ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief description of the specifics of induction heating (IH) and a variety of applications that utilize heating by electromagnetic induction. IH is more energy efficient and inherently more environmentally friendly than most other heat sources including gas-fired furnaces, salt and lead baths, carburizing, or nitriding systems. Industrial applications of IH can be divided into five large groups: heat treating, mass heating, special heating applications, induction melting, and induction welding. One of the most common applications of induction heat treatment is the hardening of steels, cast irons, and powder metallurgy materials. Normalizing of hypoeutectoid steels can be done by heating them to a temperature of approximately 50°C–100°C above the upper critical transformation temperature A3. Annealing is a broad term that is used by heat treatment practitioners to describe a variety of processes and properties related to microstructure, machinability, formability, relieving internal stresses, enhancing certain electrical properties, and the like.
