Ipsen recently installed both atmosphere and vacuum heat-treating systems at SKF¡¯s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in St. Louis, Missouri. With the relocation of their existing facility to a new location, SKF continues to focus on enhancing the quality, efficiency and overall effectiveness of their heat-treating equipment.
Among this new Ipsen equipment was a complete ATLAS atmosphere heat-treating system, including two ATLAS integral quench batch furnaces and ancillary equipment ¨C washer, temper, endo generator, loader/unloader and a feed-in/feed-out station. SKF also purchased a TITAN® vacuum heat-treating system to round out their production capabilities.
Heat-treating is considered a core competency at SKF, and this new equipment will allow them to bring the majority of heat treatment in-house and efficiently handle the increase they¡¯ve seen in production demands and volume of parts. Reflecting on the equipment purchased and what appealed to SKF.
The ATLAS batch furnaces feature a 24¡± W x 36¡± D x 30¡± H (610 mm x 910 mm x 760 mm) load size with an 1,100-pound (500 kg) load capacity. They also operate at temperatures of 1,400 ¡ãF to 1,800 ¡ãF (750 ¡ãC to 980 ¡ãC) and have a quench oil capacity of 1,030 gallons (3,900 L). The TITAN vacuum furnace features an 18¡± W x 24¡± D x 18¡± H (455 mm x 610 mm x 455 mm) load size with a 1,000-pound (454 kg) load capacity. It operates at temperatures of 1,000 ¡ãF to 2,400 ¡ãF (538 ¡ãC to 1,316 ¡ãC). Overall, this Ipsen equipment will be used for carburizing, carbonitriding, brazing and annealing and will process a wide variety of parts that support SKF¡¯s Lubrication Business Unit. To learn more about Ipsen¡¯s integrated solutions and atmosphere and vacuum heat-treating equipment, visit www.IpsenUSA.com/Products.
