We've assembled some of the top 101 Heat Treat Tips that heat treating professionals submitted over the years into today’s original content. Read on for 8 tips that will keep you and your team safe!
By the way, Heat Treat Today introduced Heat Treat Resources last year; this is a feature you can use when you're at the plant or on the road. Check out the digital edition of the September 2021 Tradeshow magazine to check it out yourself!
4 Reasons Not to Overlook Combustion System Maintenance
Anyone who has operated a direct fired furnace, especially one that relies on pressure balance ratio regulators for ratio control, knows that regular tuning is needed to keep the process running with the proper air to fuel ratio.
Here are 4 reasons not to skip regular combustion system tuning:
- It can cost you money: Operating with more air than needed will reduce your furnaces efficiency and require you to burn more fuel. Conversely, operating air deficient, unless necessary for the process, results in unburned fuel being released with the exhaust gasses. In most cases the unburned fuel going up your stack is energy that you paid for.
- It can decrease product quality and yield: For many ferrous metals too much excess air will result in excess scale formation at high processing temperatures. On the contrary other materials such as titanium need to be processed with excess air to prevent Hydrogen pickup.
- It can reduce your furnace’s reliability: The burners on your direct fired furnace will have a defined range of acceptable air to fuel ratios for proper operation. If your system wanders outside of this range, which can be fairly tight with today’s ultra-low NOx burners, you could start to see flame failures that result in unplanned shutdowns.
- It can be a safety hazard: Apart from the possibility of causing burner instability, running with too little air will increase CO emissions. Unless your furnace is designed to safety exhaust CO you could end up exposing personnel working near your furnace to this deadly gas.
(Bloom Engineering)
Alarm Your Eye Fountains & Deluge Showers
For emergency eye fountains and deluge showers, I recommend that each plumbed unit be equipped with an audio and visual alarm on a spring-loaded bypass. The purpose of the alarm is to alert others of the emergency. It is important that employees promptly respond to assist the employee who has been sprayed, splashed, or otherwise contacted by the dangerous substances. The bypass allows employees to easily test the units without setting off the alarm. If there is no bypass, employees might be reluctant to conduct the test, feeling it takes too much effort to alert all relevant persons that there is a test. As a result, an inadequacy of the flushing system could go undetected. With the bypass on a spring-loaded system, the person who conducts the test cannot fail to reset the alarm; it is reset automatically.
(Rick Kaletsky)
Gauge Those Gauges
It is quite common, in my experience during inspections, to find gauges that are missing bezels or have severely broken bezels. This can be a hazard if the stylus or general mechanism is damaged. I have found stuck styluses. A false reading may be given. Such a reading may result (for example) in an employee boosting air pressure, or the level of liquid in a tank or a temperature, far beyond the safe limit. I have also noted gauges where the stylus had been broken-off, and an employee merely made an assumption of what the proper “numbers” were. When conducting preventive maintenance tasks, check those gauges and replace missing or damaged bezels.
(Rick Kaletsky)
Check Your Quench Oil
Safety – Performance – Oxidation
Safety
- Water content should not exceed a maximum of 0.1% in the quench oil.
- Flash point should be checked to ensure no extraneous contamination of a low flash point material (i.e. kerosene) has been introduced into the quench tank.
Performance
- Cooling curve analysis or GM Quenchometer Speed should be checked to confirm the quench oil is maintaining its heat extraction capabilities. Variances in heat extraction capabilities could possibly lead to insufficient metallurgical properties.
Oxidation
- TAN (total acid number) and Precipitation Number should be checked to ensure the quench oil is thermally and oxidatively stable. Oxidation of the quench oil can lead to staining of parts and possible changes in the heat extraction capabilities.
- Sludge content should be checked . . . filter, filter, filter . . . sludge at the bottom of the quench tank can act a precursors for premature oxidation of the quench oil.
Work with your quench oil supplier on a proactive maintenance program . . . keep it cool . . . keep it clean . . . keep it free of contamination to extend the life of your quench oil.
(Quaker Houghton)
Compliance Issues? Try On-Site Gas Generation
On-site gas generation may help resolve compliance issues. Growth and success in thermal processing may have resulted in you expanding your inventory of reducing atmosphere gases. If you are storing hydrogen or ammonia for Dissociated Ammonia (DA), both of which are classed by the EPA as Highly Hazardous Materials, expanding gas inventory can create compliance issues. It is now possible to create reducing gas atmospheres on a make-it-as-you-use-it basis, minimizing site inventory of hazardous materials and facilitating growth while ensuring HazMat compliance. Modern hydrogen generators can serve small and large flow rates, can load follow, and can make unlimited hydrogen volumes with virtually zero stored HazMat inventory. Hydrogen is the key reducing constituent in both blended hydrogen-nitrogen and DA atmospheres—hydrogen generation (and optionally, nitrogen generation) can be used to provide exactly the atmosphere required but with zero hazardous material storage and at a predictable, economical cost.
(Nel Hydrogen)
Use Fall Protection Systems to Reduce Construction-Related Falls
Most equipment used for thermal processing stands well over 10 feet tall and has the capacity to hold or process over 60 tons of molten metal. During refractory installation, repair and maintenance of this large equipment, refractory professionals often find themselves raised atop platforms, scaffolding, decking and work stations. Due to the fact that refractory employees regularly work at elevated heights, it is crucial to keep them safe from fall-related injuries, as well as to ensure the job site is free of safety violations. To accomplish this goal, it is essential to understand the hazards of falls and know the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules.
According to OSHA, in 2017, almost 42% of all construction worker related deaths were attributed to falls. Thousands more were injured. Fall Protection infractions (OSHA 29 CFR 1926.501) also topped OSHA’s 2018 list of the Top 10 Safety Violations for the eighth consecutive year.
Incidents involving falls frequently involve a variety of factors, however, a common thread running through most is the absence of fall protection equipment. Even if you’re Nik Wallenda, the high wire aerialist of the famed Flying Wallendas family, OSHA requires protection when working on refractories at heights of six feet above a lower level:
Handrails, Guardrails and Toe-boards: serve as barriers between the employee and an open edge. Midrails or screens need to be installed between the top of the guardrail and the walking or working surface to prevent falls.
Personal Fall Arrest Systems: provide employees with an individual form of fall protection. For example, a body harness connected to a lanyard or retractable line secured to a fixed anchor. These types of systems are designed to go into action before contact with any lower level.
Personal Fall Restraint Systems: prevent employees from reaching the edge where a fall hazard is likely to occur. It tethers a worker in a manner that will not allow a fall of any distance. This system is comprised of a body belt or body harness, an anchorage, connectors, and other necessary equipment.
As a second line of defense or where fall prevention systems are not practical, for instance roof work, a warning line system consisting of ropes, wires, or chains is an approved solution if it is at least 6 feet from open edges around all sides of the work area. Fixed barriers can also be installed to prevent employee access to dangerous areas.
To address any hazardous areas that may have floor openings, color-coded covers should be used and marked with the word “Hole”. Covers should be secured tight to prevent workers from falling through floors or elevated areas.
OSHA clearly states employer requirements. OSHA mandates employers train workers on how to use personal fall protection equipment and how to work in hazardous situations. Employers must also assess the workplace to determine if walking or working surfaces have the necessary strength and structural integrity to safely support workers.
Before any work begins, conduct a hazard assessment to develop a comprehensive fall protection plan, to manage hazards and focus employee attention on prevention. Falls cause deaths and numerous serious injuries each year, many of which are preventable. Maintain the highest safety standards on your job site by installing or using fall protection systems – not all of us can be as sure footed as Nik Wallenda.
(Plibrico Company, LLC)
Container Clarity Counts!
Assure that container label wording (specifically for identifying chemical contents) matches the corresponding safety data sheets (SDS). Obvious? I have seen situations where the label wording was legible and accurate and there was a matching safety data sheet for the contents, but there was still a problem. The SDS could not be readily located, as it was filed under a chemical synonym, or it was filed under a chemical name, whereas the container displayed a brand name. A few companies label each container with (for instance) a bold number that is set within a large, colored dot. The number refers to the exact corresponding SDS.
(Rick Kaletsky)
A Products Eye View in the CAB Furnace Using Optical Profiling
Ever wished you could see what truly happens to your product as it travels through your conveyorized CAB furnace? Well now you can! Thru-process Optical profiling is similar to temperature profiling but instead of measuring the temperature of the product the system records a high-resolution video of the products journey through the furnace. It’s like running your car “Dash Cam” but through the furnace at over 1000°F. The resulting video “Optical Furnace Profile” shows process engineers so much more about how their process is operating without any need to stop, cool and dismantle the furnace. This allows safe routine furnace inspection without any of the problems of costly lost production and days of furnace down time. From the video evidence, the root cause of process problems, possibly already highlighted by running the temperature profile system, can be identified accurately and efficiently. Furnace structural damage or faulty furniture such as recirculating fans, control thermocouples or heater elements can be detected. Buildup of unwanted flux within the furnace can be monitored allowing accurate service and clean down schedules to be planned preventing future unplanned costly line stoppages. Damage or distortion of the conveyor belt compromising the safe smooth transfer of product through the furnace can be isolated with accuracy helping reduce corrective action turnaround times.
(PhoenixTM)
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