Improve Performance from the Inside Out: Attend the Tooling, Fixtures and Components Track at FNA 20

The performance of a heat-treating operation depends on more than the furnace itself. The components, fixtures, materials, and supporting technologies used inside the furnace can directly affect energy consumption, cycle times, load capacity, part quality, distortion, and operating costs.

The Tooling, Fixtures, and Components track at Furnaces North America 2026 will give attendees practical insight into technologies that can improve furnace performance from the inside out. Taking place on Wednesday, October 14, in Room 124, this three-session track will explore graphite component selection, carbon-fiber composite fixturing, and modern fluidized-bed technologies.

Selecting the Right Graphite Components

Not all graphite materials perform the same way. Selecting the wrong graphite or carbon-fiber composite component can shorten furnace life, increase maintenance, and drive up operating costs.

This session will examine the most common mistakes made when selecting graphite components for high-temperature heat-treatment applications. Attendees will learn the differences between isostatic and extruded graphite, how furnace atmospheres affect graphite performance, and how repeated thermal cycling influences component life.

The session will help furnace operators, engineers, and purchasing teams ask better questions before specifying graphite components. Making the correct selection can reduce premature failures, extend service life, and improve the overall reliability of the furnace.

Evaluating CFC Fixtures for Automotive Heat Treatment

Carbon-fiber composite, or CFC, fixtures can provide significant advantages over traditional steel and molybdenum fixtures. Their lower mass can reduce the amount of energy required to heat a load, shorten cycle times, and increase usable furnace capacity.

Through real-world automotive case studies, attendees will see how CFC fixturing has helped operations increase load capacity by as much as 2.5 times while reducing distortion and improving repeatability.

The session will also provide a balanced look at the limitations of CFC materials. Attendees will learn how specialized coatings can address carbon migration, oxidation, and chemical attack. The discussion will also cover thermal simulation, airflow optimization, structural analysis, and return-on-investment modeling.

The goal is to give attendees a practical framework for determining where CFC fixtures make sense and how fixture designs can be aligned with furnace limitations and automation requirements.

Exploring Modern Fluidized-Bed Technologies

The final session will examine fluidized beds, an established but often underused thermal-processing technology. When combined with modern engineered ceramic media, fluidized beds can provide clean, uniform, and controllable heat transfer.

Fluidized-bed technologies can be used for heating, quenching, austempering, martempering, tempering, and thermochemical surface treatments. They can also offer an alternative to oil, polymer, salt, and gas-quenching systems.

Attendees will learn how fluidized beds may help reduce distortion, oxidation, and safety concerns associated with traditional liquid quenchants. Their simplicity, flexibility and process cleanliness could make them a valuable option for companies evaluating new ways to improve thermal-processing performance.

Key Takeaways

Attendees participating in the Tooling, Fixtures, and Components track will gain practical insight into:

• Avoiding common graphite component-selection mistakes.
• Understanding the differences between isostatic and extruded graphite.
• Extending component and furnace life by accounting for atmosphere and thermal cycling.
• Comparing CFC fixtures with traditional steel and molybdenum alternatives.
• Reducing energy consumption and cycle times through lower-mass fixturing.
• Increasing load capacity while improving dimensional control and repeatability.
• Using coatings, simulations and ROI modeling to make better fixture-investment decisions.
• Evaluating fluidized beds as an alternative for heating, quenching and other thermal processes.
• Reducing distortion, oxidation and safety risks through cleaner, more controllable technologies.

Why Attend This Track?

Labor shortages, energy costs, and increasing customer expectations are forcing heat treaters to find productivity improvements throughout their operations. The right tooling, fixtures, and furnace components can create meaningful gains without requiring the purchase of an entirely new furnace system.

This track will help attendees identify opportunities to lower energy use, increase furnace capacity, improve part quality, reduce distortion, and extend component life. More importantly, it will provide practical information they can use when evaluating materials, suppliers, and future capital investments.

Furnaces North America 2026 takes place October 12–14 in Indianapolis. Attend 10 full tracks including the Tooling, Fixtures and Components track to discover how better component and process decisions can lead to greater productivity, reliability, and profitability throughout your heat-treating operation.

For full details including hotel, schedule, and registration, visit FurnacesNorthAmerica.com.