Industry leading manufacturer, specializing in rotary forging, metal spinning, and the flow forming of aluminum and other alloys into complex shapes.
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NUTEC Bickley's walking beam furnaces are essentially state-of-the-art heating furnaces that are extremely efficient for processing large/heavy parts in semi-continuous mode.
The load moving system of this type of furnace (fixed beams and walking beams) can be made with hard refractory material, or with high temperature steel alloys in custom shapes according to the size of the product.
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A Walking Beam Furnace is designed to heat heavy or long products, such as billets, slabs, blooms, or forged components, through a continuous process while preserving surface quality and integrity.
Loading: Workpieces are placed at the furnace entrance onto stationary and movable beams. Unlike pusher furnaces, the walking beam system lifts and advances the material without sliding it, reducing surface damage and mechanical stress—especially important for high-value steels and alloys.
Zoned Heating: The material progresses through preheating, heating, and soaking zones. High-efficiency burners and advanced control systems maintain precise temperature profiles. Efficient combustion and heat recovery systems help ensure efficiency and temperature uniformity.
Reciprocating Movement: The movable beams lift, advance, lower, and return in a synchronized cycle. This stepping motion guarantees uniform heat transfer, stable positioning, and uniform throughput without sliding or deformation.
Discharge and Cooling: Once the thermal cycle is complete, the material exits the furnace for controlled cooling or direct transfer to rolling or forging operations, maximizing process efficiency.
In a walking beam furnace, reheating occurs as the steel slabs or billets move through multiple temperature zones (such as preheating, heating, and soaking zones).
Each zone is equipped with burners or heating elements strategically placed to evenly distribute heat. As the material advances step by step on the lifting and moving beams, it remains exposed to controlled high temperatures that gradually bring it up to the desired level.
Preheating Zone: The material first enters a lower-temperature area, preparing it for the intense heat that follows.
Lifting and Moving: A second set of beams rises to lift the material, then moves it forward one step.
Soaking Zone: The final section maintains the target temperature for a set period, allowing internal heat equalization and consistency.
Throughout this process, the furnace’s insulation and design help minimize heat loss, while the walking beam mechanism reduces mechanical friction and ensures uniform exposure.
By carefully regulating temperature in each zone, the furnace delivers a consistent, high-quality reheating for subsequent processes like rolling or forging.
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A Walking Beam Furnace is a continuous unit primarily used in hot rolling mills to heat steel slabs, billets, or blooms to a uniform temperature before downstream processing. Unlike pusher-type furnaces, the walking beam system lifts and advances the material in a controlled step-by-step motion, minimizing surface damage, reducing skid marks, and ensuring superior temperature uniformity. From an operational standpoint, this technology represents one of the most efficient and compact solutions available for high-throughput reheating applications.
A walking hearth furnace uses a moving hearth rather than beams to transfer material—often steel slabs or billets—through the heating zones. Here’s how it works:
Stationary and Moving Hearth Sections: The furnace floor is divided into segments; some remain fixed, while others can be raised or lowered.
Lifting and Sliding: The moving sections lift the material slightly off the stationary sections and slide it forward one step.
Lowering: Once the material is positioned over the next segment, the moving section lowers it onto the stationary hearth.
Repetition: This process repeats at set intervals, creating a “walking” motion that transports the material through different temperature zones for uniform heating.
Because the slabs or billets are moved in incremental steps, the process ensures reduced mechanical friction, uniform heat distribution, and precise temperature control throughout the furnace.
A Walking Beam Furnace is a continuous heat-treating system designed for processing long and heavy products—such as tubes, billets, and slabs, with high precision and uniform temperature control.For heat treatment applications like hardening, tempering, and normalizing, they offer consistent thermal exposure, essential to achieving the desired metallurgical and mechanical properties. The walking beam mechanism lifts and advances the material in controlled steps, eliminating surface dragging and ensuring stable positioning throughout the heating cycle.
Key Advantages for Heat-Treating:
Excellent temperature uniformity
Reduced surface damage, result of gentle material handling
Consistent residence time in each heating zone
Efficient and reliable continuous operation for improved productivity.
We serve multiple industries through the design, building and installation of combustion systems, thermal insulation and highly specialized industrial furnaces, kilns and ovens. We are focused on understanding our customers’ needs and supplying the best equipment at the most competitive price.
Industry leading manufacturer, specializing in rotary forging, metal spinning, and the flow forming of aluminum and other alloys into complex shapes.
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