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Development of Hybrid Rapid Infrared Heat Treating Furnace for Aluminum Forgings

Development of Hybrid Rapid Infrared Heat Treating Furnace for Aluminum Forgings. Rob Mayer 1 , Puja B. Kadolkar 2 , Frank Kraft 3 , Vamadevan Gowreesan 3 , Devon Poling 3 , Jay S. Gunasekera 3 , Percy Gros 4 , George Mochnal 5 , and Craig A. Blue 2

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Development of Hybrid Rapid Infrared Heat Treating Furnace for Aluminum Forgings

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  1. Development of Hybrid Rapid Infrared Heat Treating Furnace for Aluminum Forgings Rob Mayer1, Puja B. Kadolkar2, Frank Kraft3, Vamadevan Gowreesan3, Devon Poling3, Jay S. Gunasekera3, Percy Gros4,George Mochnal5, and Craig A. Blue2 1The Queen City Forging Company, Cincinnati OH 2Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge TN 3Ohio University, Athens OH 4Edison Materials Technology Center, Dayton OH5Forging Industry Association, Cleveland OH 26th Forging Industry Technical Conference November 7-9, 2005 Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Rosemont, IL

  2. Project Funded by the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) ORNL Project Funded by US DOE, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Technologies Program, Supporting Industries, Industries Materials of the Future, and Aluminum Project Funded by Edison Materials Technology Center Research Supported by Komtek Northeastern University Infrared Heating Technologies Forging Industry Association Ohio University Acknowledgements

  3. Infrared Technology Rapid Infrared Pre-heating of Forging Dies Rapid Infrared heating of Aluminum billets prior to Forging Field testing of a full-scale billet heating production setup at Queen City Forging Rapid Infrared heating for Heat Treatment of Aluminum Forgings Optimization of Heat treating Parameters Development of a full-scale infrared heat treatment facility at Queen City Forging Company Conclusions Outline

  4. Infrared heating provides a clean, non-contact heating technique The tungsten halogen heating element is heated in excess of 4000˚F resulting in high thermal fluxes Radiated energy heat flux is nearly ten times of a gas-fired infrared system, heating rates of 200-300C/s are possible Convert electrical into radiant energy in excess of 90%. Low thermal mass provides instantaneous starting and stopping allowing precise control over temperature and output. Uniform deposition of radiant energy. Infrared Technology

  5. Increase in Productivity Reduced heating times Increase in die life Uniform temperature Better lubrication, lesser sticking problems Energy savings Efficient heating and shorter wait times in between forging Infrared Pre-heating of Forging Dies Insert Die Heater

  6. American Tool American Axle Ameriforge Alcoa Eaton Finkl & Sons Klein Tool Insert Die Heaters Currently Installed • Komtek • Milwaukee Forge • Queen City Forging Company • TRW • Turn Key Forge • United Defense

  7. Forging temperature Temperature (C) Time (minutes) Rapid Infrared Heating of Aluminum Billets Laboratory based batch-type infrared furnace used to identify rapid heating rates 2.25 inch-diameter, 6-inch-long AA 2618 billets were heated in 16 mins (Conventional hold times to preheat loads is about 4 hrs)

  8. Rapid Infrared For Heat Treatment of Al Forgings Conventionally preheated, forged, conventionally solution heat-treated and conventionally aged AA 2618 forgings (*Controlled) Rapidly preheated, forged, rapidly solution heat- treated and conventionally aged AA 2618 forgings Grain size = 27 um Grain size = 40 um 30% Reduction in grain size with rapid preheating and rapid heat-treatment

  9. Rapidly heated Conventionally heated 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 Stress (MPa) Strain (%) Improvement in Mechanical Properties • Higher hardness and UTS values were achieved with rapidly heated forgings

  10. 150 135 120 105 Stress Amplitude (MPa) 90 75 1.00E+04 1.00E+05 1.00E+06 1.00E+07 1.00E+08 Number of Cycles Conventional Rapid Infrared Improvement in Mechanical Properties Stress amplitude vs. number of cycles of T61 treated specimens under tension-tension loading condition with mean tensile stress at 180 MPa. • Rapid preheating and rapid solution heat-treating produces stronger forgings with two times the fatigue life

  11. Full-scale Production Setup • Hybrid infrared furnace setup at The Queen City Forging Company • Optimized combination of radiant and convective heating • Continuous belt setup for higher throughputs Recipient of the prestigious 2004 R&D 100 Award Participants: Komtek, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The Queen City Forging Company, Northeastern University, Forging Industry Association and Infrared Heating Technologies Inc.

  12. Infrared Applications in Aluminum Forging Conventionally preheated, forged and conventionally heat-treated Rapidly preheated, forged and rapidly heat-treated Micrographs showing magnitude of grain refinement in AA 2014 Looper Drag Link (used in industrial sewing machines) hammer forged and T4 treated

  13. Infrared Applications in Aluminum Forging Conventionally preheated, forged and conventionally heat-treated Rapidly preheated, forged and rapidly heat-treated Higher magnification micrographs of the middle section

  14. Optimization of Heating Treating Parameters • Laboratory studies being performed at Ohio University • Goal is to optimize the heat treating parameters • Conserve Energy and Increase Productivity • Possible Improvement in Materials Properties • Conductivity and hardness measurements on samples in the as-solutionized condition are used to indicate the extent of dissolution of solute elements during the solution heat treatment process • Conductivity and hardness measurements are performed on aged samples to study the age hardening effect

  15. 6061 Conductivity (as-solutionized)

  16. 6061 Hardness (as-solutionized)

  17. 6061 T6 Aged (175 C for 8hrs)

  18. 6061 T6 Aged (175 C for 8hrs)

  19. 6061 As-extruded 532 C, 20 s 572 C, 900 s

  20. 7075 solutionized & T73 aged (107 for 7 hrs & 177 for 9 hrs)

  21. Development of Full-Scale Heat-Treating Facility at Queen City Forging Company

  22. Development of Full-Scale Heat-Treating Facility at Queen City Forging Company

  23. Development of Full-Scale Heat-Treating Facility at Queen City Forging Company Loading Operation Quenching Operation

  24. Development of Full-Scale Heat-Treating Facility at Queen City Forging Company • Temperature profile indicating heating of 10 T/C’s in the heating treating furnace • Profile shows uniform and controlled heating of parts to the required temperature • Forged parts were heated in 1/2 amount of time as compared to conventional HT techniques 1000 deg F

  25. Rapid infrared heating offers a low cost, energy-efficient heating methodology for die preheating and heating of aluminum billets and forgings Field testing of the hybrid infrared billet preheating system in full-scale production setup has demonstrated cost savings up to 40-50% through reduced energy consumption, increased throughput and improved consistency in the process and quality of the product. Rapidly preheating and rapidly solution heat-treating produces stronger forgings with two times the fatigue life Current efforts involve optimization of the heat treating parameters Conserve Energy and Increase Productivity Improvement In Material Properties Development of a full-scale infrared heat treating facility is in progress at Queen City Forging Company Potential national energy savings of 1.8 Trillion BTUs/year together with cost savings of 17 million dollars/year. Summary

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