Aluminum Treating
County Heat Treat's aluminum treating department consists of four furnaces. Three are capable of solution treating and aging and one is solely for aging. Dimensions and heating capabilities for the solution and aging furnaces are as follows:

60" x 60" x 60" 1100 degrees maximum
64" x 120" x 62" 1050 degrees maximum
72" x 102" x 80" 1450 degrees maximum

Aging furnace:
52" X 72" X 80" 550 degrees maximum
We offer the choice of air blasting or water quenching and have full straightening capabilities.

Specialized tasks:

Shrink fitting: The process of fitting a piece into a hole that is smaller than the piece itself. This is done by cooling the insert in liquid Nitrogen, causing it to shrink slightly, and heating the other piece, causing it to expand. The parts are then assembled. When the assembled parts reach room temperature, they will be frozen together.

Vacuum Hardening:

County has three vacuum furnaces used primarily for hardening of tool steels and stainless steels, brazing and solution annealing.

Our largest furnace is capable of processing loads up to 1000 pounds. Small parts requiring hardening usually have a one-day turn-around time.

This is a load of tool steel ready to unload from our vacuum furnace after hardening.	This is a load of stainless steel shafts racked in a vertical position and ready for heat treatment.

Straightening:

Unfortunately, distortion is an unavoidable product of heat treating. This may be caused by any number of factors:

• Choice of steel relevant to the heat treatment required
• Severity of machining
• Defects in steel

Depending on each individual's job requirements, our Straightening Department uses hot and cold straightening, peen hammering or spot straightening to bring the product within finishing tolerances.

Nitriding

CHT operator loads a plastic injection molding screw to be nitrided into one of our two nitriding furnaces. CHT's nitriding furnaces are able to process parts up to 115 inches long and 38 inches in diameter, including stainless steel.

Nitride Furnace

Nitride Furnace

Neutral Hardening:

Neutral hardening of large pieces up to 60 inches long and 40 inches in diameter.

A large alloy plate is transferred from our atmosphere pit furnace to an oil quench bath.

Flame Hardening:

Flame hardening is a long-used effective form of localized hardening. Fast and efficient, this method requires an experienced eye to run the job. County has over 100 years of combined experience to ensure maximum quality and customer satisfaction.

First and second picture is a gear being torch-heated. The third is the gear being oil-quenched.

Inspection Department :

Here at County Heat Treat we are able to perform Rockwell and Brinell hardness testing as well as micro hardness testing.

Here is a picture of (Steve) an inspector performing a rockwell hardness test.

Brazing:

In our four vacuum furnaces we vacuum braze using copper or nickel compounds.

These are pictures of parts that were copper-brazed in a vacuum furnace.

Cleaning: The finishing touch

When desired, abrasive cleaning is performed in a variety of ways. Heavy-duty scale and discoloration are removed through sandblasting on a 72" table blaster. Large volumes of small parts are tumble sandblasted. Other methods of cleaning include glass beading and aluminum oxide in sandblast cabinets.