INDUCTION CAMSHAFT HARDENING TECHNOLOGY WITH PRACTICALLY UNDETECTABLE DESTORTION

This presentation reviews various induction camshaft hardening technologies presently used in industry. Pros and Cons of different processes will be analyzed. Causes for hardness pattern deviation and excessive distortion will be assessed. Advanced non-rotational CamProTM camshaft hardening technology will be introduced. This process lends itself for hardening several lobes. Therefore, high production rates can be achieved by statically heat treating multiple cam lobes simultaneously. One of major advantages of this non-rotational camshaft hardening technology is related to its ability to harden camshafts with practically undetectable distortion minimizing needed grinding stock and, in some cases, eliminating a necessity of the entire subsequent camshaft straightening operation. Another attractive feature of this process is related to its ability to produce a uniform true contour hardness patterns regardless of the complexity of lobe profile, its size, topology and topography of camshaft. Heat patterns are “locked in place” and very repeatable since neither the camshaft or the inductors are moving during heat treating operation. Depending upon the specifics of the camshaft’s geometry and heat treat specifications, combined savings on energy consumption may exceed 18% comparted to commonly used processes.