Kontroll- und Regelsystem zur Optimierung und Beschleunigung von Aufkohlungs- und Härtungsprozessen. Diskussion

Carbon steel components have been routinely carburized and hardened by commercial heat treaters and parts producers using both endothermically generated and nitrogen-methanol atmospheres for a number of years. However, it has become increasingly difficult for them to produce such components with good and consistent quality using the existing carbon control systems and still compete effectively in the global market. Therefore, an advanced control system has been developed for precisely regulating flow rates of nitrogen, methanol, air and propane (or natural gas) and calculating the carbon potential based on the actual atmosphere composition in the furnace. By this system variations in the quality and properties of the hardened carbon steel components can be reduced significantly. Furthermore, the system integrates the operations of precisely regulating the atmosphere flow rate and controlling the carbon potential of the furnace atmosphere in accelerated carburizing processes for increasing productivity.