Hotfoil-EHS Heat Treatment Equipment

EHS engineers, designs, and manufactures proven heat treatment systems to effectively complete any project more efficiently than competitive systems, while staying within any budget. Years of application experience and successful installations have produced thousands of happy customers. A focus on customer service second to none.

Diagram of Equipment for Typical Weld Heat Treating

Weld preheat
console in use

Weld preheating involves heating a section of, or the entire part, to a specific desired temperature, generally referred to as the preheat temperature.

The heating may or may not continue during welding, dependent on the heat generated by the arc. The goal is to maintain a certain temperature from the first weld pass to the last.

Preheating produce several very beneficial effects, including producing a more ductile metallurgical structure that cracks less, helps in releasing trapped hydrogen, and reduces stress cracking during cooling.

It is always recommended that you should consult with weld heating experts and learn the fundamentals of this process in order to avoid costly errors in preparation or wasting money on the using the wrong equipment.



Here is a very general diagram of the typical welding pre-heat equipment layout.

For more information, visit HotfoilEHS.com or call 609.588.0900

Welding Preheat Basics

Why preheat welds?

Weld preheating is the process of heating the base metal (parts to be welded) to a specific temperature prior to welding. The specific temperature to which the part needs to be heated (before welding) is referred to as the “preheat temperature”.

The area requiring preheat may be the whole (entire) part, or just the area immediately surrounding the weld.

Preheating may continue during the actual welding process, but many times the energy generated from welding will be sufficient to maintain the desired temperature.  The temperature of the weld between the first pass and the last pass is referred to as “interpass temperature”. As long as it can be assured that interpass temperature will not fall below the preheat temperature, continued preheating is usually not required.

There are several key reasons why it's important to preheat before welding. First, a preheated part cools more slowly, which slows the overall cooling rate of the welded part. This improves the metallurgical (crystalline) structure and makes it less prone to cracking. Additionally, hydrogen that may be present immediately after a weld is also released more efficiently, which further reduces the possibility cracking. Preheating also mitigates stress from the shrinkage at the weld joint and nearby metal. Finally, pre-heating reduces the possibility of fracture during fabrication due to brittleness.

Electric welding preheaters, known as "ceramic mat heaters", are rugged and flexible heating elements designed so that they conform uniformly around the weld and surrounding area.  Ceramic mat heaters are normally controlled by a power console that uses thermocouples and electronic controllers to regulate, monitor, and many times record, the preheat temperature profile.

Welding code is the first determinant to whether pre-heating is needed. Welding code carefully specifies the minimum preheat temperature, the soak time, and the welding process. Many criteria are considered by welding codes, all gathered from years of rigorously tested data. This data is accumulated from many sources, including metallurgical science, chemical properties of materials, and radiographic analysis.

Determining whether or not preheating is required should not be taken lightly, as it is critical to the quality of a weld and therefore critical to the performance of a structure. When in doubt, review of industry code or contacting an industry expert, is imperative.

Automatic Heat Treatment Power Consoles

Typical Power Console
(courtesy of HotfoilEHS)

Automatic heat treatment power consoles are used to control various heat treatment processes (i.e. pre-weld, post-weld) by closely controlling the temperature of the item being welded. The power console accurately controls the ramping rate (up and down), the soak temperature, the set point and the time. Power consoles are available from 2 to 24 zones of control. Zone can be used either in the fully automatic or manual mode.

Ceramic Mat Heater

The power console is used to provide power to electric heating elements called ceramic mat heaters. Ceramic mat heaters are constructed of nichrome wire interwoven into ceramic beads which provides electrical insulation and protection. These heaters are quite rugged and conform to curved and irregular shapes.

Thermocouples are used to sense the target temperature and send their signal back to some type of electronic temperature controller, recorder, or combination thereof. The sophistication of the control system can range from simple manual control to fully automatic control with large graphic displays. Recorders are frequently used to document the pre-heat, soak, and post-heat process. Welding integrity depends on precise and accurate control.

Recorder used on
welding power console.

Heat treatment power consoles are built on sturdy chassis of steel and depending on ambient conditions, stainless steel. Construction includes wheels and handles for easy relocation and many electrical components for safety and convenience (such as amp meters, indicator lights, cut-off switches, fuses, and alarms).

For more information, contact:

Hotfoil-EHS, Inc.
2960 East State Street Ext.
Hamilton, NJ 08619
Phone # 609.588.0900
Fax # 609.588.8333
www.hotfoilehs.com
Email: dap@hotfoilehs.com

Welcome to Our Industrial Heating, Welding and Weld Pre-heating Blog

Hotfoil-EHS is committed to educating and training users of our products, namely electric hopper heating systems, electric pre and post weld heat treating, heat treating furnaces, and multi-operator welding stations.

In future posts, we hope to provide interesting information for a wide variety of applications, performance, and products for the markets we serve.

Here is a breakdown of those markets and products:

HOTFOIL
Coal and Fly Ash Hopper Heaters, Industrial Tank Heaters, Heating Cable, Silicone Heater Blankets, Control Systems.

EHS
Pre & Post Weld Heat Treating Power Consoles, Ceramic Mat Heaters, TAU Units, Temperature Recorders, Cable Sets, Brinell Testers.

AFTEK-EHS
Multi-Operator Power Supplies, Packaged Welding Systems, Single Operator Welders, GRID Systems, Custom Transformers.