Carburizing Heat Treatment Line Automation
PLC/SCADA-based automation was implemented on the Teknovak carburizing heat treatment line for furnace, carbon potential and charge transfer control; recipe-driven process management and traceability were achieved.
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- Location
- Ankara
- Year
- 2022
- Client
- Defence industry manufacturer
- Industry
- Defence Industry
- Duration
- 12 weeks
Technologies Used
Challenge
The carburizing line needed control of temperature, case depth and surface hardness from charge to charge.
Our Solution
PID temperature control for 3 zones per furnace and a systematic carbon potential control via the oxygen probe. We programmed the heating, carburizing, diffusion and quenching steps as recipes on the Stange 609 controller. The furnaces were programmed to automatically lower the heat treatment basket into the oil or salt bath at the end of the process. With SCADA we provided real-time monitoring, alarm management and logging of process-based heat treatment data.
Result
Operator intervention was reduced and the process records of every charge are now archived automatically.
Carburizing is a heat treatment process in which carbon is diffused into the surface of steel parts under a controlled atmosphere, producing a hard, wear-resistant surface and a tough core. The quality of the process depends directly on temperature uniformity, precise control of the carbon potential and the repeatability of step times.
The automation we implemented for the Teknovak carburizing line includes:
- Temperature control: uniform temperature distribution in the furnace through zone-based PID control
- Atmosphere control: carbon potential regulation based on oxygen probe measurement and gas flow management
- Recipe management: definition of heating, carburizing, diffusion and quenching steps by material and part type
- Charge transfer: safety-interlocked automation of the movements between furnace doors, charge car and quench tank
- SCADA and reporting: real-time process monitoring, trend charts, alarm history and batch-based traceability reports
- Safety: gas, temperature and door safety chains together with emergency scenarios
As a result, the line now operates with reduced operator dependency, repeatable quality and all process data recorded.
