NITREX METAL and AALBERTS SURFACE TECHNOLOGIES HEAT LTD. (formerly Hauck Heat Treatment Ltd.) have been doing business together since 1995. That’s why when AALBERTS ST, the second biggest commercial heat treater in the world, needs to increase its controlled gas nitriding capacity for processing aerospace parts, the company continues to rely on NITREX turnkey nitriding systems.
The Telford, UK, site has a total of three NITREX furnaces to date, varying in size and with a total production capacity of 35,000 lb. (15,600 kg). All systems include the pivotal NITREG® nitriding technology that protects aerospace parts against corrosion and wear.
“AALBERTS ST knows our products and our technology very well. The company trusts us for our technological capabilities and appreciates our customer support service and spare parts availability,” reveals Marcin Stokłosa, Product Manager at NITREX.
The last investment, a model NX-1220 purchased in 2018 for its Telford plant, is a furnace used to nitride aerospace parts with an additional treatment, an in-process post-nitriding oxidation process called ONC®, which adds a higher level of protection against corrosion and wear. Aside from the nitriding installations, NITREX has also worked with AALBERTS on control modernizations and upgrades of other furnace brands at this location, replacing outdated end-of-life technology with NITREX controls to improve furnace performance and achieve higher process reliability.
This new system order with a load capacity of 8400 lb. (3800 kg) uses a unique aerospace software package, specifically modified at the request of AALBERTS ST, to meet production requirements and comply with stringent aviation standards and procedures, i.e., temperature uniformity of +/-3°C. It is equipped with ONC® to post-oxidize parts for improved color uniformity and anti-corrosion properties and also includes instrumentation conforming to AMS2759/6 and AMS2759/10 for controlling the nitriding potential (Kn) and dissociation. The integral dissociator guarantees excellent white layer control, either a zero white layer or a limited layer of subsurface nitrides is possible.
