Heat treatment processes for the manufacture of aerospace materials and aluminum materials in the automotive industry need to be able to handle a wide range of alloys cost-effectively.
Today, larger production quantities are heat treated exclusively in roller-hearth furnaces. Depending on the range of alloys and the quantity of materials to be processed, these facilities may be designed as continuous or semi-continuous furnaces for recrystallizing, tempering and solution heat treating with a quench immediately downstream of the furnace. In some cases the facility can be used for aging.