A heat treatment device includes: a heat treatment chamber which accommodates an object to be treated; a cooling gas supply unit which supplies a cooling gas into the heat treatment chamber; a cooling gas circulation unit which circulates the cooling gas in the heat treatment chamber; and a gas purge unit which gas-purges, with an inert gas, a portion in which there is a possibility of mixing of the cooling gas supplied into the heat treatment chamber and an oxygen gas, in which the cooling gas supply unit supplies a hydrogen gas into the heat treatment chamber as the cooling gas.

Steel sheets for hot stamping accommodated in a far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace are stably supported over a long period of time using steel sheet support members having a small projected area and inhibited from thermally deforming. The far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace includes: heating units and a ceiling unit arranged in a vertical direction with multiple stages to accommodate aluminum-coated steel sheets or zinc- coated steel sheets for hot stamping; and far-infrared radiation heaters disposed within the heating units and the ceiling unit to heat the steel sheets for hot stamping to a temperature ranging from the Ac.sub.3 transformation temperature to 950° C. Steel sheet support members are mounted to the heating units to support the steel sheets for hot stamping by point contact or line contact with the steel sheets for hot stamping.

Steel sheets for hot stamping accommodated in a far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace are stably supported over a long period of time using steel sheet support members having a small projected area and inhibited from thermally deforming. The far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace includes: heating units and a ceiling unit arranged in a vertical direction with multiple stages to accommodate aluminum-coated steel sheets or zinc- coated steel sheets for hot stamping; and far-infrared radiation heaters disposed within the heating units and the ceiling unit to heat the steel sheets for hot stamping to a temperature ranging from the Ac.sub.3 transformation temperature to 950° C. Steel sheet support members are mounted to the heating units to support the steel sheets for hot stamping by point contact or line contact with the steel sheets for hot stamping.

Disclosed are a continuous heat treatment device and method for a sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet workpiece. The device comprises a first heat treatment chamber, a first cooling chamber, a second heat treatment chamber, and a second cooling chamber continuously disposed in sequence, as well as a transfer system disposed among the chambers to transfer the alloy workpiece or the metal workpiece; both the first cooling chamber and the second cooling chamber adopt a air cooling system, wherein a cooling air temperature of the first cooling chamber is 25° C. or above and differs from a heat treatment temperature of the first heat treatment chamber by at least 450° C.; a cooling air temperature of the second cooling chamber is 25° C. or above and differs from a heat treatment temperature of the second heat treatment chamber by at least 300° C. The continuous heat treatment device and method can improve the cooling rate and production efficiency and improve the properties and consistency of the products.

Disclosed are a continuous heat treatment device and method for a sintered Nd—Fe—B magnet workpiece. The device comprises a first heat treatment chamber, a first cooling chamber, a second heat treatment chamber, and a second cooling chamber continuously disposed in sequence, as well as a transfer system disposed among the chambers to transfer the alloy workpiece or the metal workpiece; both the first cooling chamber and the second cooling chamber adopt a air cooling system, wherein a cooling air temperature of the first cooling chamber is 25° C. or above and differs from a heat treatment temperature of the first heat treatment chamber by at least 450° C.; a cooling air temperature of the second cooling chamber is 25° C. or above and differs from a heat treatment temperature of the second heat treatment chamber by at least 300° C. The continuous heat treatment device and method can improve the cooling rate and production efficiency and improve the properties and consistency of the products.

The multi-chamber heat treatment device includes intermediate conveyors connected together, each treatment conveyor of the intermediate conveyors is attached with a treater that applies predetermined heat treatment to a treatment object and conveys the treatment object to the treater, and each treater is either one of a main treater that applies main treatment to the treatment object, a preheater that applies preheating treatment to the treatment object before the main treatment, and a cooler that applies cooling treatment to the treatment object after the main treatment.

Disclosed are a device and method for continuously performing grain boundary diffusion and heat treatment, characterized in that the alloy workpiece or the metal workpiece are arranged in a relatively independent processing box together with a diffusion source; the device comprises, in successive arrangement, a grain boundary diffusion chamber, a first cooling chamber, a heat treatment chamber, and a second cooling chamber, and a transfer system provided between various chambers for delivering the processing box; each of the first cooling chamber and the second cooling chamber uses an air cooling system, and the cooling air temperature of the first cooling chamber is above 25° C. and at least differs by 550° C. from the grain boundary diffusion temperature of the grain boundary diffusion chamber; the cooling air temperature of the second cooling chamber is above 25° C. and at least differs by 300° C. from the heat treatment temperature of the heat treatment chamber; and the cooling chamber has a pressure of 50 kPa to 100 kPa. The device provided by the present invention can increase the cooling rate and production efficiency, and improve product consistency.

Disclosed are a device and method for continuously performing grain boundary diffusion and heat treatment, characterized in that the alloy workpiece or the metal workpiece are arranged in a relatively independent processing box together with a diffusion source; the device comprises, in successive arrangement, a grain boundary diffusion chamber, a first cooling chamber, a heat treatment chamber, and a second cooling chamber, and a transfer system provided between various chambers for delivering the processing box; each of the first cooling chamber and the second cooling chamber uses an air cooling system, and the cooling air temperature of the first cooling chamber is above 25° C. and at least differs by 550° C. from the grain boundary diffusion temperature of the grain boundary diffusion chamber; the cooling air temperature of the second cooling chamber is above 25° C. and at least differs by 300° C. from the heat treatment temperature of the heat treatment chamber; and the cooling chamber has a pressure of 50 kPa to 100 kPa. The device provided by the present invention can increase the cooling rate and production efficiency, and improve product consistency.

A heat treatment system includes heating chambers configured to perform heat treatment on objects to be treated, and a conveyance device configured to load each of the objects to be treated into the heating chambers, unload the object to be treated from the heating chambers, and convey the object to be treated under an oxygen-free atmosphere, wherein the conveyance device includes a cooling device configured to perform cooling treatment on the object to be treated.

A furnace for removing a molybdenum-alloy refractory metal core through sublimation comprising a retort furnace having an interior; a sublimation fixture insertable within the interior of the retort furnace, the sublimation fixture configured to receive at least one turbine blade having the molybdenum-alloy refractory metal core; a flow passage thermally coupled to the retort furnace configured to heat a fluid flowing through the flow passage and deliver the fluid to the molybdenum-alloy refractory metal core causing sublimation of the molybdenum-alloy refractory metal core.