The Use of ‘In Process' Monitoring Equipment in Heat Treatment Today

This paper looks at how in-process temperature monitoring systems are being increasingly used in heat treatment applications such as surface hardening, annealing, normalizing, tempering etc. We look at the basic equipment required to successfully monitor from within a furnace and how developments such as RF transmission have enhanced the effectiveness of profiling trials to the point where on line adjustments to furnace conditions can be seen and analyzed in real time. We examine how continuous processes can benefit from this type of monitoring and also how routine operations such as furnace surveying in batch furnaces can benefit greatly from in-process monitoring. Advances in software are also considered, showing how packages are now designed to speed up the processing of data in day to day heat treatment operations.