ALD SyncroTherm® System Shipped to China
German furnace builder ALD of Hanau started offering their SyncroTherm thermal processing system a few years back and this press release tells us how the company has shipped their first system to China. The SyncroTherm system offers some advantages over other furnace systems but the very high cost is certainly a detriment to a lot of potential customers. We are unsure of how many systems the company has in the worldwide market place but we can say that our understanding is that the company has 5 such systems installed in North America, two at Milwaukee Electric Tool in Mississippi, USA (which were installed in 2013) and 3 at an aerospace components supplier with 2 locations in the US.
“The vacuum heat treatment system SyncroTherm creates completely new perspectives for an effective and more economical hardening of high-quality components. This new and unique technology improves productivity meanwhile simultaneously reducing negative effects such as distortion of the treated components and a high degree of environmental compatibility. With the delivery of the first SyncroTherm to a well-known institute in the Beijing area, ALD has been able to create an important reference and provide impulses for technological developments. The carburization of components made of micro-alloyed steels is carried out at high temperatures above 1,000°C without unwanted grain growth. In addition, single-layer charging permits individually controlled and component-adapted high pressure gas quenching for a wide variety of component geometries. With the SyncroTherm, our customer will be testing novel steels for high-temperature vacuum carburization, which in the long term can make a significant contribution to cost-effectiveness and environmental protection. Our delegation of customer was convinced of the quality of the system after the preliminary acceptance. It is now prepared for shipment to Beijing.”