Use of a fluidized bed for the thermal and chemicothermal treatment of metals

Conclusions An investigation of the heat processes in a fluidized bed shows that this unit has a high heating rate and cooling rate, and allows direct control in the process of heat treatment; chemicothermal processing is speeded up 3–5 times.Examples of experimental-industrial and industrial use show the advantages of using the fluidized bed for rapid nonoxidative heating for thermal processing and pressure processing, and also for replacing expensive salt and metal baths. The use of the fluidized bed is promising for heating temperature-sensitive aluminum and other nonferrous alloys, and for heat processing refractory metals, and alloys [45], etc.It is desirable to use the fluidized bed as the cooling medium to achieve optimum cooling with reduced stresses in components of especially complex configuration.It would be promising to use the fluidized bed for carrying out chemicothermal processing and for creating new processes (including surface saturation with rare metals), especially with the application of electrical, and possibly strong magnetic, fields.Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering. Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 2–11, June, 1971.