Nickel alloy equipment for heat treatment: the importance of raw material

Since 1976, Nicro has been a reference point for heat treatments sector, from which it began producing components for the Companies in its network.

Nowadays, the experience in the production of specific equipment for this sector has led the Company to a central role in design and manufacturing of standard and customized components.

We are talking about equipment such as:

• RADIANT TUBES made in stainless steel or nickel alloys, resistant to high temperatures ( 1100 °C -1200 °C) and with common shapes (P, Double P, M, straight, etc ..) or tailor made.
• CONVECTION FANS made according to customer’s drawing and built with features suitable to withstand high temperatures and wearing conditions.
• MUFFLES, essential component in heat treatment furnaces (to perform carburizing, tempering and annealing cycles) manufactured according to their final use. In fact, in specific conditions, Nicro makes use of refined combinations of alloys suitable to withstand different types of thermal, mechanical and chemical stress.
• INNER COVERS, BASES and DIFFUSERS of different sizes used for temperatures between 750 °C and 950 °C, made according to Customer’s requests and adapting them to the type of heat treatment used.
• EQUIPMENT such as grids, baskets, spiders and different supports used in atmosphere and vacuum heat treatment furnaces, type: static, single chamber, continuous and pit.

Nicro’s strength is also the knowledge of raw materials, especially in a sector such as the heat treatment, where resistance to high temperatures and wearing conditions are the keys to the success of the final product, and can make the difference in terms of long-term use or under certain working conditions.

Conditions and types of heat treatment

Heat treatment is a thermal cycle in almost all production processes, essential to make material (iron, steel, nickel, aluminum, etc ..) workable and become a manufactured component.

There are different types of heat treatment, depending on the purpose of the processed material:

• Cementation (or carburizing) has the purpose of obtaining a product with a surface layer enriched with carbon with greater hardening after quenching, together with a strong heart.
• Hardening treatment consists of a sudden cooling which allows to increase the hardness of material.
• Solubilization is the treatment used for austenitic steels and used to improve their mechanical strength and resistance to corrosion and oxidation;
• Annealing treatment consists of phases of slow heating, permanence and slow cooling of metal, used to make the material suitable for subsequent process, with machine tools or by cold forming.
• Normalization is the treatment allowing the metal to come back to its “normal” condition, prior to any thermal or mechanical treatment, it was subjected.
• Tempering involves a low temperature treatment which is usually performed after hardening, to stabilize the structure of the material which is excessively hard and, consequently, breakable.
• Stress relief heat treatment is composed by phases (heating, stay and cooling), used to stabilize the internal tensions of the structure of the metal being treated, without however affecting the level of hardness.
• Hardening tempering and austenization allow to have extremely resistant and hard material.
• The cryogenic treatment is a heat treatment with cooling at a controlled speed for parts with high contents of residual austenite in order to avoid possible distortions or breakages due to transformations after the finishing of the parts.

For each heat treatment type, Nicro develops tailor-made solutions born from a search of materials (also alternatively to those required by customer) and from the collaboration with heat treatment companies including Soliveri Srl, Vacuum Spa and Tav Vacuum Furnaces spa, part of its network.

This point, in addition to the constant updated and experienced team of designers, technicians and welders, allows us to create increasingly innovative equipment and components for a constantly evolving sector.