Heat Treatment

Description

Heat treatment operations are aimed to provide to a metallic material a special micro-structure and, consequently, the targeted mechanical characteristics.

The material is subject to an appropriate thermal cycle, mainly consisting of 2 steps:

heating followed by holding at a temperature above the transformation point
quenching from the transformation temperature in a given fluid, to acquire the required metallurgical structure.

CONDAT is a manufacturer and international specialist in quenching oils and polymers, tempering fluids and protection fluids.

Applications

Heat treatment is at the heart of successful mechanics. High-performance solutions have been developed to provide suitable characteristics while limiting deformations, in many different fields: automotive, aeronautic, forging, rolling, heat treatment services, steel making, cold forming, wire drawing, casting...

CONDAT can also meet your demands in terms of mechanical characteristics, to optimise:

hardness
resilience
tensile strength
elongation to fracture
...

Process

How to choose the right quenching fluid

→ According to the means of heating

The means of heating or type of furnace affects the choice of quenching fluid. CONDAT has a large range of cold, semi-hot and hot fluids or polymers.

Heating without protective atmosphere:

After austenitisation, quenching is performed by immersion or through-hardening in an open tank. This is the most well-known quenching process, notably used for forging parts, bars, wire-drawing coils, liners for HGV cylinder blocks...

Thermo-chemical treatment: cementation or carbonitriding

Process of quenching by immersion or pressure quenching. The oils used must have average or accelerated quenching power according to the sections and the steel grades of the quenched materials. They are used for quenching tanks for the following installations:

Rotary retort furnace
Batch furnace under atmosphere with integrated tank: for quenching and tempering of forged or machined parts or quenching after thermo-chemical treatment of machined parts.
Vacuum or low-pressure furnace: for the manufacture of tool parts

Superficial induction heating

Parts can be heated by induction, with cooling by shower or dipping. For heat treatment of crankshafts, gear teeth...

→ According to the quenching process:

CONDAT can assist you according to the quenching process and will offer the fluid with the most appropriate quenching cooling characteristics:

Through-hardening in open tank : The case for forged parts, bars, wire-drawing coils
Through-hardening in closed tank under atmosphere : The case for pinions, gears
Spray quenching or superficial quenching: Water with the addition of polymers. This process consists in quenching a part, bars, tubes by spraying with a liquid using a shower placed in the open air. The main application concerns parts heated locally by induction.
Pressure quenching : The case for bearings in cold oil and agricultural equipment

HSE

CONDAT quenching fluids are intended specifically for applications in heat-treatment workshops and offer technical solutions to meet the demands of the sector:

improving safety in your workshops
reducing fire risk
protecting the health of operators

To optimise your heat treatment process and meet furnace constraints, CONDAT can assist you in implementation of alternatives to quenching oils in the form of polymers. Objective: eliminate the risk of fire and the emission of smokes that can contain PAH-type compounds.

Furthermore, heat treatment is a key operation for obtaining safety components. It is therefore classified among the special processes. CONDAT is able to supply all the quality documents required by heat-treatment workshops and in particular those relating to the regulations and EN 9100, NADCAP certifications.

Associated services

Our metallurgical experts are available to make customised recommendations according to your heating and cooling processes. They will assist you in: