Salt Bath Heat Treating



Salt bath heating works by the conduction of heat around a material that would be treated. When the material is immersed in the hot salt bath, heat is transferred from a heating medium through the salt bath to the material being treated. The automatic pre heating system of a material is done by the immersion of the material in the molten salt medium, one will notice that a frozen salt cocoon form around the material while thickening the layer at which the work will be treated.

The piece of work is thus subjected to a pre hating process which will prevent excessive heat shock and distortion damage by cracking. Heat is also transferred uniformly over the surface of the material being treated.

The principle behind Salt bath treating is that; the electrode furnace generates direct heat in the salt by using its resistance to current passage. The heavy electrode bars in the salt will impact a potential energy to the molten salt; the electrodes that are located in the salt bath will cause circulation of heat and salt components by electromagnetic forces when energized.

The use of salt bath heat treating can be found in many ways. These include liquid carburizing, high speed tool steel hardening, Neutral hardening, Brazing, Aluminizing and Isothermal quenching.

In the salt bath heat treatment of most materials, a high concentration of salt bath which contain chloride salt compounds are preferred in steel hardening installations. The pre heating of the steel is done at temperatures reaching 1550 degree Fahrenheit, while the bath salts can be potassium or Calcium Chlorides. Neutral hardening with salt bath heat treating in which ferrous alloys are hardened in chloride salt without harmful surface attack is known as Neutral hardening. Here the temperature of the salt bath heat treating furnaces can get to as high as 1,000 degree Celsius. Materials that are commonly Neutral Hardened include; Carbon, stainless, alloy, and high speed steels.

In salt bath treating, The Chloride salt operates continuously with air contact, but it is usually subjected to contamination which results in a sharp increase in the salt alkalinity. In place of the Chloride salt, one can also make use of the Nitrate salt baths. Nitrate salt bath are usually used in the heat treatment of Aluminum alloys. After few minutes of immersion of most materials in salt bath for some minutes at a regulated time and temperature, the material is quickly removed and water-quenched immediately to improve heat transfer on the surface of the material while leaving it with metallically clean properties. Salt bath heat treating techniques will generally improve the physical properties of a material including a stronger tensile strength, a shiny surface, and durability.



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