A method is provided in which a lower box comprising a base, walls that surround the base and an open side, and an upper box comprising a cover, walls that surround the cover and an open side are provided. One or more objects are arranged on the base of the lower box. The object(s) are covered with the upper box such that the open side of the upper is oriented towards the base of the box, the walls of the upper box are arranged on the base of the lower box and a gap is formed between the walls of the upper box and the walls of the lower box. A powder material is introduced into the gap in order to form an assembly having an interior. The powder material provides a mechanical obstacle to gas exchange between the interior and the environment. This assembly is then heat treated.

A loading tooling for thermochemical treatment of parts includes at least first and second loading stages stacked one on the other in separable manner, each loading stage including a rack extending in a horizontal plane. The rack is supported by four legs extending in a vertical direction with the legs of the second loading stage standing on the legs of the first loading stage. The rack has a plurality of support arms secured thereto, with the plurality of support arms of the first loading stage presenting an arrangement that is different from the arrangement of the plurality of support arms of the second loading stage.

A heat treatment facility performing a heat treatment on a workpiece, the heat treatment facility includes: a treatment container in which the workpiece is housed; a heater which is provided in the treatment container and heats the workpiece by radiation heat at least from below the workpiece; and a plurality of support posts which are provided in the treatment container and support the workpiece.

A system for supporting castings during thermal treatments, such as solution heat treatment, quenching and aging, that includes a tray defining a horizontal base plane and having a plurality of tray openings therethrough, and a fixture extending over one or more of the tray openings. The fixture is formed by a plurality of support plates oriented vertically with lower portions extending across the tray opening and top edges extending above the tray opening with shaped profiles along the lengths thereof. The plurality of support plates form an open lattice having a plurality of top edges that together define an open support surface that is substantially complementary with an underside surface of a casting and configured to loosely support the casting atop the lattice and align the casting in space above the tray opening.

A method is provided in which a lower box comprising a base, walls that surround the base and an open side, and an upper box comprising a cover, walls that surround the cover and an open side are provided. One or more objects are arranged on the base of the lower box. The object(s) are covered with the upper box such that the open side of the upper is oriented towards the base of the box, the walls of the upper box are arranged on the base of the lower box and a gap is formed between the walls of the upper box and the walls of the lower box. A powder material is introduced into the gap in order to form an assembly having an interior. The powder material provides a mechanical obstacle to gas exchange between the interior and the environment. This assembly is then heat treated.

A transport trough, in particular for a continuous furnace for transporting and heating of chemical substances, includes a flat bottom, and a circumferential frame which, together with the bottom, forms a trough-shaped cavity for holding the chemical substances, wherein the frame is connected to the bottom in a non-destructively detachable manner.

An apparatus for loading/unloading workpieces, including a furnace heating a workpiece, and a robot loading and/or unloading a workpiece into/from the furnace. The robot may include a manipulator linkage and a fork at an end of the manipulator linkage. The fork may have an upper side on which a workpiece is placed while being loaded into and/or unloaded from the furnace. The fork may include a parallel arrangement of fork elements, each fork element in the fork having a length and rectangular cross section perpendicular to the length. Each fork element may have a workpiece carrying surface on which a workpiece is placed and an opposite surface to the workpiece carrying surface. The fork element may include a heat insulator disposed on the workpiece carrying surface at least over an area where a workpiece is placed to equalize longitudinal thermal expansions in the workpiece carrying surface and the opposite surface.

Embodiments include a heating device for heating a workpiece, including a furnace defining a closed space insulated from an exterior and surrounded by a heat insulator, a heater disposed in the furnace to heat a workpiece, a bar-shaped support element for supporting a workpiece in the furnace, and bases holding longitudinal ends of the support element for mounting the support element on a wall of the furnace, the support element being configured to increase the bending strength against sagging between its longitudinal ends.

A workpiece carrier and method for producing a workpiece carrier (10) for providing and handling workpieces in high-temperature ovens for high-temperature treatment or similar, said workpiece carrier being made of a support grid (11) having workpiece holders (12) for positioning workpieces on the workpiece carrier, said support grid being made of support struts (14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20) forming a grid structure (21), said support struts being made of carbon fiber-reinforced carbon (CFC), said workpiece holders being made of positioning devices (22) of the work-piece carrier arranged on the support struts, said positioning devices being arranged on the support struts such that the workpiece can be arranged on the workpiece holder in a predetermined position, said positioning devices comprising a bearing element (24) made of a ceramic fiber composite material, said positioning device being a support element (23) arranged on a support strut for arranging the bearing element.

A method and system for recovering a high yield of low carbon ferroalloy, e.g., low carbon ferrochrome, from chromite and low carbon ferrochrome produced by the method. A stoichiometric mixture of feed materials including scrap aluminum granules, lime, silica sand, and chromite ore are provided into a plasma arc furnace. The scrap aluminum granules are produced from used aluminum beverage containers. The feed materials are heated, whereupon the aluminum in the aluminum granules produces an exothermic reaction reducing the chromium oxide and iron oxide in the chromite to produce molten low carbon ferrochrome with molten slag floating thereon. The molten low carbon ferrochrome is extracted, solidified and granulated into granules of low carbon ferrochrome. The molten slag is extracted, solidified and granulated into granules of slag.