Seco-Warwick, Meadville, Pa., reports that a global automotive manufacturer reduced ammonia usage by 140 metric tons per year while producing a million gears per year when it replaced traditional gas nitrocarburizing with ZeroFlow nitriding. The system also provides 99% process reliability and 98% equipment availability.
The scope of the installation was a completely automatic thermal treatment line, for the production of the whole series of gears being manufactured. The line includes five retort furnaces for nitrocarburizing, one four-chamber vacuum washer, two furnaces for activation in air, two units for further cooling of the charges, and an automatic loader that ensures transport within the system.
The company, which specializes in the production of diesel engines for trucks, construction machines, and other industrial applications, decided to install the ZeroFlow system to modernize and relocate the engine gear manufacturing cell that focused on mechanical assembly and heat treatment.
The new system works continuously, with one maintenance break per year. The quality of the heat treatment results meets requirements in terms of the thickness and hardness of the hardened layer, the compound layer, and porosity. No deficient gears were found during normal operation. Moreover, fatigue properties have been improved by about 50%.
The new system went online in 2014 and is currently operating at full capacity, meeting the stringent requirements for the automotive industry.
