Sectors and Industries
Special Industry Know-How
Heat treatment and thermal process technology are used in numerous industries to modify the properties and quality of materials and components.
SCHWING has decades of experience in the individual design and manufacture as well as in the operation of effective, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly furnace systems. We offer special skills and experience in the following industries:
Car manufacturer
Significantly reducing C02 emissions from motor vehicles is one of the key goals of the automotive industry. In addition to the use of low-CO2 or CO2-free drive systems, the fundamental reduction of energy consumption (fuel, electricity) is also targeted in this context.
To achieve this, materials with significantly lower specific weights than steel are being developed and used, such as carbon composites (CFRP) or high-alloy aluminum. Such material substitutions are complemented and supported by a bionic design of structural components, which allows, for example, a car body to be designed with significantly less material than before.
The advanced aluminum alloys used to manufacture such components are heated in an industrial furnace to the required, close-tolerance processing temperature (preheating), irrespective of the shaping process (forming or casting), and then formed with stable properties and low stress, or cooled in a downstream process, for example in a circulating air chamber, in a targeted manner (quenching).
To ensure the quality of the process, the CQI-9 standard is usually applied.
Automotive Suppliers
As a process-diversified industry, the automotive supply industry requires a large number of different industrial furnaces and heat treatment plants for drying paints and adhesive bonds, for tempering and hardening plastics and composites, and finally for the manifold heat treatment of metals and aluminum alloys, such as for artificial aging of metal or solution annealing of aluminum components.
In the planning and design of heat treatment plants, the requirements of DIN EN 1539 for a safe process flow and for the safe discharge of explosive or flammable substances as well as the industry-specific standard CQI-9 often apply.
Aerospace Technology
Special safety requirements are found in all processes and systems in the aerospace industry, including the manufacturing processes and systems for materials, parts and components in aircraft construction.
Particularly in the case of material property-forming heat treatment processes, special emphasis is placed on temperature uniformity, system accuracy and on the reproducibility of the documented thermal processes. These increased process requirements must already be taken into account in the design and implementation of the plant technology. It makes no difference whether the industrial furnaces are used to manufacture new aircraft components for original equipment or to refurbish corresponding components as part of regular maintenance intervals.
The high-precision heat treatment systems from SCHWING meet, among other things, all accuracy values and process specifications to be complied with according to AMS 2750, such as for the hardening of aircraft exterior components made of plastic and composite materials or for the drying of surface and corrosion coatings of metallic components. Processes that generate flammable process gases are safely handled by the DIN EN 1539 standard.
Electrical Engineering
(electronics industry, wind turbines)
SCHWING industrial furnaces ensure highly effective, safe and energy-efficient heat treatment processes for all applications in the electrical industry. Common applications are
- the hardening/drying of the moisture-protective resin coating of copper windings of stators and rotors in motors and generators, respectively, as well as
- the bonding of sheets coated with baking varnish to form entire engine components.
The flammable outgassing that usually occurs during the drying/curing process is safely handled here by applying the DIN EN 1539 standard.
Plastics / Rubber Industry
The plastics or rubber producing and processing industry is one of the central suppliers of parts and components with a very wide range of applications in all kinds of plants, systems and industries. The requirements for the design of customer- or application-specific furnace systems are correspondingly diverse and individual.
Industrial furnaces are used here for dimensional stabilization through hardening/drying, for example, of silicone or duroplastics and for generating a low-stress material matrix by tempering acrylic glass (PMMA, Plexiglas) and other thermoplastics. During the heat treatment processes for the dimensional stabilization of plastic or rubber products, flammable gaseous substances are generated as a reaction product, among other things, which are handled in a process-safe manner in SCHWING industrial furnaces by applying DIN EN 1539.
Metal Processing Industry
In mechanical and plant engineering, numerous parts and components made of plastics and composites, but also steel, metal and non-ferrous metal are processed. Here, for example, industrial furnaces and heat treatment plants are used for heating (shrinking), solution annealing (hardening), stress-relieving annealing (stress-relieving) and tempering (blue coloring).
To achieve the specific material properties, the specially designed SCHWING industrial furnaces realize an exact thermoprocess in a relatively narrow temperature window and with excellent reproducibility.
Composite Materials
Structural components made of composite materials such as glass fiber reinforced plastics (GRP, GMT/glass fiber mats) or carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are increasingly replacing previously used parts and components made of metal (steel) in order to successfully combine the positive material properties of different materials and, above all, to take advantage of the associated, sometimes significant weight reduction. The end product thus offers higher energy efficiency combined with improved mechanical properties (strength, toughness, dimensional stability).
For example, CFRP materials are used for tanks of hydrogen-powered vehicles and corresponding property-determining fiber materials are used for complex safety products such as brake and clutch linings.
In the manufacture of products made of composites, industrial furnaces are mainly used for drying and hardening ( dimensional stabilization, solidification). In accordance with DIN EN 1539, these furnaces ensure the safe handling of flammable substances that are outgassed during the heat treatment process.
Lacquers, Coatings
Painted and otherwise coated components are used in numerous industries, and their surface coatings have to be baked, hardened or dried.
The surface finishes used essentially for corrosion protection and/or for optical reasons are usually applied to the components in a wet, powder coating or whirl sintering process.
The dryers or industrial furnaces used here are designed for the specific application process. For example, in wet paint coating, the component coating is cured by drying, while in fluidized bed coating, preheating is used.
The flammable gaseous substances emitted during crosslinking are safely handled by applying DIN EN 1539.
Heat treatment: Industry overview
Automotive Industry / Automotive Suppliers – Construction Materials Industry – Mining Industry – Chemical Industry / Chemistry – Composite Materials Industry – Die Casting Industry – Electrical Industry / Electronics / Electrical Engineering – Energy Sector – Paint and Varnish Industry – Rim Industry – Glass Industry / Enamel Industry / Ceramics Industry – Rubber Industry – Plastics and Polymer Industry – Agriculture and Animal Feed Industry – Aerospace Industry / Aviation – Mechanical Engineering / Plant Engineering – Medical Technology – Metal Processing Industry / Pulp and Paper Industry – Pharmaceutical Industry – Textile and Fiber Industry – Wind Power Industry