Investment in research projects of the future: In the laboratories of the heat treatment department at the Leibniz-IWT, a new bell furnace from Rohde has been put into operation and has recently enriched the institute's equipment.

The BHC 50/60 (Bell Hardening Centre) system offers automated treatment of up to three successive charges without manual intervention. In addition to inert gas processes, carburising processes can be carried out under normal pressure with a nitrogen-methanol atmosphere as well as low-rim oxidation carburising processes with oxygen-free carbon carriers such as acetylene. An oil bath Durixol W72 and a salt bath Petrofer AS135 are available for subsequent hardening.
In addition to excellent thermal insulation, rapid heating and cooling to hardening temperature as well as low space requirements, the flexible and time-efficient use of the device with a view to upcoming research projects at Leibniz-IWT was the decisive factor for the new acquisition.

"In the future, this unit will make its contribution to new energy-efficient heat treatment concepts at our institute in the fields of thermochemical heat treatment such as carbonitriding and case bainitisation (carbo-tempering)," says Dr.-Ing. Matthias Steinbacher, head of the heat treatment department. "We are also looking forward to developing thermochemical heat treatments of highly stressed components with significantly reduced boundary layer effects, which will be possible with this bell furnace."

A current project, in which the new plant will be used for the first time, is concerned with the low-distortion heat treatment of bevel gear teeth by carburisation and subsequent isothermal conversion into bainite.
The new bell furnace complements the existing repertoire of the department's own hardening laboratory for the research and development of diverse heat treatment technologies and furnace systems on a technical scale, such as an Aichelin MZK size 3.

Picture: The new bell furnace at Leibniz-IWT. With a useful space of Ø500 mm x 600 mm, it reaches a maximum operating temperature of 1050 °C.