自動車産業界におけるモジュール式新真空熱処理システムの実績

抄録

Gear wheels and gear shafts are components which are subjected to the highest dynamic stresses in power train engineering. In order to obtain the specified strength properties on the gear flank and the gear tooth root, these parts must be heat treated. Currently, heat treatment is mostly performed by casehardening in atmospheric gas carburizing furnaces using oil quenching. The increasing performance and quality requirements for gear parts also call for an improved quality of the heat treatment process. Therefore, new casehardening technologies such as vacuum carburizing combined with high pressure gas quenching were developed in the recent years. There is a great interest in this type of new heat treatment technology and the relevant furnace systems, especially as far as the heat treatment of highly stressed gear parts is concerned ¹⁾. These days, comprehensive production experiences with flexible, modular vacuum furnace systems are available especially in the field of serial production of power train components. The following article describes the present state of this heat treatment technology and informs about the experiences in large batch gear part production.