Moving metal strips can be heat treated with any number or combination of dimensionally variable tempers across widths, lengths, or thicknesses of a metal strip. To provide dimensionally variable heat treatment, an apparatus can include one or more heating units suitable to increase the temperature of a metal strip moving proximate the apparatus to a heat treatment temperature. The apparatus can also include one or more cooling units positioned near the heating units to absorb heat and cool the metal strip to minimize the amount of heat transferred from a first region of the metal strip that is to be treated to a second region of the metal strip that is not to be treated.

A method for heating a blank or a preformed steel sheet component for hot forming and/or quench hardening purposes. In at least some regions, the heating is carried out to a temperature above AC3; the heating of the blank is embodied as a rapid heating and to this end, the blank is heated in a first zone at an average heating rate of >25 K/s up to about 600 C. and above this temperature, is heated at an average heating rate of >10 K/s up to a maximum of the AC3 temperature and then is transferred to a second zone in which the blank that has been preheated in the first zone is heated in at least some regions to temperatures greater than AC3, in particular >850 C., with the heating rate in the second zone being >10 K/s. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method.

A continuous annealing apparatus includes: a pre-treatment device to prepare a strip unwound from a coil; a heating device to heat the strip prepared by the pre-treatment device; a heat holding device to isothermally maintain the strip heated by the heating device; a first cooling device to cool the strip heat-maintained by the heat holding device; an annealing device including a first annealing device for annealing the strip, which, is cooled by the first cooling device, for a first time, and a second annealing device for winding the strip, which is cooled by the first cooling device, into a coil and then unwinding the coil into the strip again after annealing for a second time; a second cooling device to cool the strip annealed by the first annealing device or the second annealing device; and a post-treatment device to wind the strip cooled by the second cooling device into the coil.

A continuous heating furnace including an inlet, a heating zone, a cooling zone and an outlet in this order, for carrying out a heat treatment while conveying at least one workpiece from the inlet to the outlet, wherein the cooling zone is configured such that an ambient gas for direct cooling of the workpiece can flow into the cooling zone from the outlet; the cooling zone includes a plurality of indirect coolers arranged in parallel in the conveying direction of the workpiece, each of the indirect coolers having at least one regulator for independently adjusting a cooling power; and the cooling zone includes one or more residual heat outlets for discharging a residual heat gas in the cooling zone.

Provided is a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) device that improves the heat uniformity of a hot zone during a pressurization process of an object being processed. This HIP device (100) is provided with: an outer casing (4) having an open outer opening part (4H); an inner casing (5) having an open inn opening part (5H); a heat-insulating body (R) disposed between the outer casing (4) and the inner casing (5); a gas flow generation part (30); and a plurality of first gas conduits (12), A hot zone (P) in which a pressurization process is performed is formed inside the inner casing (5). During the pressurization process, a low-temperature pressurization medium gas which has been generated by the gas flow generation part (30) and has passed through the first gas conduits (12) moves upward in an inner flow passage (L1) between the casings, and then flows into the hot zone (P) from the inner opening part (5H), Even when the pressurization medium gas leaks from the vicinity of a bottom all part (20) and flows into the hot zone (P), the heat uniformity of the hot zone (P) is maintained.

An apparatus, a process and a system for treating petroleum coke are provided. The apparatus includes an activation unit that is an annular furnace reactor. The system includes a first reactor, the apparatus as a second reactor, a washing and separating unit, a cooling unit, a dissolving and separating unit, a washing and drying unit, optionally a regenerating unit, optionally a drying and calcining unit and optionally an evaporation-crystallization unit. The process for producing carbon materials uses the system for treating petroleum coke. The apparatus, the process and the system can achieve continuous production, and have advantages of high activation efficiency and stable properties of the resultant carbon material products.

A conveyor furnace includes a muffle having an inlet opening and an outlet opening, with a heating device for heating a volume delimited by the muffle, and a closed conveyor belt manufactured at least partially from metal. The conveyor furnace includes another heating device which is arranged so that, during the operation of the conveyor furnace, the heating device heats a section of the conveyor belt extending outside of the muffle.

One embodiment is directed to an apparatus comprising a firing furnace comprising a heating chamber configured to fire a metallization layer of photovoltaic devices and a cooling chamber configured to cool the photovoltaic devices that have been heated by the heating chamber. The cooling chamber comprises lights to light anneal the photovoltaic devices to reduce light induced degradation as the photovoltaic devices are cooled in the cooling chamber. The cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to use residual heat from heating performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace as heat for the light annealing of the photovoltaic devices. Light annealing is not performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace.

A sintering furnace can have a housing, one or more heating elements, and a conveying assembly. Each heating element can be disposed within the housing and can subject a heating zone to a thermal shock temperature profile. A substrate with one or more precursors thereon can be moved by the conveying assembly through an inlet of the housing to the heating zone, where it is subjected to a first temperature of at least 500? C. for a first time period. The conveying assembly can then move the substrate with one or more sintered materials thereon from the heating zone and through an outlet of the housing.

An oxidation furnace for the oxidative treatment of fibers, in particular for producing carbon fibers, including a housing, which is gas-tight, apart from passage areas for the fibers, and a process chamber located in the interior of the housing. By an atmosphere device, a hot working atmosphere can be produced and blown into the process chamber. Deflecting rollers, which are arranged outside of the process chamber in deflecting areas, guide the fibers through the process chamber in a serpentine manner so that the fibers lie next to one another as a fiber carpet, wherein the fiber carpet spans a plane between opposite deflecting rollers. Outlet fiber carpets of outlet fibers that have left the process chamber and are on the way to a deflecting roller can be cooled in a specific manner by a fiber-cooling device before the outlet fiber carpets reach the deflecting roller.