Industrial Enameling Furnace Technology

Introduction

Firing is a critical step at every enameling process and each enameling plant has at least one enameling furnace.

Our staff has many years of experience with the design, installation and maintenance of industrial enameling furnaces and may assist you to

Select the most suitable furnace
Extend its lifetime
Improve its performance
Reduce total cost of ownership
Source critical spare parts

Introduction

Curing or firing a porcelain enameling coating is done inside high temperature furnaces.

In the early days these furnaces were made of refractory bricks, due to the required firing temperature between 800 and 850 degrees Celsius.

However, such bricks are sensitive for thermal shocks and need to be heated up & cooled down very slowly.

Therefore modern enamelling furnaces are nowadays made of Low Thermal Mass insulation materials, like stone wool, vermiculite & ceramic fibers.

The possibility to switch off a LTM furnace at the end of the day and heat it up again within 1 hour the next morning may provide significant annual energy savings upto 75 % in comparison with the old brick-lined furnaces.

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Major furnace components

An industrial continuous enameling furnace consist typically of the following components:

• Steel structure
• Insulation materials   
• Heating system
• Heat resisting alloy
• Air sealing
• Electrical controls
• Furnace conveyor
• Auxiliary furnace equipment

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About Us

We assist manufacturers within the porcelain/vitreous enameling industry with

- designing industrial enameling furnaces
- building industrial enameling furnaces
- optimizing industrial enameling furnaces
- troubleshooting industrial enameling furnaces
- sourcing critical spare parts
- maintaining industrial enameling furnaces
- converting industrial enameling furnaces
- extending industrial enameling furnaces
- relocating industrial enameling furnaces
- renovating industrial enameling furnaces

Contact us for more information and/or support

Furnace atmosphere

A clean furnace atmosphere is important for obtaining good enameling results.

Elevated concentrations of CO₂ and/or H₂O may slow down the emission of gases from the metal substrate thru the enamel layer during the fusion stage and under certain unfavorable circumstances result in enameling defects such as pinholes & fish-scales.

During the fusion of the enamel layer, fluorine is released.

This fluorine may react with water vapor, which is present inside the furnace and the resulting HF vapors may jeopardize furnace components made of heat resisting alloy (such as air-seals, heating elements and/or radiant tubes) and the furnace insulation.

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Energy consumption & savings

Enamel furnaces are typically the single biggest energy consumer within an industrial porcelain enameling plant, because they require considerable quantities of gas, oil and/or electricity during both daily start-up and operation.

The lowest possible energy consumption of an enamel furnace is achieved by :

1. selecting the most efficient furnace technology
2. determine the right furnace size
3. maintaining the furnace in a good condition by regularly performing preventive maintenance.

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Temperature Profiling

Firing is a critical process step at every enameling shop. In order to continuously achieve good enameling results, it is important to maintain the actual firing conditions at the enameling furnace within strict tolerances.

Example of so-called Bozsin-box curve

Spare parts

We may assist with sourcing critical spare parts for various enameling furnaces

Spare parts for Ferro furnaces
Spare parts for Smit Ovens furnaces
Spare parts for Smit Sinus furnaces
Spare parts for AEE / AES furnaces

Request quotation

Benefit from our experience

Our Managing Director & Owner has been personally involved in 50+ industrial porcelain enameling projects since 1984, while working respectively for Ferro (Holland) BV, Smit Ovens BV, Smit Sinus Enameling BV, Nordson Corporation and/or Ditmer Trading & Consulting BV.

Click here for our reference list

Company details

Ditmer Trading & Consulting BV
Palissander 141
3315MP Dordrecht
The Netherlands

Phone : +31-78-6169877
e-mail : info@ditmer.nl