Consider from three perspectives, why induction hardening can replace carburizing and quenching

Induction hardening was first applied to improve the surface hardness of parts to meet the requirements of wear resistance. After decades of development, induction hardening has developed into the most widely used heat treatment technology, forming a complete technology and quality system in the automotive, railway, shipbuilding, engineering machinery, machine tools, and military industries.

Induction quenching instead of carburizing and quenching is an important field of its promotion and application. Based on its outstanding economy and high technical indicators, it has received the attention of the industry. For the comparison between the two, the author would like to analyze in the following aspects.

Economy

Advanced technology is to obtain the performance that meets the demand at the lowest cost, and economy is the first factor considered in the application of technology.

1. Equipment investment

The investment in induction hardening equipment is relatively small. For example, for the quenching equipment of medium-sized gears, a gear continuous furnace carburizing line has an investment of about 8 million yuan, plus a quenching press, spreaders and other auxiliary equipment for a total of about 15 million yuan. According to the same capacity comparison, two induction hardening machine tools are required. The price of each automatic hardening machine tool is about 1 million yuan, which is only 10% to 20% of the carburizing equipment. Compared with the multi-purpose furnace, the production capacity of one induction hardening machine tool is at least equivalent to that of three multi-purpose furnaces, and its investment is equivalent to 50% of the multi-purpose furnace (including auxiliary systems).

The floor space and installation of the equipment are also an important part of the cost. The carburizing equipment occupies a large area and requires high water, electricity, and gas requirements for the plant, resulting in a large investment in the production plant and high installation costs. The induction hardening equipment occupies a small area, is easy to install, and costs much less.

2. Production operating costs and production beats

The low cost of induction hardening production and operation is also an important indicator of its promotion value. Statistics show that the energy consumption of induction hardening is about 20% of carburizing and quenching, the consumption of quenching medium is about 30%, the cost of equipment maintenance and spare parts consumption is about 20%, and the emission of three wastes is also very low.

Induction hardening is rapid heating, the heating time is from a few seconds to tens of seconds, and the production cycle is very fast. It has advantages in reducing labor costs and reducing the rate of in-process products.

3. Materials for heat treatment parts

There is a special series of materials for induction hardening in developed countries, but the special materials do not mean high cost, but are just adjustments to achieve better results. The selection range of induction hardening materials is the most extensive, and because of its unique excellent performance, low-cost materials can be used to replace higher-priced carburizing materials. The high temperature and long time of carburizing treatment require special attention to control the grain growth. Therefore, the steel used for carburizing must contain a certain content of refined grain alloy elements.

4. Processing after heat treatment

In the practice of carburizing and quenching, the carburized layer is often worn off in the subsequent grinding process. The reason is that the carburized layer is relatively shallow and partly worn after the heat treatment is deformed. Compared with chemical heat treatment such as carburizing, induction hardening has a deeper hardened layer, which brings greater flexibility to subsequent processing, and also reduces the requirements for the pre-heat treatment process, so the processing cost is low, and the scrap rate is low.

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