Production of conveyor belts for hardening at high temperatures and metallurgical processes

In the metallurgical industry, metal conveyor belts are an essential element of the necessary automation of the work process, given the constant need of handling pieces of significant weight and volume and subject them to extremely high temperatures. The correct construction of the conveyor belts allows for increasing drastically the efficiency of the work process.

Conveyor belts for the heat treatment industry

In the heat treatment industry, all the processing consist of submitting steel pieces to specific cycles of exposure at very high temperatures, up to 1100 degree centigrade, followed by appropriate cooling, in order to alter the mechanical and structural characteristics, this applies to the hardening, that increases their hardness; the annealing, that rebalances the ratio hardness-ductility; the solubilization of the stainless steel, that increases the mechanical and chemical resistance; the phosphatic, that creates a protective layer on the surface; the normalization that eliminates the tensions due to previous processes.
So, in all these cases occur that the conveyor belt is realized by a metallic material able to withstand this type of temperature, and at the same time able to withstand the mechanical stress deriving from the weight, often considerable, of the pieces, handled: the choice usually falls on INCONEL for high temperature, otherwise on stainless steel, AISI 314 or 310 (on request can be accompanied by the certificate of conformity of the material). Equally important is the structure of the belt, that in this case is extremely variable: according to the dimensions of the product to be submitted to heat treatment we can use very open mesh or very closed mesh, often it also is used side plates or lifters. In all cases, the preferable conveyor belt is the reinforced edge conveyor belt, which boasts the best resistance against thermal deformation (so much to be used also in another industry that works at high temperatures, the glass industry).
The drag, to conclude, must be extremely reliable and able to support without damage temperatures and mechanical stress: for this reason, we do not opt either side chain models or sprocket models, preferring a direct connection to the machine drum.