5. Conclusion

Heating elements can play a major role in the maintenance costs of an electric furnace. As a result, work continues on improving their reliability, with the aim of minimizing the effect of thermal (temperature level), mechanical (creep) and chemical (oxidation or corrosion) stresses. The more two or three of these stresses are combined, the shorter the service life. That's why it's particularly important to take great care when choosing the material that will make up the resistors, depending on the parameters of use: temperature, working atmosphere, thermal cycles, etc.

The resistors most commonly used today are made of nickel-based alloys. They are used for operations not exceeding 1,050°C in furnaces for thermal or thermochemical treatments, annealing, reheating, temperature maintenance of non-ferrous metals, etc. They offer good mechanical resistance (creep)...