The Heart of Your Enameling Line, Engineered for Perfection.

The "firing curve" is a graph that represents the temperature a part experiences over time as it travels through an enamel furnace. It has three main phases: 1. The ramp-up, where the part is brought from ambient to peak temperature. 2. The soak, where the part is held at the peak temperature for a specific duration to allow the enamel to mature and fuse. 3. The cool-down, where the part is cooled in a controlled manner. The exact shape of this curve is critical for the final quality of the finish. A well-designed enamel furnace from TIMS gives the operator precise control over all three phases, allowing them to perfect the firing curve for their specific product.

This is a dangerous oversimplification. While an enamel furnace must reach high temperatures, "hotter" is not better. The key to a perfect finish is not maximum temperature, but precise control of the entire temperature profile or "firing curve." Every enamel formulation has an ideal maturation point. If the furnace is too hot (over-firing), the enamel can become brittle, colors can burn out, and defects like blisters can form. If it's not hot enough (under-firing), the glass won't fully fuse, leading to poor adhesion and a porous surface. The goal is to have an enamel furnace that can hold the perfect temperature with absolute stability, not just achieve extreme heat.

Warping or distortion of metal parts inside an enamel furnace is typically caused by two things: uneven heating or an inadequate support system. If one part of the component heats up much faster than another, the resulting thermal stress can cause it to bend. This is prevented by a furnace with excellent temperature uniformity. The second cause is the conveyor or tooling. As the metal approaches its critical temperature, it loses some of its structural integrity. If it is not supported properly on its journey through the enamel furnace, it can sag under its own weight. At TIMS, we design both the furnace for uniform heating and the custom conveyor tooling to provide robust support, eliminating warping and distortion issues.

The enamel furnace used for large architectural panels is a highly specialized piece of equipment. Due to the large surface area and relative thinness of the steel, temperature uniformity is paramount to prevent warping. These furnaces are often very long to allow for a gradual and gentle ramp-up and cool-down. The conveyor system is a critical component, typically using a precisely aligned, flat mesh belt or a specialized "pin-type" conveyor to hold the panels perfectly flat as they are fired. At TIMS, we have the expertise to engineer these massive, high-precision enamel furnace systems required for producing world-class architectural enameled steel.