Process Control Considerations in Heat Treating

Control of temperature and furnace atmospheres has become increasingly critical to successful heat treating. Temperature instrumentation and control systems used in heat treating include temperature sensors, controllers, final control elements, measurement instruments, and set-point programmers. This article describes these items and discusses the classifications and control of furnace atmospheres. The article also describes the surface carbon control devices available for the wide variety of furnace atmospheres and evaluation of carbon control. Finally, the article provides a set of guidelines for safety procedures that are common to all industrial heat treating furnace installations.