Process and equipment for hardening wire rings

摘要

The invention relates to a process and to equipment for the heat treatment of wire which has been wound up into rings, the rings being austenitised, being hardened with excitation of resonant vibrations and subsequently being tempered. The invention essentially comprises carrying out, by means of a single manipulator with C-hooks located in the centre of a plurality of hood ovens, the discharging of the ovens, the spreading of the ring out of the arc of the C-hook to the end of the hook, the excitation of the ring to resonant vibrations, the dipping of the ring into the hardening bath, the rotation of the ring about its ring axis, the lifting and lowering of the ring within the bath, the removal from the bath and the deposition onto a floor conveyor means. The advantages are that, in this way, small quantities of wire rings can be hardened and tempered economically, independently of large, high-throughput rolling lines or even large continuous ovens. A further advantage is that the individual hood ovens can be adjusted with respect to temperature and time to the different conditions for the austenitisation of different grades and also for tempering to different temperatures. There is the further advantage that the unit is adaptable in its capacity, since the central manipulator can be connected to only one hood oven but can also be surrounded by two, three or even four ovens.