CO2-Reduction for the case hardening process

Reducing CO2-output is one of the top-priorities for today’s manufacturing industry. Process heat is one of the major contributors to industry’s CO2-output.

For the process of case hardening, electrically heated vacuum furnaces represent an ecological and economical alternative to gas-fired atmospheric furnaces.

The main amount of energy during the vacuum case hardening process is consumed by idle losses, followed by heating up of the load and then followed by the energy needed to quench the load. Therefore, it is key to reduce idle losses by improving the insulation of the treatment chambers. It has been demonstrated that idle losses can be reduced by 55% with improved chamber insulation.

In addition, high temperature carburizing offers the potential to reduce energy consumption during the case hardening process.

The paper shows practical examples on several ways and means to reduce the energy consumption of vacuum furnaces applied for the case hardening process.