heating elements as well as the rapid 

cooling system with heat exchanger. The high performance 

radial fan and electric motor are also installed inside the 

chamber. On special furnaces the rapid cooling device may 

also, however, be fitted externally. 

The vacuum pumps, heating transformer and cabinet 

are fitted outside the furnace. 

HEATING SYSTEMS AND VERSIONS 

Vacuum furnaces are predominantly heated with graphite 

heaters operating at low voltage and high current. The 

current enters the interior via vacuum- and pressure-tight 

feed-throughs and lug bolts welded into the wall of the 

vessel and then via insulating ceramic bushes into the hot 

zone. The conductors are here solidly connected to the 

heater in the hot zone. 

It is important when heating up a vacuum furnace that 

the load is heated uniformly to avoid distortions even in 

the first phases of the heat treatment process. The practical 

standard which has proven itself for most processes today 

is single zone heaters. Multi-zone heaters are also found 

for special applications. In addition to door and rear wall 

heaters, these may also feature additional central heaters 

or a combination of both (Fig. 2). 


55

REPORTS 


Fig. 1: Horizontal vacuum chamber furnace Type I 

Fig. 2: Graphite insulated hot zone with central heaters 

HOT ZONE 

The hot zones of most heat treatment vacuum furnaces 

are lined with graphite insulation. The hot zone may be 

rectangular or round. 

The heat treatment temperature for metal work pieces is 

1,250 °C max., requiring a maximum temperature of 1,350 °C 

to 1,400 °C for vacuum furnaces. Applications in the sintering 

industry, however, may require temperatures of up to 

1,600 °C. But even temperatures in excess of 2,000 °C are 

achievable in vacuum furnaces. 

All-metal hot zones are used for special applications 

and requirements for carbon hydride-free atmospheres. 

Several serial radiation shields made of molybdenum and / 

or heat-resistant materials are used for insulation with these 

heating elements. The application temperature determines 

the number of radiation shields and their material. These 

hot zones may be rectangular or round, as required (Fig. 3). 

HIGH PRESSURE GAS QUENCHING 

Depending on the requirements for the heat treatment 

charge and materials, various cooling mechanisms are possible, 

such as heating down by gradient, vacuum cooling 

by temperature losses, gas cooling with static gas and high 

pressure gas quenching. 

REQUIRED COOLING RATE FOR HIGH 

PRESSURE GAS QUENCHING 

For high pressure gas quenching, the furnace is flooded 

with protective gas (for steel hardening, usually nitrogen) 

at a preselected pressure. A cooling fan unit comprising an 

AC motor with fan streams cooling gas through the entire 

load via open flaps or nozzles. The protective gas absorbs 

the thermal energy of the charge, carrying it away to an 

internal gas-water heat exchanger in the vacuum furnace 

plant (Fig. 4). 

The required cooling rate with high pressure gas quenching 

in a vacuum furnace depends on many factors. The 

quenching rate is determined not only by the preselected 

pressure and properties of the quenching gas. The vacuum 

furnace design has a significant effect on the quality of the 

quenching procedure, e.g.: 

■ Size of the hot zone 

■ Size of the gas inlet apertures – should match the 

dimensions of the useable volume, if possible 

■ Cross sections for cooling gas flow 

■ Gas volume flow – depends on motor output and fan 

size 

■ Gas-water heat exchanger – design and output 

■ Cooling water supply – volume and temperature 

■ Technical options such as multi-directional cooling and 

all-round cooling. 

This generally means that quenching with e.g. 6 bar in 

vacuum furnace Type A cannot be compared with 6 bar 

quenching in vacuum furnace Type B. 

MULTI-DIRECTIONAL COOLING SYSTEMS 

These days, different cooling systems provide for many 

quenching options for a variety of components, to achieve 

optimal results in terms of hardening and dimensional 

stability. 

The direction reversal through-flow principle has proven 

itself in many typical vacuum furnace hardening processes. 

Large inlet and outlet apertures that match the load 

dimensions are required for high consistency of cooling. 



REPORTS 

These gas inlet and outlet apertures are fitted with special 

gas distribution elements or nozzles. 

The homogeneity of gas quenching may be improved 

through programmable vertical and/or horizontal direction 

reversal of the cooling gas stream. Vertical cooling gas 

through-flow is recommended, among other, for hardening 

of vertically arranged charges such as tool plates, drills, 

valve pistons, etc. (Fig. 5). 

Horizontal cooling gas through-flow is used typically 

for cooling of plate heat exchanger loads, for instance. 

This achieves fast and uniform cooling of the entire load 

in all areas. 

*2x2R* systems (Fig. 6) allow both reversal from horizontal 

to vertical cooling within a cooling phase as well as 

rotational cooling. The gas direction reversal may be controlled 

by time or by temperature, depending on the requirements 

of the material for heat treatment. Temperaturecontrolled 

reversal of gas flow may be regulated by actual 

temperature differences measured by thermocouples. 

Quenching will be more even, with significantly reduced 

distortion of components. This also achieves faster and 

therefore more economical cooling of the load. The development 

of the multi-directional *2R* and *2x2R* cooling 

systems resulted in clearly reduced differences of temperature 

within a load, as compared to single-directional 

cooling. This significantly minimises component distortion. 

NOZZLE COOLING SYSTEM 

In vacuum furnaces with round hot zone, the cooling gas 

stream is simultaneously distributed onto the surface of 

the load 360° all-round before exiting at the back of the 

heat exchanger (Fig. 7). In some furnace designs the gas 

stream can be also forced to flow additionally through 

nozzles in the front door area. A round hot zone with 360° 

all-round radial nozzle cooling system has some advantage 

for vacuum heat treatment processes such as hardening 

of bulk charges or very large components, e.g. massive die 

casting dies. The impinging cooling gas stream may be a 

disadvantage in the case of several components arranged 

one behind the other, or possibly upright arranged slim 

components. 

The achievable cooling rates in individual types of furnace 

depend on factors as previously mentioned, such as 

quenching pressure, quenching gas, rapid cooling system 

design (cooling gas circulation motor, fan design, gas/water 

heat exchanger), cooling water supply and furnace type. 

Also the size of furnace has a significant effect on achievable 

cooling speed of identical components. For identical 

components shorter cooling times are reached with smaller 

furnace sizes by trend. 

For heat treatment of die casting dies, for instance, the 

cooling rate is determined by comparison with measurements 

on a test block (406 x 406 x 406 mm - 560 kg net) 

Fig. 3: 

Round molybdenum 

insulated hot zone 

Fig. 4: Basic layout of gas quenching in a vacuum furnace with rectangular 

hot zone 

Fig. 5: 

Mass production of valve 

pistons in the vacuum 

furnace 


57

REPORTS 


in accordance with NADCA (North American Die Casting 

Association) standard. The cooling rate is in this case determined 

in the range 1,038 °C to 540 °C, using thermocouples 

at defined positions on the test block surface and with a 

prescribed minimum cooling rate > 30 K/min. 

In this respect, the *RD* nozzle cooling system achieves 

component cooling rates by far in excess of the NADCA 

standard requirements and is therefore also capable of 

comfortably meeting future requirements. 

A corresponding vacuum hardening furnace of smaller 

size 600 x 900 x 600 mm achieves with 10 bar (abs.) quenching 

pressure some peak values clearly > 120 K/min at 

some surface sides of the test block. A large size vacuum 

furnace (1200 x 1500 x 1000 mm) exceeds the requirements 

of NADCA even with an average value of 40 K/min for all 

6 surface sides. 

The new *RD PLUS* concept of nozzle cooling in a 

vacuum furnace with round hot zone offers once more 

optimized and more uniform cooling gas streaming. A 

corresponding vacuum hardening furnace of size 900 x 

1200 x 700 mm ( w x l x h) reaches an average value of 60 

K/min for all 6 surface sides of the described test block with 

10 bar (abs.) quenching pressure. 

Increasing the quenching pressure from 10 bar to 13 

bar (abs.) a further advance of approximately 15 % higher 

cooling speed is to be expected. 

Fig. 6: Multi-directional cooling system *2x2R* 

CONCLUSION 

The integration of vacuum heat treatment in small and 

major series production demands high flexibility in terms 

of plant technology. The relevant processes are rapidly 

adaptable to other components. The fully automatic cycle 

implements flawless and reproducible processes. Uniform 

heat treatment of the entire load is assured by the use of 

load thermocouples. High reproducibility reduces the cost 

of testing to a minimum. 

A universal solution comprising furnaces with rectangular 

hot zone design and linear or possibly reversible cooling 

gas through streaming is recommended for most typical 

vacuum heat treatment processes. 

A round hot zone design with nozzle cooling may be 

advantageous for large size components to improve maximum 

cooling rates. Today`s market demands are already 

clearly exceeded in this respect. 

AUTHOR 

Fig. 7: Round hot zone of a vacuum furnace with *RD* 

nozzle cooling system 

Dipl.-Ing. Björn Eric Zieger 

Schmetz GmbH 

Menden, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)2373/ 686-184 

bjoern.zieger@schmetz.de 



REPORTS 

Infrared drying with porous 

burners in industrial 

environments 

by Michael Angerstein 

The use of gas infrared burners in general provides huge advantages in many drying and heating processes. Porous 

burners, being the only short-wave gas infrared burners in the world, are quite special in this regard. The particular 

features offered by porous burners will be addressed further down in this article. 

They are ready for operation in just a matter of minutes, 

meaning that the long heat-up phase needed 

with many convection heaters is no longer necessary. 

And yet, when using gas infrared burners, the heat transferred 

is often so high that the drying phase can be much 

shorter than with circulating air dryers, or higher drying 

performance can be achieved with the same drying time. 

OPERATING PRINCIPLE 

Heat from infrared radiation is transmitted without any 

kind of contact from the radiation source (the gas infrared 

burner) to the recipient of the radiation. The dry air allows 

100 % of this radiation to pass through. 

Only when the infrared radiation meets a surface is 

the radiated energy converted into heat. This operating 

principle will be very familiar to anyone in a wintery environment 

sensing the warming effect of the sun on their 

skin. The highly efficient gas infrared radiant heaters used 

for low-energy space heating work in a quite similar fashion. 

Gas infrared burners used for drying in industrial environments 

are burners that are operated using a combustion air 

fan. This provides them among other things with better control 

facilities and allows them to achieve the kind of reproducibility 

in output that is required in industrial processes. 

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example 

structure of a gas infrared unit. The individual burners are 

lined up in a series to create any desired length. Two lines 

of burners are usually joined to form a ‘twin row’. Single or 

twin rows have ducts fitted on the sides, and this arrangement 

then forms a single unit. It is possible to arrange any 

number of these units behind one another. 

Fig. 1 shows two of these twin rows as an example. 

Please note that the burner is supplied with gas and combustion 

air separately and is entirely independent from 

the ambient air circulation system, which is also depicted. 

Gas and combustion air are supplied to the burner and 

burned there. The hot surfaces of the burner emit a very 

even infrared radiation that is then used for drying or heating. 

The hot gases from the combustion process and the 

solvents evaporated in the drying process – usually steam 

– are collected via the suction ducts. 

OPTIMUM ENERGY USE 

If the product to be dried permits, the heat energy from 

the combustion process can be further exploited. In this 

case, only part of the flow is discharged through the roof, 

thus preventing the ambient air circulation system from 

being saturated – for example with the vaporous solvent, 

which is usually steam. 

The discharged portion must have fresh air added to 

it, which is achieved by means of a corresponding valve 

control system. The largest part of the still-hot gases remain 

in the ambient air circulation system and are blown via the 

pressure-side ducts onto the product to be dried. 

This means that, in addition to the radiated heat, there 

is also convection, thus deriving the maximum possible 

benefit from the energy. 

HIGH LEVEL FLEXIBILITY 

Gas infrared burners are large-surface burners, which 

means that the radiation is emitted very evenly from the 

entire radiating surface. By arranging burners as appropri- 


59

REPORTS 


Also of interest is the ability to balance out 

certain variations in moisture content across 

the width of the paper web. To achieve this, 

the required number of burner rows are fitted 

with a ‘profile correction’ system. This enables 

each individual burner in the row to supply 

varying output, based on the demands of 

the moisture profile (Fig. 2). 

The humidity is measured continuously 

over the width of the web and the burner output 

of each individual burner is automatically 

modified so that the residual moisture beyond 

the IR zone is as even as possible throughout 

the width of the web. 

Fig. 1: Construction in principle 

ate, they can be adapted to the shape of the workpieces. 

The ability to switch individual rows of burners on and off 

provides a great deal of flexibility. Systems are also used in 

practice that enable the radiation width to be modified. 

By switching off unneeded burners – in the case of narrower 

web widths, for example – this allows even more energy 

to be saved and the already low operating costs to be 

reduced even further by saving gas. Moreover, the surface 

burners can be adjusted smoothly to any value between 

at least 50 % and 100 % output. The porous burner can 

even achieve values of between around 20 % and 100 %. 

Large-surface products are particularly well-suited to 

drying processes with gas infrared burners in principle. Indeed, 

gas infrared burners are used very successfully to dry 

coated paper web or coated steel strip, to quote examples. 

The paper industry works with widths of up to 11 

m running at speeds of more than 2000 m/min. While 

medium-wave gas infrared burners have been in use for 

decades to dry paper that has been coated on one or 

both sides, the new type of porous burners have only 

been in use since 2006. 

Porous burners have more than proven their value in the 

harsh arena of everyday practical use. Measurements have 

confirmed that the high performance of the porous burner 

(connected loads of up to 1,000 kW/m² possible) does not 

impair the quality of the paper in any way. The much higher 

supply of energy is used to the same extent for drying as 

is the case with the much weaker medium-wave burners. 

This means that in the paper industry – using the same 

available space, meaning that no changes are made to 

the route taken by the web when switching to a porous 

burner system – the drying performance can be increased 

many times over. 

POROUS BURNERS FOR DRYING 

COATED STEEL STRIPS 

The use of porous burner to dry coated steel 

strip is relatively new. The speeds that the strip 

move at here are much lower than those of the paper 

industry, but that does not mean that the task at hand is 

any less complex, as shown by the following requirements 

profile: 

Strip width: 700 to 1750 mm 

Strip thickness: 0.25 to 3.00 mm 

Strip speed: 3 to 130 m/min 

Coating: aqueous 

Coating weight: 4 g/m² per side, wet 

Strip supply temperature: 35 °C 

Strip outlet temperature: min. 100 °C PMT (peak metal 

temperature) 

Direction of strip running: horizontal 

Three twin rows are fitted with a total of 144 porous burners 

for each line side. The heated width could be switched to 

900, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,800 mm width levels. 

Therefore, with strip of 700 mm in width, a heated width 

of 900 mm was used, while with a strip width of 1750 mm, a 

width of 1800 mm was used for using. The different heated 

widths are shown in Fig. 3. 

Output is regulated on the basis of the thickness of the 

material, the speed and the coating material. The various 

parameters and settings are stored in the PLC as a formula to 

enable the dryer to enter the correct mode of operation automatically 

when a stored formula is preselected. This means 

that the correct width, the required output and the appropriate 

number of burner rows are automatically activated. 

Each twin row is fitted with a swivel joint that enables 

it to be folded away 90° when no longer in use. The swivel 



REPORTS 

joint was fitted for two reasons: 

1. The first is that in the event that the strip stops suddenly, 

the rows can be folded away and operated in low-load 

mode. This ensures that the strip does not overheat. 

When the strip is moving again, production can be resumed 

almost immediately. 

2. Furthermore, in the interest of easier maintenance, where 

strip is running at a height of over 2 m, platforms are 

integrated into the dryers. This enables easy access to 

the burners while they are folded away. 

And replacing a burner is also very simple. Simply remove 

the four screws on the rear side of the burner, then the new 

burner and its mounting can be fitted. There is no need to 

disconnect a gas hose, valve or similar to replace a burner. 

In another case, there was a need to increase the output of 

a dryer, because the circulating air dryer in use until then simply 

did not provide enough drying performance, even though 

the ambient air temperature was set as high as possible. 

Fig. 2: Porous burner using profile correction system 

Heated width 1: 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

Strip width: 650 to 1650 mm 

Strip thickness: 0.3 to 3.00 mm 

Strip speed: 150 m/min 


900 mm 

m 

Coating: aqueous 

Coating weight: 5 g/m² per side, wet 

Direction of strip running: horizontal 

Three twin rows are fitted with a total of 144 porous burners 

for each line side. The heated width could be switched to 

900, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,800 mm width levels. The length 

here was limited to 5.5 m because the tension roller drive 

station came directly after the dryer. 

Whenever the strip was not sufficiently dried, not only 

did it make the tension rollers dirty, which made complex 

cleaning work necessary (thus also causing downtime), 

but it also caused problems with the strip feed because 

the still-wet strip was slipping on the rollers. As a result, 

the insufficient drying performance of the circulating air 

dryer had to be operated with a much reduced feed speed. 

Additional, a supporting roller that ran in parallel had 

to be fitted to the dryer supply point and automatically 

moved away when the coater was coating the steel strip 

in order to avoid disrupting the coating process. If the 

coater is not in use, however, the roller is used to support 

the uncoated strip. 

The result – the strip slack can vary massively depending 

on the mode of operation. An automated height adjuster 

was therefore fitted for exactly this situation. Each twin 

row (in addition to the properties of the aforementioned 

dryer) is moved individually and automatically to achieve 

the required distance to the surface of the strip. 

This allows the system to be adapted in the best way 

possible to the changing slack of the strip. In this case, it 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 



1200 mm 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

1500 mm 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

1800 mm 

Fig. 3: Active width adjustment 

would be possible to leave out the swivel system. The 

result – thanks to the porous burner – is a controlled drying 

process in all operating modes. 

AUTHOR 

Dipl.-Ing. Michael Angerstein 

GoGas Goch GmbH & Co. KG 

Dortmund, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)231/ 46505-87 

michael.angerstein@gogas.com 


61

The 

Standard 

Book 

Handbook of 

Aluminium Recycling 

Fundamentals 

Mechanical Preparation 

Metallurgical Processing 

Plant Design 

The handbook guides the practitioner in the fi eld of production, 

design or plant engineering in detail through the various tech nologies 

involved in aluminium recycling. The book deals with aluminium 

as a material and of its recovery from natural raw materials 

sources, the various processes and procedures, melting and 

casting plants, metal treatment facilities, provisions and equipment 

for environmental and workforce safety, plant planning, operation 

and control, and also remelting of aluminium. The reader is thus 

provided with a detailed overview of the technology of aluminium 

recycling. 

Editor: Ch. Schmitz 

1st edition 2006, 470 pages, hardcover 

Vulkan-Verlag 



Yes, I place a fi rm order for the technical book. Please send me 

___ copies of the Handbook of Aluminium Recycling 

1st edition 2006 – ISBN 978-3-8027-2936-6 

at the price of € 88.00 (postage and packing extra) 



REPLY / WERBEANTWORT 




45039 Essen 

GERMANY 

Please note: According to German law this request may be withdrawn within 14 days after order date in writing to Vulkan Verlag GmbH, Versandbuchhandlung, 

Postfach 10 39 62, 45039 Essen, Germany. In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being recorded and 

stored. It is approved that this data may also be used in commercial ways □ by mail, □ by phone, □ by fax, □ by e-mail, □ none. This approval 

may be withdrawn at any time. 


Country, postcode, town 

Phone 

E-mail 


✘ 


Fax 

PAHBAR2012


REPORTS 

Hybrid processes in 

electrotechnology 

by Jörg Neumeyer, Holger Schülbe, Bernard Nacke 

Processes out of the field of electrotechnology offer a large number of technological and ecological advantages for a 

broad application area of industrial process heat. The large bandwidth of benefits possessed by electrothermal systems 

can even be enlarged and adapted for other applications by means of rational and appropriate combination in the 

context of so-called hybrid processes. 

Industrial process heat makes up the third largest sector 

of total German consumption of final energy, after 

mechanical energy in the field of transport and domestic 

space heating. An increasing percentage of the energy 

required to generate process heat is now supplied using 

electrothermal systems. The benefit of these methods 

over conventional fuel-based technology can be found 

in their universal usability, relatively simply handling and 

use, high transmissible output density, superior efficiency, 

and lower ecological impact. Electrical energy nowadays 

continues mainly to be generated in power-generating 

plants based on fuels such as coal and gas, but such largescale 

facilities also include systems which keep pollutant 

emissions low, such as flue-gas desulphurization and 

dedusting installations. This large bandwidth of benefits 

possessed by electrothermal systems can also be enlarged 

and adapted for other applications by means of rational 

and appropriate combination in the context of so-called 

hybrid processes. 

DIMENSIONING BY NUMERICAL 

SIMULATION 

The effects of electrothermal procedures onto the temperature 

profile can be investigated previously by use 

of numerical simulation. Thus it is possible to execute 

cost-efficient parametric studies of different geometries, 

generators and electric parameters. The simulation 

allows the integral observation of the temperature 

development at any location and at any time of the 

process. It bases on FEM (finite-element-method) and is 

accomplished electromagnetic and thermal coupled to 

consider the temperature dependency of the material 

parameters (Fig. 1). 

BEAM WELDING AND INDUCTION 

IN HYBRID PROCESSES 

To join high-strength steels nowadays frequently laser 

beam welding processes are applied. The strong focusing 

of the laser beam leads to very high power densities in a 

narrow area of the workpiece and to a distinctive deepweld 

effect. Coincidental the high power densities are 

causing very high temperature gradients in the welded 

area. Again this temperature gradients end in a fast cooling 

subsequent to the joining process and therefore to 

an unacceptable hardness increase and brittleness of the 

joint. The electromagnetic induction suits perfectly for 

fast and controlled implementation of additional thermal 

energy into the workpiece. Fig. 2 schematically shows the 

experimental arrangement of a hybrid laser-induction-process 

including a preparatory inductor and corresponding 

measurement devices. The duration time of the inductor’s 

effect can be calculated by use of the scanning velocity 

and the length of the inductor. At the same time the electromagnetic 

penetration depth can be influenced by the 

frequency of the inductor’s current. Both the residence 

time and the frequency determine the temperature profile 

in the workpiece. The additional inserted thermal energy 

on the one hand leads to smaller temperature gradients 

subsequent to the joining process and on the other hand 

reduces the necessary temperature range to the melting 

point. Consequently a laser with less power respectively 

the same laser at higher scanning velocity can be applied. If 

inductor and laser are integrated in the same process head 

both heat sources are moved with identical velocities: v Ind 

= v Laser . Beside the version of a preheating inductor also a 

subsequent induction system may be applied to generate 

additional thermal energy after the joining process. Fig. 3 


63

REPORTS 


begin 

Starting conditions 

pos blank = 0 

ϑ = f(x 1 ,y 1 ,z 1 ) 

v = ∆pos / ∆t 

Geometrygeneration 

p (x n , y n , z n ) 

harmonicanalysis 

ρ = f(ϑ), µ = f(ϑ) 

electromagnetic calculation 

Joule heat distribution 

Transient analysis(∆t) 

λ = f(ϑ), c p = f(ϑ) 

ϑ (x n , y n , z n ) 

pos blank = n · ∆pos ? 

end 

Thermal calculation 

temperaturedistribution 

yes 

Fig. 1: Simulation sequence 

Fig. 2: Hybrid laser-induction 

no → n = n + 1 

new position 

pos blank = pos blank + ∆pos 

Fig. 3: Induction support’s impact on the t 8/5 -time 

temperature 

distribution 

ϑ (x n-1 , y n-1 , z n-1 ) 

shows calculation results of multiple simulations and 

demonstrates the impacts of additional inductors onto 

the t 8/5 -time – the cooling time between 800 and 500 °C – 

that allows drawing conclusions about the hardness 

increase of the microstructure. The heat generation by 

the welding sources had been implemented by normally 

distributed half ellipsoid sources [1]. 

A single laser beam process leads to a t 8/5 -time of only 

2.3 s. The additional thermal energy of a preheating inductor 

increases the t 8/5 -time to 9.8 s. Within the curves there 

can be seen a temperature drop before initiation of the 

laser beam over a time range of nearly two seconds. This 

phenomenon can be ascribed to the safety distance between 

inductor and laser source. There has to be a gap 

between the point of impact of the laser beam and the 

inductor of around 30 mm to prevent damage to the inductor. 

The deployed scanning velocity of 1 m/min leads to 

a period of 1.8 s for the safety time [2]. Compared to the 

version with a preparatory inductor a following inductor 

offers a t 8/5 -time of 12.1 s. Though in this connection it has 

to be considered that the displayed temperature profile is 

aimed at the part of the welded joint that is positioned at 

the inductor overlooking surface. Hence this area resides in 

the space of the electromagnetic penetration depth. The 

already started heat conducting effects are leading to a greater 

heat’s diffusion in the whole workpiece, whereby the 

temperature at this point at the surface decreases and the 

t8/5-time of the process with preheating is less. Regarding 

the point at the seam root an opposite effect occurs. The 

combination of both preheating and postheating inductors 

and the necessary adjustment of the distance between 

laser beam and post weld heating are able to achieve a 

cooling time (t 8/5 -time) of 26.3 s. 

Within a currently operated research project that is 

funded by Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e.V. 

(FOSTA) a process that includes a bifid beam source assisted 

by induction heating is investigated. In opposite to the 

exclusive application of a laser beam a hybrid process head 

with a supplemental electric arc tube is implemented that 

affords a common saturation of the same melting bath. The 

additional charge by an arc tube leads to further enhancement 

of the weldable sheet thickness and scanning 

velocity and is able to provide fill material for infilling the 

joint. This hybrid process head can be extended perfectly 

by an inductive assistance. As you can see in Fig. 4 this 

demonstrated treatment concerns a laser arc hybrid welding 

process including an additional support by induction 

heating. In contrast to the first displayed process (see Fig. 2) 

the inductor is positioned perpendicular to the scanning 

direction. A part of the laser energy is extracted to establish 

a small seam weld that actualizes a mechanical and therefore 

electrical bond of both sheets that have to be joined. 

So the induced current in the workpiece is able to flow 



REPORTS 

and close across this joint. Fig. 5 shows the characteristic 

of the current flows in the inductor and in the workpiece. 

The current inside the workpiece flows along the sides 

of the joint and generates “Joule Heat” in this area. In this 

manner the whole material that is relevant for the welding 

process can be preheated ideally. Afterwards follows the 

closing hybrid process by laser and arc welding. 

Beside the possibilities of combining different electrotechnologies 

also whole processes may be teamed with 

each other. An application that was developed with the 

collaboration of the Institute of Electrotechnology and the 

Laserzentrum Hannover e.V. permits the combination of an 

inductive assisted laser welding process and a following 

induction hardening process. An inductor with a gap for 

the laser impact is supposed to preheat the material for the 

welding (Fig. 6). After the welding process occurs a scan 

hardening process of the remaining workpiece by usage of 

the same inductor. Because for both process parts different 

requirements to the electric parameters are demanded a 

suitable control system has to be implemented. Also there’s 

a supplementary quench integrated that cools down the 

material rapidly after the induction heating to achieve the 

necessary cooling rates and therefore the requested hardness. 

The inductor’s width influences the power density 

and by the rotation velocity respectively the scanning 

velocity the heated breadth. 

Fig. 4: Welding process FOSTA 

COMBINATION OF CONVENTIONAL 

PROCESSES AND ELECTROTECHNOLOGY 

In spite of the large bandwidth of advantages of procedures 

out of the field of electrotechnology conventional processes 

furthermore have their right to exist. Especially in heating 

and treating of workpieces with complex geometries 

electrotechnologies reach their limitations. Conventional 

gas- and oil-powered heating devices that merely warm 

up by convection, conduction and radiation through the 

surface afford only low heating rates. Furthermore they are 

causing high thermal power losses and abet the appearance 

of oxide scales. On the other hand there are advantages 

of a simple design and a good possibility of temperature 

maintenance. A proper combination of conventional 

methods and the direct induction heating that enables 

high power densities und high heating rates constitutes an 

excellent potential to heat up complex geometries quickly 

and homogeneously. The demonstrated process concerns 

the heating of metal sheets made of high strength steel 

for press hardening. The sheets possess a trapezium shape. 

A sole warming by induction heating indeed affects high 

heating rates but it also creates inadmissible temperature 

inhomogeneity with a maximal difference of 360 K. The 

following conventional heating affords a homogeneous 

heating up to 900 °C in a relative short time period of only 

Fig. 5: Principle – perpendicular 

inductor 

Fig. 6: Welding and 

hardening 

60 s (Fig. 7 [3]). Fig. 7: Hybrid process induction and conventional 


65

REPORTS 


CONCLUSION 

Processes out of the field of electrotechnology offer a large 

number of technological and ecological advantages for a 

broad application area for industrial process heat. By coupling 

of multiple methods in so-called hybrid processes the 

particular advantages can utilized simultaneously. Also the 

connection of conventional and electric heating processes 

represents a good way to optimize existing procedures. 

Hybrid processes expand and improve the possibilities and 

the industrial application of electrotechnology. 

LITERATURE 

[1] Radaj, D.: Eigenspannungen und Verzug beim Schweißen – 

Rechen- und Messverfahren. Fachbuchreihe Schweißtechnik 

Band 143, Düsseldorf, 2002 

AUTHORS 

Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Neumeyer 

Institute of Electrotechnology 

Leibniz University of Hanover 

Hanover, Germany 

Tel.: +49 (0)511/ 762-3526 

Dipl.-Ing. Holger Schülbe 




Tel.: +49 (0)511/ 762-3928 

[2] Meier, O.: Laserstrahlschweißen hochfester Stahlfeinbleche 

mit prozessintegrierter induktiver Wärmebehandlung 

Berichte aus dem Laserzentrum Hannover, Hannover, 2005 

[3] Schülbe, H.; Jestremski, M.; Nacke, B.: Numerische Untersuchungen 

induktiver Erwärmungsprozesse für das Presshärten, elektrowärme 

international, Vol.: 69, Issue 3, 2011, page 283-288 

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernard Nacke 




Tel.: +49 (0)511/ 762-5533 

KNOWLEDGE for the FUTURE 

Handbook of Refractory Materials Design | Properties | Testing 

This new edition has been completely revised, expanded and appears in a 

compact format. 

Readers obtain an extensive and detailed overview focusing on design, properties, 

calculations, terminology and testing of refractory materials. With the great 

amount of information this compact book is a necessity for professional working in 

the refractory material or thermal process sectors. 

Editors: G. Routschka / H. Wuthnow 

4th edition 2012, 380 pages with additional information and 

e-book on DVD, hardcover 

Handbook 

with additional 

information 

and entire e-book 

on DVD 

Vulkan-Verlag 




___ copies of the Handbook of Refractory Materials plus DVD ROM. 

4th edition 2012 – ISBN: 978-3-8027-3162-4 





REPLY / ANTWORT 




45039 Essen 

Germany 


Phone 

E-mail 

Fax 



66 

Postfach 10 39 62, 45039 Essen, Germany. In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being 

recorded and stored. It is approved that this data may also be used in commercial ways □ by mail, □ by phone, □ by fax, □ by e-mail, ✘ 

heat processing 4-2012 

□ none. This approval may be withdrawn at any time. 


PAHRM42012

Edition 4 

FOCUS ON 

“Energy efficiency is the 

biggest potential in Europe” 

Paweł Wyrzykowski is President of the Management Board at SECO/WARWICK Group 

in Świebodzin, Poland. In this interview with heat processing he talks about the future 

of the energy industry and technological challenges, revealing his own personal energysaving 

achievement. 

The energy mix of the future: Are you prepared to risk 

a prediction? 

Wyrzykowski: I am generally very positive and supportive 

for the energy from renewable resources. There should be 

enough potential in these renewable resources to constitute 

a substantial energy supply for the earth’s population. 

Although I think the efficient process of making this energy 

useful will take some more time, as will the development 

of efficient storage and transportation of it. Nevertheless 

it is worth to work on it now with full speed. 

The sun, wind, water, geothermics, etc.: Which regenerable 

energy source do you consider to have the greatest 

future? 

Wyrzykowski: I think all of them have a lot of potential. 

The one which I do not regard as a real renewable source 

is the so called biomass, which uses wood residuals, and 

sometimes even wood logs! This is not really very clever 

to burn wood for gaining energy. First of all we release CO 2 

to the atmosphere, and secondly we reduce valuable and 

very healthy sources of raw materials for the production of 

such goods as construction materials or furniture. 

for some dozens of years, but I am also sure – not the prevailing 

role forever. I support the attitude of Europe that we 

do not want to take the dictate of oil and gas producers 

for granted in the long run. Europe had been struggling 

for solutions for decades, but only in the last years we can 

see substantial progress thanks to renewable resources 

and technologies harnessing them. 

I would re-consider if we really have to give up the usage 

of coal. I think also in the areas of its efficiency and the 

environment protection we could achieve a substantial 

progress when processing coal. It would however remain, 

jointly with the renewable energy sources, our counterbalance 

guarding our future income from being transferred 

to OPEC or Russia for overpriced oil and gas. For the same 

reason I support the nuclear energy. The future safety technologies 

and all lessons learned must make it possible for 

society to develop triple, or even quadruple safety systems, 

which do not bear any real risks. I believe we can! 

Which of the technologies currently emerging would 

you invest in today on that basis? 

Wyrzykowski: I think all of them will play a certain role, 

but the importance of them will be different depending on 

the natural conditions in each region. The question is the 

economic and social cost of harnessing them. I am quite 

sure in the long run the society will be quite successful in 

some of the sources. I regard geothermic energy as the 

underestimated one, but having a huge potential. 

How do you assess the future ranking of fossil fuels such 

as oil, coal and gas? 

Wyrzykowski: I am sure they will be playing a major role 


67

FOCUS ON Edition 4 

The energy turnaround: What changes will be necessary 

at the political (including the global political), 

the social and the ecological level to enable us to talk 

realistically of a “turnaround”? 

Wyrzykowski: I am rather skeptical about the common global 

political compromise in this respect. There are too many 

differences, in terms of types and location of certain energy 

resources, but also cultural, religious or climate differences. 

We should struggle to have one common direction in the 

EU, although also this seems not to 

be easy. I believe at least to have an 

integrated EU energy policy. This is 

the pre-condition for searching the 

global compromise. 

There are at least two problems with renewable energy 

sources: the lack of infrastructure, and the continuing 

and persistent concentration of the established 

channels on conventional forms of energy. Will this 

change in the foreseeable future? 

Wyrzykowski: The precautions to change this, has been 

started by most of the governments already. However this will 

take time, is costly and somehow there is an indication that 

the end user, who will pay it in the end, need to have more 

time, too, to adapt to costs and different usage behaviour. 

Irrespective of the form of energy and the technology 

used, many consider the term “energy-efficiency” to 

be the key to the energy questions of the future. How 

do you view this subject? What do you consider to be 

the most important development in this field in the 

heat-processing technology industry? 

Wyrzykowski: Yes, I consider energy efficiency as the 

biggest potential “energy source” in Europe. Starting from 

much better insulation of buildings through many types 

of industrial processes we should be able to save a lot of 

energy. Our industry is highly exposed on this requirement. 

There have been some inroads made in the recent years, 

but the biggest work is still in front of us. 

The use of energy in the heat treat industry depends on, 

among other things, the size of the load that needs heated, 

the heat losses (on housing and exhaust), the cooling 

power and the process time. The load has been optimized 

by weight reduction of components, better and more 

accurate process treatment to improve safety measures 

on functional parts and optimized jigging with low weight 

fixtures. Our heat up simulation software and applied flow 

models helped SECO/WARWICK a lot in achieving already 

considerable savings here. 

As a further step SECO/WARWICK’s new process technologies 

for carburizing (PreNit-LPC®) and nitriding (ZeroFlow®) 

reduced process time, exhaust losses and we are working on 

more processes that optimize not only the energy use but 

“We regularly convert 

our innovations into 

substantial new sales.” 

also the functional properties of parts to minimize the specific 

energy expense of each individual functional component. 

What benefits do electrical process-heat routes offer 

in your opinion? 

Wyrzykowski: Electrical power on heating installations is 

as most engineers in the process business learn early net 

energy, as the exhaust losses of gas heated systems do not 

need to be considered. It is clearly not as simple as this, but 

with natural gas as a limited resource 

and the distribution issues of natural 

gas in some areas, electrical heated 

systems have always been an alternative 

to gas heated systems. The 

benefit that electrical heating offers 

is mainly its simplicity and the lack of heating gas exhaust 

systems. As a matter of fact the control of electric heated 

systems with a number of heating zones can be, as well 

simplified. On another hand, with the development of the 

technology to extract the shale gas, heating system based 

on this medium may be very economical substitute of the 

electrical heating. 

In your opinion, how will energy consumption in industry, 

commerce and domestic households change? 

Wyrzykowski: As emphasized before I expect a significant 

growth of energy efficiency. Secondly, the natural renewable 

resources will gain ground. Thirdly, there may be a 

shift of location of the heavy, energy consuming industry 

to countries and regions which offer cheaper energy, irrespective 

of its origin. 

What role does your company currently play on the 

energy market? 

Wyrzykowski: As the furnace producer we do not consume 

much energy ourselves, but we strongly influence 

the energy consumption of our customers. That is why we 

constantly search for new solutions in this respect. 

What will be your company’s most important innovation 

or project? 

Wyrzykowski: In today’s business environment, factors 

such as performance, energy efficiency, reliability are the 

key contributors to success. It is very much likely it will not 

change with time. SECO/WARWICK has always placed a 

great emphasis on the development of the technologies 

that deliver just that. Our low pressure carburizing technology, 

with its newest addition PreNit® technology, allows 

our customers to process parts at higher temperatures, 

thanks to which the cycle time can be reduced, and still 

without the risk of the grain grow. When applied with our 

new generation three chamber furnaces (with oil or gas 

quenching) it can reduce the cycle time by half. 


Edition 4 

FOCUS ON 

Another example of the same philosophy is the ZeroFlow® 

Nitriding technology. In this case the customers can benefit 

from the reduced nitriding gas consumption. It is especially 

important in view of the new regulations trying to reduce 

the consumption of such gases ammonia. 

The race to develop the furnaces with faster quenching rates 

is on. SECO/WARWICK has developed a new high pressure 

gas quench furnace, VPT type, whose quenching rate is 

comparable to the rates reached in the oil quench systems. 

What challenges do you see approaching you (economic, 

technological, social, etc.)? 

Wyrzykowski: We think the energy questions are very 

up-to-date. The higher oil and gas prices the higher the 

heat treatment cost will be. Those companies who will be 

able to offer some comparative advantage will be winning 

some ground. 

How do the expansion of the EU and globalization affect 

your company and its business? 

Wyrzykowski: We definitely have some benefits from 

the globalization process. Many of our regular customers 

invite us to some new co-operation in new markets. In the 

recent years we have made some good effort in enlarging 

our geographical footprint from Europe and the U.S to 

China, India and Russia. 

How important is a trade name or a brand for the success 

of products in the industrial sector? 

Wyrzykowski: I really respect the brand approach also in 

the industrial goods. The brand stands for the guarantee. 

Not only for the mechanical or electrical product guarantee, 

but also, or mainly – for the guarantee of a lean process 

for our customers, and for delivering the customer some 

competitive advantage through our innovations. These two 

aspects are actually the core of SECO/WARWICK mission. 

Have you been unable to pursue developments, or 

able to pursue them only after a delay, or at reduced 

speed, due to the lack of qualified personnel? 

Wyrzykowski: We are generally happy with our innovations, 

which regularly and in a visible magnitude are 

converted into new sales. This is the main reason we are 

growing rapidly, even despite the economic slow down. 

Does a management team need greater media capabilities 

in order to convince investors? 

Wyrzykowski: We found a good balance between being 

visible in the public and reflecting our real strengths, without 

any exaggeration. As a stock listed company we are exposed 

on some natural interest of the financial investors. We have 

here a good feeling in meeting the main expectations. 

What would you like to change in your company? 

Wyrzykowski: At the end of October 2012 we announced 

our new strategy. We will need some changes in organization 

and communication to make the strategy work. The 

biggest challenge is to create a good internal network 

between all our subsidiaries and motivate their management 

to reaching the highest standards within our group. 

How important is expansion abroad 

for your company? 

Wyrzykowski: It is very important. 

We are traditionally very 

strong in Eastern Europe 

and in the North America. 

We successfully run 

our factories in China and 

India. We have a satisfactory 

track record in Western 

Europe, apart from Germany, 

where we intend to 

“We should struggle 

to have one common 

direction in the EU.” 


69

FOCUS ON Edition 4 

strengthen our position right now. We believe our technical 

solutions are now on the level meeting many expectations 

on this market. Our main plant in Świebodzin, Poland, is 

only one driving hour away from Berlin, Germany. 

How much does your company spend on investments 

each year? 

Wyrzykowski: We spend between 3 to 4 Mio. Euro 

on operational investments, but we have been spending 

much more on some capital investments. This we 

would like to keep at least in the next two years in order 

to strengthen our position in Asia and Brazil. Despite this 

rapid development we have been able to avoid bank debts, 

and we keep still a net cash position. 

What has been/is your greatest energy-saving as a 

private person? 

Wyrzykowski: Recently, I changed my car for a model 

which consumes 30 % less fuel. I and my family are trying 

to pay attention also to many, sometimes little measures, 

which help save energy. 

How would you assess your dealings with employees? 

Wyrzykowski: I try to do my best in having the high 

respect for my colleagues. I think it is important to find 

time for them and make sure their fields of responsibilities 

are clearly defined. From my experience this is already a 

lot, when employees avoid conflicts in their dealings and 

know exactly what they are responsible for. 

What moral values are of particular topicality for you? 

Wyrzykowski: I think fairness and being straight to the 

point are important values. You can create a good rapport 

with your employees if you are really fair in evaluation of 

their work. Being direct is also important, especially in 

today’s world, where the speed of information has gained 

a lot of importance. There is less and less time for reading 

people’s mind, if they are not open enough. 

Do you, or did you, have any people whom you regard 

as examples to you? 

Wyrzykowski: No, I am still waiting to meet somebody 

who I could admire in his or her full picture. But, naturally 

I’ve met some persons where I remember some traits I see 

as a good target for myself. 

How were you brought up and educated? 

Wyrzykowski: I was born in Warszawa, Poland, and grew 

up in the area of this city. I graduated from the Warsaw 

School of Economics. Now I appreciate my first job very 

much, which was in the banking business. I think it gives 

a good backup and orientation in the world of business. 

RESUME 

Paweł Wyrzykowski 

Date of birth: 3 rd of February 1969 

Current job: 

President of the Management Board, SECO/WARWICK Group 

Studies: 

Diploma in Faculty of Foreign Trade of the Warsaw School 

of Economics in Poland 

Career: 

1992-1998: Creditanstalt group in Vienna (Austria) and Warsaw 

(Poland) 

1998-2001: Chief Financial Officer and member of the 

Management Board of Pfleiderer Grajewo S.A., 

Poland 

2003-2009: President of the company’s Management Board 

of Pfleiderer Grajewo S.A. , Poland 

2009-2011: Member of the Management Board of Pfleiderer 

AG of Neumarkt, Germany 

2012-now: President of the Management Board, 

SECO/WARWICK Group 


Edition 4 

FOCUS ON 

What is your motto for life? 

Wyrzykowski: I do not have one and so far I do feel not 

uncomfortable missing it. 

In your opinion, what was the most important invention 

of the 20 th century? 

Wyrzykowski: Without being too academic, I respect 

the mobile phone very much. I entered into my adult age 

when the cell phone was not in place and remember how 

different our life was. 

When do you not think about your work? 

Wyrzykowski: My family is generally a good counterbalance. 

I have three kids ages 10 and below. When dealing 

with them or taking care of them you really hardly can think 

about anything else. 

What is your own personal tip for the upcoming generations? 

Wyrzykowski: I would not dare a tip for more generations 

than only the next one. The speed of cultural and social 

changes is simply too high. My tip for my kids is quite simple: 

No invention will replace your mind (brain), so keep it 

ready all the time. 

What has shaped you in particular? 

Wyrzykowski: I had a very hard and demanding study but 

decided to go on with being a semi-professional footballer in 

the same time. This combination helped a lot with many difficult 

issues at the end of the day, like the team play, “staying 

on the ground”, or good time management. Simultaneously 

you had to pass all the exams coming up. I learned quite well 

that you pass all your exams, if you take them one by one. 

What can you absolutely not do without? 

Wyrzykowski: I need some sport activity all the time. Due 

to a serious injury in the past I am not able to play football 

anymore, but now I try to go on with tennis and golf which 

give me some balance against some stress in business. 

What do you wish for the world? 

Wyrzykowski: Keep being successful in “no next world 

war”. Even looking at all your previous questions, where 

some of them look really serious, we sometimes lose some 

real relations. You asked about generations. For almost all our 

preceding generations this stage we have had now would 

not have been seen as taken for granted. We often forget this. 

Thank you for this interview. 


71

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 

Inline Paint Section (IPS) started up for commercial production 

The largest and fastest Inline Paint Section 

(IPS), which is a full organic painting 

production unit, integrated in a continuous 

hot dip galvanizing line, has recently started 

commercial production. This organic Inline 

Paint Section consists of a pretreatment section 

(either for chem-coatings or passivation 

coatings application, followed by two organic 

painting sections for two sided primer 

coating and finish coating and is therefore 

fully equivalent to a paint process section 

of a continuous color coating line, exceptionally 

it is integrated and linked to a before 

ongoing galvanizing process. The production 

speed of that line, is equivalent to the 

max galvanizing process speed of 180 m/ 

min, with a production capacity of 80 t/h or 

up to 500,000 t/a organic painted galvanized 

steel coils. This is today the largest organic 

painted coil production line, linked inline 

with a galvanizing line. 

The possible curing time within 5 s at a 

max. speed of 180 m/min for applied coatings 

with 25 μm layer thickness have been 

proven already in successful production 

batches for several colors (white, red and 

brown) and from several different coating 

manufacturers. The IPS is built in a “cubic” 

tower of approx. 30 x 30 x 30 m³, containing 

all process equipment, except the three 

chamber RTO, which is positioned on the 

ground floor next to the tower. 

The adphosNIR® based “on demand” Inline 

Paint Section can be applied and integrated 

also horizontally in a galvanizing line, if needed. 

Due to the possible compact designed 

layout, the adphosNIR IPS is also possible to 

be integrated in most existing CGLs / EGLs. 

The possible resulting cost reductions of 

an adphosNIR® IPS can add up to more than 

70 €/t due to energy, media and operator 

personal savings with additional resulting 

benefits of production capacity increase 

and reduced investment costs compared 

to standalone CCLs, a total cost saving of 

up to 100 €/t can be expected. adphos also 

provides a free of charge analysis and evaluation 

for your potential inline paint project. 

adphos Thermal Processing GmbH (ATP) 

www.adphos.de 

Automatic gas burner control for 

one-stage burners 

Microprocessor-controlled automatic gas 

burner control for intermittent and continuous 

operation of one-stage atmospheric 

burners or fanned burners, in particular for 

industrial thermoprocessing equipment to 

EN 746-2. The program sequence and times 

can be customised by setting software parameters. 

Two independent flame detectors: 

Ionisation input, Gate input. 

Extension module for Profibus/Modbus 

communication are available. Additional 

functions by extension modules are possible 

as well. Version MPA 4111 (Plastic housing, 

IP 42) is without a display, MPA 4112 (Plastic 

housing, IP 54) has an integrated display. 

The following accessories are flame detector, 

Ignition transformers, parameterisation and 

service box. 

Karl Dungs GmbH & Co. KG 

www.dungs.com 

72 



Furnace technology for different applications 

Elino Industrie-Ofenbau GmbH has been 

developing, designing, and manufacturing 

continuous plants for more than 50 

years: roller conveyor and paternoster furnaces 

as well as chain conveyor furnaces, to 

name but a few. More than 100 plants for 

basic or very special requirements in the 

field of aluminium processes, and 4,000 

plants in other fields of application have 

been delivered world-wide. 

Cast components, e.g. cylinder heads, 

engine bases, structural components as well 

as axle suspensions, are also heat treated as it 

is done with cold-formed aluminium sections 

and machined components. A very accurate 

temperature control during artificial aging 

and solution annealing is absolutely vital. 

Quenching processes after solution annealing 

are implemented using water, polymer or air 

depending on the customers’ requirements. 

Elino can offer 

various very new 

designs for the processes 

under ambient 

air atmosphere 

and for special gastight 

designs with 

process gases, e.g. 

argon or nitrogen. 

The continuous 

furnaces made by 

Elino are fully technically 

developed, 

are sound and allow 

very long lifetimes. 

We have always been focusing our activities 

on the optimization of energy consumption. 

Depending on the process conditions, heat 

treatments of up to 1,000 °C can be carried 

out. Product specific internal fittings in the 

process chamber give ample scope for new 

products. 

Elino Industrie-Ofenbau GmbH 

www.elino.de 

Combustion multi-gas technology for the control of atmosphere 

The direct heating of reactive products is 

imposing a perfect control of the atmosphere. 

On top of that, the composition of the 

atmosphere has to remain constant for reasons 

of quality. In order to do so, the principle 

called “nozzle mix” consists in controlling the 

mix made while the flame is developing, by 

individually controlling the air flux and gas 

flux in burners with separated air and gas. 

Nozzle-mix burners have the major disadvantages 

to create problems of constancy 

of air/gas ratio. As nozzle-mix technology 

means that the air and the gas are mixed at 

the exit of the burner, the flame is quite long. 

In the treatment of reactive products this 

means that there is a risk that the flame can 

come in contact with the heated product 

especially if the air/gas ratio is not well under 

control. Nozzle-mix burners are therefore 

not suitable for compact heating chambers. 

To tackle these limitations by focusing on 

the ergonomy of the operators, the premix 

technology is the alternative. 

It consists in mixing prior to the burner 

rack the combustion air with fuel-gas in a 

dosing-mixer according to a predefined 

ratio and to bring this “ready-mix” combustible 

to the burners rack. Consequently, 

contrary to the previous technique nozzle 

mix the dosing is made well before the burner. 

Thanks to a specific system of pressure 

regulation, the quantity of gas admitted in 

the mixer remains always proportional to 

the quantity of combustion air injected in 

the latter, according to the ratio predefined 

by the operator. Consequently your combustion 

efficiency remains always constant. 

The premix combustion system allows 

the same piping design and dosing-mixer 

whatever the nature of gas. On top of that, 

your working principle remains the same 

what makes your maintenance aspects much 

easier. As the system prepares a “ready-mix” 

combustible, the celerity of the combustion 

at the flame is independent from the flow 

getting out of the burner: the flame remains 

always inside the burner block. 

This leads to non radiant flames with 

high fumes velocity, no contact with your 

product and considering compact chambers. 

Premix combustion technology is used 

already in many industrial heat treatment 

applications. Premix combustion technology 

can be considered for every application 

where the control of atmosphere is concerned 

or where a full stoichiometry is suitable. 

At the heart of the FIB premix combustion 

system is the CONSTAN® dosing-mixer that, 

coupled with a zero governor, can guarantee 

the stability of the air/gas ratio. 

A control burner allows the operator to 

see the quality of the flame from the outside 

and evaluate the quality of the combustion 

or measure the composition of the flame. 

Other advantages of the Constan® dosing 

mixers are: ability to feed a variable number 

of burners; the pressure in the heating 

chamber cannot affect the air fuel-gas ratio; 

not sensitive to water, dust or other deposit 

and very simple maintenance. 

FIB BELGIUM S.A. 

www.fib-combustion-solutions.be 


73


Progress tracking from the engineering 

phase up to the construction site 

From the manufacturing phase up to the 

construction site, the entire machinery, 

e.g. roller mills for raw material or cement 

plants, passes through numerous stations. 

This is why order processes in plant engineering 

and construction are often very 

complex and require the co-operation and 

interaction of several different departments. 

If the close interaction between the production, 

purchasing, sales, and project planning 

departments does not flow smoothly, faulty 

deliveries may result. These, in turn, may gravely 

affect any type of construction projects 

that are based on deadlines and time limits. 

This problem can be counteracted by way 

of a uniform, interdivisional execution of all 

of the processes in SAP. 

Intelligent add-ons broaden the project 

management functions with important 

components and facilitate the related tasks 

thanks to a clear web interface. For more 

than one year, Loesche GmbH has now 

been making use of SAP across all divisions 

combined with two additional tools made 

by Milliarum in order to ensure the wellstructured 

progress tracking of orders and 

a simplified project scheduling. 

Loesche GmbH 

www.loesche.com 

Tube furnace 

combination for 

carbonization of 

fibers 

Two step setting for operation at different 

temperatures. (low temp. 5-zone 

1,050 °C, high temp. 1-zone 1,600 °C, option 

1,800 to 2,800 °C) and dwelling time with 

gas feeding in located between. 

New infrared thermometer with 

thermocouple output 

Conventional thermocouples may 

encounter high abrasion resulting from 

contacting measurement points and harsh 

surroundings. The new infrared sensor optris 

CS extends the lifetime of measuring fields 

considerably due to its non-contact measuring 

concept. Its standardized thermocouple 

connection allows the use of already existing 

measuring lines. 

The innovative pyrometer covers a broad 

temperature range between -40 °C and 1,030 °C. 

Additionally there is a new LED display. 

The electronic display unit 

not only serves as a targeting 

support for sensor alignment 

but the LED 

self-diagnosis 

also displays 

the 

condition of the pyrometer (e.g. overheating 

of sensor). Parallel to the new alarm output 

on the device (open collector), a visual alarm 

can be set through the LED. A temperature 

code signal rounds off the innovative concept 

of the optris CS. Its robust design makes it 

dependable in ambient temperatures up to 

85 °C without additional cooling. 

In terms of reliability and connection 

diversity the optris CS sets a new standard 

in industrial infrared thermometers as it 

allows for significant time and cost savings 

for our customers. Besides the programmable 

thermo element, 0-10 V and 0-5 V outputs, 

there is the possibility to integrate the temperature 

sensor into the license free optris 

CompactConnect software via USB. Thus, 

besides temperature monitoring a complete 

parameterization of the sensor are possible. 

Optris GmbH 

www.optris.de 

FRH-5-70/1000/1100 

Tmax: 1,100 °C 

Insert tube 1.4841, inside diameter: app. 

40 mm, length: app. 1,800 mm 

Heated length: app. 1,400 mm 

Heating power: app. 7.2 kW 

Gas feeding device for N 2 / Ar manually 

FRH-70/500/1600 

Tmax: 1,600 °C 

Insert tube AlSint 99.7, inside diameter: app. 

60 mm, length: app. 1,000 mm 

Heated length: app. 500 mm 

Heating power: app. 5.5 kW 

Options: Gas feeding device for N 2 / Ar 

manually, CFC-tube and temperature up 

to 2,800 °C 

Linn High Therm GmbH 

www.linn.de 

74 



New flame safeguard for burner control 

The new T600 Flame Safeguard from Eclipse offers the most 

flexible, cost effective solution for burner control. T600 is a 

single burner controller for use with direct or indirect-fired furnace 

or oven applications that require global flame safety systems. 

T600 Type 1 with no display, and T600 Type 2 with integrated 

display. The following features are: 

■ Features an advanced microprocessor to precisely control 

gas burner start-up and operation. 

■ Provides more of the features, options, and versatility users 

need, including programming flexibility, scalability and 

advanced diagnostics. 

■ Program sequences and operating times can be customized 

to provide exacting burner control in virtually any application. 

■ Can control burners with either direct or pilot ignition and 

models are available with or without an integrated display. 

Eclipse, Inc. 

www.eclipsenet.com 

Highly configurable infrared camera platform 

LumaSense Technologies, Inc. has introduced 

a new line of highly configurable 

thermal imaging cameras specifically designed 

for use in harsh environments. The 

MC320 line features uniquely configured 

optics and detectors that 

enable the cameras to be 

tuned to specific infrared 

wavelengths and optimal 

performance to best suit 

a particular application. 

This flexibility means 

the MC320 platform is 

a cost-effective solution 

for a wide range of 

applications including 

process control, predictive 

maintenance, safety and critical vessel 

monitoring. 

Leveraging this integrated approach between 

camera design, optics and detectors 

coupled with LumaSense’s comprehensive 

software will enable a wide variety of 

turnkey solutions for various industries such 

as energy, steel, glass, and refining, among 

others. 

The MC320 platform leverages tuned 

VOx detectors to provide the most comprehensive 

application specific wavelengths 

and temperature ranges. Each model is optimized 

to perform in the most demanding 

industrial applications providing the best 

sensitivity and image quality available in this 

price range. 

In addition LumaSense is capable to build 

up a very efficient temperature monitoring 

system by combining MC 320 Thermal Imaging 

cameras economically with our Impac 

range of pyrometers and tailor-made software, 

which presents an excellent solution 

for many applications during the production 

and processing of metals. 

LumaSense Technologies Inc. 

www.lumasenseinc.com 


75

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 

Company 

Page 

4th International Cupola Conference 2012, Dresden, 63 

Germany 

Company 

Page 

AICHELIN Holding GmbH, Mödling, Austria Back Cover 

ALUMINIUM 

AICHELIN GmbH, 

2012, 

Mödling, 

Düsseldorf, 

Austria 

Germany 32 

Back Cover 

ALUMINIUM CHINA 2012, Shanghai, People’s 21 

Aluminium India 2013, Mumbai, India 

Republic of China 

ANDRITZ Aluminium Maerz Middle GmbH, East 2013, Düsseldorf, Dubai, Germany United Arab Emirates 13 

22 

26 

ANKIROS 2012 / ANNOFER 2012 / TURKCAST 2012, 22 

Istanbul, Arabia Essen Turkey 2013 / Tekno Arabia 2013 / Tube Arabia 2013, 

Bloom Dubai, United Engineering Arab Emirates (Europa) GmbH, Düsseldorf, 11 50 

Germany 

Elster GmbH, Osnabrück, Germany 

Elster GmbH, Osnabrück, Germany 07 

7 

indometal 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia 33 

Company 

Page 

Euro PM2012, ‚Basel, Switzerland 88 

FIB BELGIUM s.a., Tubize (Saintes), Belgium 15 

HEAT TREATMENT 2012, Moscow, Russia 

ITPS 2013, Düsseldorf, Germany 

27 

13, 23, 71 

JASPER Gesellschaft für Energiewirtschaft Front Cover 

und Kybernetik mbH, Geseke, Germany 

LOI Thermprocess GmbH, Essen, Germany 

LOI Thermprocess GmbH, Essen, Germany 61 

11 

SECO Schmetz / Warwick GmbH THERMAL Vakuumöfen, S.A., Menden, Swiebodzin, Germany Poland 35 15 

Siemens AG, Rastatt, Germany 93 

SECO/Warwick Europe S.A., Swiebodzin, Poland Inside Front Cover 

SMS Elotherm GmbH, Remscheid, Inside Front Cover 

Germany 

SMS Elotherm GmbH, Remscheid, Germany 

Uni-Geräte GmbH, Weeze, Germany 

Front Cover, 19 

25 

Calendar 2013 

Loose Insert 

Business Directory 77-99 




YOUR CONTACT TO THE 

HEAT PROCESSING TEAM 

Managing Editor: 

Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Schalm 

Phone: +49 201 82002 12 

Fax: +49 201 82002 40 

E-Mail: s.schalm@vulkan-verlag.de 

Editorial Office: 

Annamaria Frömgen 

Phone: +49 201 82002 91 

Fax: +49 201 82002 40 

E-Mail: a.froemgen@vulkan-verlag.de 

Advertising Sales: 

Bettina Schwarzer-Hahn 

Phone: +49 201 82002 24 

Fax: +49 201 82002 40 

E-Mail: b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 

Advertising Administration: 

Martina Mittermayer 

Phone: +49 89 45051 471 

Fax: +49 89 45051 300 

E-Mail: mittermayer@oiv.de 

Editorial Department: 

Silvija Subasic 

Phone: +49 201 82002 15 

Fax: +49 201 82002 40 

E-Mail: s.subasic@vulkan-verlag.de 

www.heatprocessing-online.com

International Magazine for Industrial Furnaces 



2012 

Business Directory 

I. Furnaces and plants for industrial 

heat treatment processes ............................................................................................................................... 78 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

Components, equipment, production 

and auxiliary materials .........................................................................................................................................88 

Consulting, design, service 

and engineering .........................................................................................................................................................96 

Trade associations, institutes, 

universities, organisations ............................................................................................................................... 97 

V. Exhibition organizers, 

training and education ......................................................................................................................................98 

Contact: 

Mrs Bettina Schwarzer-Hahn 

Tel.: +49 (0)201 / 82002-24 

Fax: +49 (0)201 / 82002-40 

E-mail: b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 

www.heatprocessing-directory.com


I. Furnaces and plants for industrial heat treatment processes 

thermal production 

Melting, Pouring, casting 


4-2012 Business Directory 


Heating 

Powder metallurgy 

More information available: 



79



Heat treatment 




81










83




cooling and Quenching 




surface treatment 

Joining 

cleaning and drying 




85



Joining 




recycling 

energy efficiency 



KNOWLEDGE for the FUTURE 

Handbook of Refractory Materials Design | Properties | Testing 

This new edition has been completely revised, expanded and appears in a 

compact format. 

Readers obtain an extensive www.heatprocessing-online.com 

and detailed overview focusing on design, properties, 

calculations, terminology and testing of refractory materials. With the great 

amount of information this compact book is a necessity for professional working in 

the refractory material or thermal process sectors. 


4th edition 2012, 380 pages with additional information and 

e-book on DVD, hardcover 

Handbook 


information 


on DVD 

Vulkan-Verlag 



BRAND NEW 





Already shopped 

Know-how today? REPLY / ANTWORT 


The new web presence of hpVersandbuchhandlung 

www.heatprocessing-online.com Postfach 10 39 62 

45039 Essen 

Germany 





Phone 

E-mail 

Fax 


Postfach Vulkan-Verlag 

10 39 62, 45039 Essen, Germany. In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being 


recorded and stored. It is approved that this data may also be used in commercial ways □ by mail, □ by phone, □ by fax, □ by e-mail, 

□ none. This approval may be withdrawn at any time. 


✘ 


87 

PAHRM42012


II. Components, equipment, production and auxiliary materials 

Quenching equipment 

Fittings 

Burners 

transport equipment 







89



Burners Burner applications Burner equipment 




Hardening accessories 

Your contact to 

HEAT PROCESSING 


Tel. +49(0)201-82002-24 

Fax +49(0)201-82002-40 

b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 




91



resistance heating 

elements 

inductors 

Your contact to 

HEAT PROCESSING 


Tel. +49(0)201-82002-24 

Fax +49(0)201-82002-40 

b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 




Gases 

Measuring and automation 


93



Measuring and automation 

Power supply 




refractories 

cleaning and drying 

equipment 




95


III. Consulting, design, service and engineering 


III. Consulting, design, service and engineering 


IV. Trade associations, institutes, universities, organisations 


97


V. Exhibition organizers, training and education 

Hotline Meet the team 

Managing Editor: Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Schalm +49(0)201/82002-12 s.schalm@vulkan-verlag.de 

Editorial Office: Annamaria Frömgen +49(0)201/82002-91 a.froemgen@vulkan-verlag.de 

Editor: Silvija Subasic +49(0)201/82002-15 s.subasic@vulkan-verlag.de 

Advertising Sales: Bettina Schwarzer-Hahn +49(0)201/82002-24 b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 

Subscription: Martina Grimm +49(0)931/41704-13 mgrimm@datam-services.de 

Hotline_184,5x35.indd 2 15.12.11 15:13 


Handbook 


information 


on DVD 

Handbook of 

Refractory Materials 

Design | Properties | Testing 

This new edition of the Handbook of Refractory Materials has been 

completely revised, expanded and appears in a compact format. 

Readers obtain an extensive and detailed overview focusing on design, 

properties, calculations, terminology and testing of refractory materials 

thus providing important information for your daily work. The appendix 

was supplemented by following suggestions of readers. Consequently, the 

handbook‘s usability was enhanced even further. With the great amount of 

information this compact book is a necessity for professional working in the 

refractory material or thermal process sectors. The e-book offers even more 

fl exibility while travelling. 


4th edition 2012, 380 pages with additional information and e-book 

on DVD, hardcover 

Vulkan-Verlag 









REPLY / WERBEANTWORT 




45039 Essen 

GERMANY 


Postfach 10 39 62, 45039 Essen, Germany. In order to accomplish your request and for communication purposes your personal data are being recorded and 

stored. It is approved that this data may also be used in commercial ways □ by mail, □ by phone, □ by fax, □ by e-mail, □ none. This approval 

may be withdrawn at any time. 



Phone 

E-mail 


✘ 


Fax 

PAHRM42012

COMPANIES PROFILE 

KELLER HCW GMBH 

KELLER HCW GMBH 

COMPANY: 

KELLER HCW GmbH 

Division MSR Infrared Temperature Solutions 

49479 Ibbenbüren 

Germany 

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT: 

Dipl.-BW (FH) Karsten Biermann 

Dipl.-Ing. Laurenz Averbeck 

HISTORY: 

The business which Carl Keller founded in 1894 is today a renowned 

plant and machine manufacturer active on a global scale 

with a focus on the heavy clay and building materials industry. 

Beyond that, the KELLER name stands for intelligent solutions in 

measurement instrumentation and automation. When their affiliate 

Keller Spezialtechnik took over Pyro-Werk Hannover in 1967, 

Keller entered the market segment of non-contact temperature 

sensors. Following a 45-year business history and organizational 

restructuring, this business unit changed its name in May 2011 

to Division MSR Infrared Temperature Solutions (ITS). Through 

continuous R&D initiatives and an innovative response to market 

needs, Keller MSR ITS has become a global specialist in the field of 

non-contact temperature measurement technology for industrial 

applications. 

GROUP: 

Since 2006 Keller HCW GmbH is part of the French conglomerate 

Groupe Legris Industries. 

SHAREHOLDINGS: 

Keller HCW GmbH and morando s.r.l.- an Italian company just as rich 

in tradition - both belong to Keller Holding which is one of Groupe 

Legris’ three divisions. 

NUMBER OF STAFF: 

Keller HCW GmbH: 350; Division MSR: 34 

EXPORT QUOTA: 

>50 % 

PRODUCT RANGE: 

With more than 250 different models, Keller’s wide range of instruments 

covers nearly all industrial applications from -40 to +3,500 °C. Specially 

engineered solutions for specific applications include measuring systems 

for inductive heating equipment, for the iron and steel industry, 

for molten metals, as well as for asphalt and concrete mixing plants. 

PRODUCTION: 

All products are designed, engineered and manufactured in Ibbenbüren, 

Germany. 

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES: 

Keller’s expertise is backed by 45 years of experience in engineering 

and manufacturing precision measuring instruments with a focus 

on non-contact temperature measurement. Thanks to continuous 

product innovations and specially engineered application solutions 

in response to ever-changing market requirements, Keller MSR ITS 

has established recognition as one of the leaders in its sector. 

A worldwide sales network and service centers across the globe 

ensure that Keller can provide customers with personal consultation 

and on-site support. 

With their comprehensive range of instruments and accessories, 

Keller MSR ITS offers systems for standard applications as well as 

highly specialized solutions. 

SERVICE POTENTIALS: 

Keller MSR ITS is headquartered in Germany and maintains service 

centers in Brazil, China, France, India and Russia. 

CERTIFICATIONS: 

Since 1994: DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 

INTERNET ADDRESS: 

www.keller-msr.com 

Contact: 

Dipl.-Ing. 

Albert Book 

(Director) 

Tel.: + 49 (0)5451/ 85320 

albert.book@ 

keller-msr.de 


4-2012 IMPRINT 


Volume 10 · Issue 4 · November 2012 

Official Publication 

Editors 

Advisory Board 

Publishing House 

Managing Editor 

Editorial Office 

Editorial Department 

Advertising Sales 

CECOF – European Committee of Industrial Furnace and Heating Equipment Associations 

H. Berger, AICHELIN Ges.m.b.H., Mödling, Prof. Dr.-Ing. A. von Starck, Appointed Professor for Electric Heating at RWTH 

Aachen, Dr. H. Stumpp, Chairman of the Association for Thermal Process Technology within VDMA, President of the 

LOI Group and Chairman of the executive board LOI Thermprocess GmbH 

Dr. H. Altena, Aichelin Ges.m.b.H., Prof. Dr.-Ing. E. Baake, Institute for Electrothermal Processes, Leibniz University of 

Hanover, Dr.-Ing. F. Beneke, VDMA, Prof. Y. Blinov, St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University “Leti“, Russia, Mike Debier, 

President of CECOF, Dr.-Ing. F. Kühn, LOI Thermprocess GmbH, Dipl.-Ing. W. Liere-Netheler, Elster GmbH, H. Lochner, 

EBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH, Prof. S. Lupi, University of Padova, Dept. of Electrical Eng., Italy, Prof. Dr.-Ing. H. Pfeifer, 

RWTH Aachen, Dipl.-Phys. M. Rink, Ipsen International GmbH, Dipl.-Ing. St. Schalm, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH, M.Sc. S. Segerberg, 

Heattec Värmebehandling AB, Sweden, Dr. A. Seitzer, SMS Elotherm GmbH, Dr.-Ing. P. Wendt, LOI Thermprocess GmbH, 

Dr.-Ing. T. Würz, CECOF, Dr.-Ing. J. G. Wünning, WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH 

Vulkan-Verlag GmbH, Huyssenallee 52-56, 45128 Essen, Germany 

P.O. Box 103962, 45039 Essen 

Managing Directors: Carsten Augsburger, Jürgen Franke 

Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Schalm, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

Tel. + 49 (0) 201 82002-12, Fax: + 49 (0) 201 82002-40 

E-Mail: s.schalm@vulkan-verlag.de 

Annamaria Frömgen, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

Tel. + 49 (0) 201 82002-91, Fax: + 49 (0) 201 82002-40 

E-Mail: a.froemgen@vulkan-verlag.de 

Silvija Subasic, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

Tel. + 49 (0) 201 82002-15, Fax: + 49 (0) 201 82002-40 

E-Mail: s.subasic@vulkan-verlag.de 

Bettina Schwarzer-Hahn, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

Tel. + 49 (0) 201 82002-24, Fax: + 49 (0) 201 82002-40 

E-Mail: b.schwarzer-hahn@vulkan-verlag.de 

Advertising 

Martina Mittermayer, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH / Oldenbourg Industrieverlag GmbH 

Administration Tel. + 49 (0) 89 45051-471, Fax: + 49 (0) 89 45051-300 

E-Mail: mittermayer@oiv.de 

Layout 

Terms of subscription: 

Nilofar Mokhtarzada, Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

heat processing is published four times a year. 

Rates: Subscription (inside Germany): € 128,- + € 12,- shipping 

Subscription (outside Germany): € 128,- + € 14,- shipping 

Single copy (inside Germany): € 37,- + € 3,- shipping 

Single copy (outside Germany): € 37,- + € 3,50 shipping 

ePaper (as PDF): Subscription: € 128,- Single copy: € 37,- 

Abo Plus (print + ePaper): Subscription (inside Germany): € 178,40 

Subscription (outside Germany): € 180,40 

Students: 50% reduction on normal subscription rate (proof of entitlement) 

Orders may be placed at any time. Please address directly to our customer service or your local book shop. Subscriptions 

continue for another year unless terminated in writing 2 months prior to the end of each year. 

Subscriptions/ 

Leserservice heat processing . Postfach 91 61 . 97091 Würzburg 

Single Copy Sales Tel. +49 (0) 931 / 4170-1616, Fax: +49 (0) 931 / 4170-492 

E-Mail: leserservice@vulkan-verlag.de 

Printed by 

The magazine and all the contributions and illustrations contained therein are secured by copyright. With the exception 

of the legally permitted instances, any utilisation without the express permission of the publisher will be punished at law. 

The opinions contained in signed articles do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. 

Druckerei Chmielorz GmbH 

Ostring 13 · 65205 Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt 

© 2003 Vulkan-Verlag GmbH 

Huyssenallee 52-56 · 45128 Essen (Germany) 

Telefon + 49 (0) 201 82002-0, Telefax + 49 (0) 201 82002-40 

ISSN 1611-616X 

Mitglied der Informationsgemeinschaft zur 

Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern e.V. (IVW)

ITPS – 

International THERMPROCESS 

Summit, 

Düsseldorf, 

July 09th – 10th, 2013 

See you at ITPS! 

Together one step ahead. 

www.aichelin.com

HEAT PROCESSING Induction Solutions (Vorschau)

Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!

Delete template?

Save as template ?