Forging Flame Heating Equipment and Its Applications 1—Batch-Loading Flame Heating Equipment

Release Date:

2026-03-12

Common flame-heating equipment used in forging is primarily classified, according to the charging method, into batch charging and continuous charging.

The editor will divide this into three articles to provide a detailed classification, summary, and explanation of different types of flame-heating equipment, along with their application ranges and key features. If you find any inaccuracies, please leave a comment or contact us.

Intermittent charging flame-heating equipment mainly includes hand forging furnaces, chamber furnaces, open-gap furnaces, through-type furnaces, reciprocating grate furnaces, hearth furnaces, and open-flame non-oxidizing heating furnaces, among others.

1. Hand-Forged Furnace

Hand forging furnaces have a simple structure, with poor control over heating quality and temperature, and require high labor intensity. They are mainly used for heating various small and medium-sized forgings in single-piece or small-batch production, typically during manual forging or finishing operations. Hand forging furnaces can be classified into open-type furnaces, closed-type furnaces, single-hearth furnaces, double-hearth furnaces, portable types, and stationary types.

2. Chamber Furnace

Chamber furnaces have a simple structure and include both open- and closed-door types. They are primarily used for heating various small and medium-sized free-forged parts on a per-piece or small-batch basis, making them a relatively traditional heating method. Among them, the double-door chamber furnace features a compact, energy-efficient design with high production capacity; it helps prevent overheating and oxidation of the forging stock while ensuring efficient energy utilization. It is particularly suitable for multiple heating operations and for heating alloy steels. The regenerative chamber furnace boasts high combustion efficiency, effectively reducing energy consumption and enabling rapid temperature rise; it is ideal for pre-forging heating of medium- and small-sized billets and ingots, with workpieces generally not exceeding 3 tonnes, and can be paired with medium- and small-sized free-forging hammers or die-forging hammers.

3. Open-cessation furnace

The open-gap furnace features a simple structure with no furnace door; instead, a 100–200 mm high gap is left at the furnace opening, which is why it is also called a gap-type furnace. It boasts high heating efficiency and convenient loading and unloading. It is commonly used for batch production of small and medium-sized die forgings, plug-die forgings, and hand forging, as well as for localized heating of bar ends or billets, and can be paired with friction presses. Double-chamber open-gap furnaces offer even greater production capacity. Today, open-gap furnaces have also seen numerous innovations and patents, such as interconnected circulating shuttle-type open-gap furnaces and rotary open-gap furnaces.

4. Through-type Furnace

Through-type furnaces, equipped with a preheating section, and in some cases with multiple furnace chambers such as a preheating chamber, a heating chamber, and a quenching chamber, are suitable for the heating or heat treatment of various small and medium-sized free-forged parts, die-forged parts, and long-rod forgings.

Regenerative through-type furnaces feature high combustion efficiency and rapid heating, effectively reducing energy consumption. They are suitable for the continuous heating of billets and bars made from carbon steel, low-alloy steel, stainless steel, and other materials, and can be paired with forging hammers.

Keywords: Chengyu Forging, Heat Treatment

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