 Tinplate is essentially a light gauge steel coated with tin on both surfaces. During the manufacturing process, the steel strip is heated and the tin coating is momentarily melted, resulting in a bright surface on the tinplate. The process also produces a thin iron-tin alloy layer at the tin coating/steel interface with improves solderability and corrosion resistance.
Induction heating is perfectly adapted for rapid changes of the steel temperature during the thermal cycling in annealing furnaces. The induction heating equipment can also be used for preheating the strip at the furnace entry by effectively ＾boosting￣ the capacity.
The design of the inductor and the selection of the overall induction heating system¨s components are done according to the specific application. The following parameters are taken into consideration:
Initial temperature
Final temperature
Expected productivity
Type of atmosphere required
Inductotherm has developed innovative patented solutions to solve the problems related to this type of heating.
Several types of coating used to protect steel strip have appeared on the market during the last years. Moreover, the demand for these coated materials is increasing so rapidly that coating lines must continually increase productivity.
Upon application to the steel strip, these products must be cured to insure proper adhesion. The classical solution is to do the curing in large furnaces. The use of induction heating systems supplied with advances high-frequency inverters drastically reduces the heating time of the strip and thus the size of the drying furnace. The additional advantage of induction heating is more precise control of the curing temperatures.
Inductotherm supplies the equipment for paint drying, organic drying (antifinger paints, weldable paints, white rust protection) and also heating the steel strip prior to plastic coating.
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