INDUCTION HEATING

101

The Basics of Heating With

Induction Technology
 What Is Induction?
 Induction is a non-contact electromagnetic
process where a conductive material is passed
through a magnetic field that emanates about a
copper induction load coil.
 The coil is fed current at a specified frequency
and power level to affect the heating.
 Most of the heating is due to induced currents
into the material.
 Some heating is due to hysterisis.
 What are the benefits of
induction?
 Little or no warm up time.
 Fast & efficient.
 Compatible with protective atmospheres.
 Predictable, precise and repeatable.
 Reliable and low maintenance.
 Non-contact.
 In - line process.
 Environmentally friendly.
 Little or no warm-up time.
 Induction requires little or no warm up time
before starting production.
 Turn power on to the system which includes the
power supply, water system, quench system and
handling system.
 Warm up time is necessary only if heated quench
is required or if ambient cooling water is below
the dew point.
 Fast & efficient.
 The induction process is a fast heating method
capable of heating to 950°C (1750°F) in several
seconds.
 This also makes induction a very efficient heating
method, because it heats the material directly and
not through convection such as in an oven or a
furnace.
 Compatible with protective
atmospheres.
 The Induction Process Is Compatible With
Protective / Inert Environments Such As
Nitrogen/Hydrogen Atmospheres to Prevent
Oxidation While Heating.
 Predictable, precise & repeatable.
 Predictable, precise and repeatable. Newer solid
state induction power supplies offer very precise
and repeatable control of power and heat up rate.
 This allows ease of set-up and change over. If you
did it before you should be able to do it again with
the same operating parameters.
 Reliable & low maintenance.
 The solid state power supplies are very reliable
and require little maintenance.
 The coil is the primary maintenance item and is
easily and quickly replaced.
 The water system is another of the maintenance
items to consider. Not following the cooling water
specifications is the number one reason for power
supply failures.
 There is no need for costly and time consuming
reinsulating as in furnace heating.
 Non-contact.
 Localized non-contact heating.
 The part passes through the coil and intersects
the magnetic flux lines. This induces an opposite
current flow in the part. Heat is generated
primarily along the current path.
 Through the use of coil design and/or flux field
concentrators heating can be very localized.
 In-line process.
 Most induction systems are fairly compact allowing
for a cellular manufacturing process eliminating
stock inventory between operations.
 For continuous operations such as wire, strip or
billets, the inductor can be mounted on the line, in
several places, if necessary, for uninterrupted
flow.
 For example, after drawing, work hardened copper
can be heated in-line instead of being spooled and
sent through an oven.
 Environmentally friendly.
 Being Non-Contact and Electrically Operated the
Induction Process Is Clean and Environmentally
Friendly.
 It Requires No Lead or Salt Baths Which Are
Hazardous and Corrosive.
 Induction Has No Gases, Flames, Emissions or
Exhaust.
 Induction processes

 Preheating  Brazing
 Hardening  Soldering
 Tempering  Hem Bonding
 Annealing  Cap Sealing
 Normalizing  Crystal Growing
 Warm Forming  Thermal Diffusion
 Forging  Shrink Fitting
 Melting  Continuous In-Line
Heating
 Preheating
 Preheating wire or strip as in the case of
galvanizing is required to assure adhesion and
prevent the undesirable extraction of heat from
the hot zinc bath as the wire is passed through.
 Some processes such as the GALFAN process,
which is generally done as a double dip process on
wire, require heating two times, once prior to each
dip.
 Galvanizing is of course performed to prevent
surface degradation from corrosion.
 Preheating
 Other applications include preheating prior to
applying coatings and paints other than galvanizing.
 Some materials such as Titanium must be
preheated before drawing to prevent cracking in
the wire.
 Hardening
 Hardening is a process of heating a metal above
the austenizing temperature then rapidly
quenching.
 Surface or case hardening limits the hardness to a
thin outer layer.
 The outer layer is hard and wear resistant while
the core is soft and ductile.
 Hardening
 In the case of steel the material is heated to 950
degrees C (1742 F) prior to water quenching.
 Polymer additive is added to the quenchant fluid
to serve the dual purpose function of slightly
reducing the water's cooling affect and to act as a
rust inhibitor.(see photo of RADYNE LTD." HI-
BOND" process)
 Tempering
 Tempering is the process of reheating a metal
after it has been hardened and quenched in order
to reduce hardness (slightly), cracking, internal
stresses, and distortion.
 Tempering is sometimes referred to as stress
relieving
 Annealing
 Annealing is a process of heating a metal and
providing a slow controlled cooling, most often in
an oven or furnace to soften the metal.
 The best annealing temperature is material
dependent just below its rated critical
temperature.
 Annealing improves the modulus of elasticity, yield
strength and relaxation properties of a metal.
 Annealing
 Annealing Is Most Often Done in an Inert Gas
Environment to Prevent Surface Oxidation. A
Mixture of Nitrogen and Hydrogen Gas Is
Commonly Used.
 Induction Provides a Process Anneal.
 Normalizing
 Normalizing is a process of heating a metal and
allowing it to cool at room temperature.
 Forging & warm forming
 This process heats a material prior to forging,
forming & shearing allowing for lower tonnage
requirements on the press or shear and a more
fluid forming of the part.
 Melting
 Induction melting is used to heat a material to it’s
liquid state for use in castings, manufacturing
powdered metals or in reclaiming precious metals.
 Some induction furnaces are used primarily for
melting while others are used primarily to hold the
metal in the liquid state for an extended length of
time.
 Brazing & soldering
 Brazing and soldering involve the use of a filler
material and typically a flux in order to join
metals.
 A typical example would be the joining of fittings
to tubing or tubing to a condenser or radiator.
 Hem bonding
 Hem Bonding Involves the Use of a Mastic
Material to Join Door Panels for Instance.
 Cap sealing
 Cap sealing involves using induction to heat a
polymer coated foil material that has been
sandwiched between a bottle & cap assembly to
provide a seal.
 Used primarily for providing tamper evidence and
assuring product freshness.
 Crystal growing
 Induction is used in crystal growth applications
usually by heating an Iridium crucible to heat
otherwise non-conductive materials.
 Crystal growth power supplies must be reliable as
this process can take days or weeks of controlled
heating and cooling to form the desired crystal.
 Other crystal applications include epitaxial growth
and fiber optic cable pulling.
 Thermal diffusion
 Thermal Diffusion is another process requiring
heat.
 A good example of thermal diffusion would be in
the case of manufacturing steel wire for tire cord.
 After several reductions down to 0.059" diameter
the wire is heated to austenizing temperature in
an inert gas environment then salt bath quenched
as part of a patented process, to 540 degrees C
(1000 F).
 Thermal diffusion
 Plating is done at the elevated temperature.
 Instead of direct plating of brass from a cyanide
bath, individual copper and zinc layers can be put
on then thermally diffused.
 Heating methods for diffusion may be either
electrical resistance, induction, or fluidized bed
heating.
 Thermal diffusion
 Direct brass plating can be difficult as it is hard to
assure exact ratios of copper and zinc at all times.
 Direct brass plating also necessitates the use of
cyanide resulting in hazardous waste which is
expensive to dispose of.
 The end product is more consistent, cyanide is
avoided and the process is easier going through a
two stage process plating followed up with thermal
diffusion. (see photo of tire cord heater from
RADYNE LTD.
 Shrink fitting
 Shrink fitting is a joining process whereby
induction can be used to heat a given part to allow
another part to be inserted into it providing a near
permanent joint between the two.
 A typical application would be joining motor rotors
to shafts.
 Induction is a safer method than liquid nitrogen
being used to shrink the part to be inserted.
 Continuous in-line heating
 Wire and strip can be heated in line thereby
reducing manufacturing bottlenecks and batch
processing.
 Typical continuous heating applications are
hardening, annealing, preheating, thermal diffusion
and curing.
 Curing
 Curing is a process where heat is used to cure
coatings, paints and adhesives.
 Typically on wire, tubing or fastener threads.