A heat treatment plant for continuous heat treatment of a metal strip has an annealing furnace and a subsequent over-ageing chamber that can be heated. In this plant, the metal strip is guided over several deflector rolls spaced vertically apart in the over-ageing chamber so that it passes through the over-ageing chamber in a meandering path. At least one deflector roll can be moved in vertical direction so that the strip length and the retention time of the metal strip in the over-ageing chamber can be set. A method for heat-treating a metal strip is also disclosed.

A carbon fiber manufacturing method with which high quality carbon fibers can be obtained. The carbon fiber manufacturing method includes introducing carbon fiber precursor fiber bundles that have been spread in sheet form into a flameproofing furnace, flameproofing the carbon fiber precursor fiber bundles introduced into the flameproofing furnace in a temperature range of 200 C. to 300 C., introducing the flameproofed fiber bundles obtained from the flameproofing treatment into a carbonization furnace, and carbonizing the flameproofed fiber bundles introduced into the carbonization furnace in a temperature range of 300 C. to 2500 C. The flameproofing furnace includes a heat-treatment chamber and a sealing chamber adjacent thereto and discharges air from the sealing chamber to outside of the flameproofing furnace. The space velocity (SV) (1/h) of hot air blown from the heat-treatment chamber into the sealing chamber satisfies relationship: 80SV400.

A furnace for annealing a sheet includes: a first section; a second vertical section, the second vertical section including openings supplied with an oxidizing medium, an opening facing each side of the sheet, and means for separately controlling a flow of the oxidizing medium on each side of the sheet; and a third section. The second vertical section is located in a distinct casing and separated from the first and third sections with sealing devices. The second vertical section includes extraction openings for extracting the oxidizing medium not consumed by the sheet, an extraction opening facing each side of the sheet. The openings supplied with an oxidizing medium are located transversally at one end of the second vertical section. The extraction openings are located transversally at an other end of the second vertical section.

A steel strip continuous annealing device has a vertical annealing furnace 10 in which a heating zone 14, a soaking zone 16, and a cooling zone 18 are arranged in this order, and anneals a steel strip P passing through the zones 14, 16, and 18 in the order while being conveyed in the vertical direction in the vertical annealing furnace 10. The heating zone 14, the soaking zone 16, and the cooling zone 18 communicate through an atmosphere separation portion 36. One of a gas delivery port 38 and a gas discharge port 40 is positioned in an upper part and the other one of the gas delivery port 38 and the gas discharge port 40 is positioned in a lower part in each of the heating zone 14, the soaking zone 16, and the cooling zone 18.

A glass heating furnace is disclosed. The glass heating furnace allows glass to be heated up more uniformly, which reduces effectively the formation of the thermal stress marks on the glass. The glass heating furnace uses primarily a roller power module to control the rollers to displace reciprocatively, allowing the glass to be heated up uniformly and reducing significantly the formation of the thermal stress marks in the heating process of the glass, through the reciprocative displacement of the rollers. A glass is made by the glass heating furnace. The glass displaces in a chamber of the glass heating furnace along an S-shaped moving path or an 8-shaped moving path.

An auxiliary heating means for improving the melting efficiency of melter kettles used to melt thermoplastic pavement marking materials. The auxiliary heating means includes a tube assembly through which thermoplastic material received from the bottom of the melter kettle is transferred to the top of the melter kettle. The tube assembly comprises an odd number of tubes having augers therein. The tube assembly is coupled to a side portion of the melter kettle and located within a heat chamber through which hot combustion gases from a combustion chamber at the bottom of the melter kettle flow and transfer heat into the tube assembly. The heat chamber comprises an extended portion of a heat chamber that surrounds the melter kettle.