All about the Pros and Cons of Salt Bath Furnaces

Salt bath furnaces are of various different kinds. Their temperature uniformity is remarkable and so is their capacity to transfer heat to the work piece. The utilization of salt bath furnaces can be traced back to the 18th century bringing profits in abundance to the salt bath furnace exporters. Why?  Salt baths are containers either metallic or ceramic, i.e. a furnace replete with molten salt. Molten salt baths can be used for a variety of purposes like cooling or heating or processing plastic, metal and glass chemically between a temperature of 140 degree F and 3200 degree F. the salts contained are usually nitrates, caustic soda, chlorides, cyanides or carbonates. The heating of these furnaces can be carried out electrically by gas or even oil.

Why are salt baths ideal?

• They minimize the negative consequences of non uniform heating, poor quenching and lack of support which may pave the way for shape and size distortion. 
• Materials immersed in salt bath furnaces are shielded from the atmosphere during the heating cycle. It facilitates eradication of damages caused by carbon dioxide, oxygen and water vapor. The process of decarburization is also eradicated.
• Parts in molten salt baths are prevented from immediate rapid heating and thermal shocks by a layer of solidified salt. As the salt melts, it encourages uniform heating and is an automatic preheat in the truest sense of the term. 
• There is complete, immense and uniform control to achieve definite metal temperature. This is a major advantage, making salt bath furnaces more desirable than radiation heating methods.
• In many cases for instance, in steels containing high content of carbon and alloy, when it is preferable to leave the material in the salt bath to allow leftover carbon to be distributed uniformly, the heating rate is still faster. 
• Salt bath furnaces bestow immense buoyancy due to which bending or abrupt sagging of the material is eliminated.
• The equipments and salts required are not very expensive and easily available as compared to other heat treating methods. 

What are its disadvantages?

• They are suitable for production work demanding day to day operation as opposed to intermittent operation. 
• Efficient handling of buoyant may be tricky in molten salt.
• It can also generate blind cavities, known for trapping air or salt and can cause subsequent problems in salt removal.
• To reduce the chances of splashing, the work must be dry.
• It is almost impossible to maintain very bright surfaces in this procedure.

Various factors influence this process like the temperature, charge material and quality, the kind of salt used, contamination of the charge, the total number of heating and cooling cycles. But it is however far better, handy and inexpensive than other radiation techniques that are immensely complex and demand a lot. The disadvantages can be easily resolved, and the advantages easily outweigh them all. Salt bath furnace exporters, manufacturers, suppliers are thriving all over India in various places. You don’t need to think twice now if you are looking for one.