• EFD Induction Limited

Annealing With Induction Heating

EFD Induction is Europe's largest supplier of induction solutions for industry (No.2 worldwide, but aspiring to be No.1). The company offers seam annealing of tube welds and full body annealing of both magnetic and non-magnetic tube products. It also provides integrated annealing solutions for steel strip and wire production. Induction heating has many benefits for annealing applications. The heat is generated directly in the material, leading to high efficiency and low energy costs. It is also a fast and controllable process, which will improve the throughput. And the heat is very accurate – crucial to meet today's stringent quality standards. The right heat in the right place reforms the material structure and reduces internal stresses in just the way the user wants. The roots of EFD induction go back to the launch in 1950 of a universal induction hardening machine by the German company, Induktionserwärmung Fritz Düsseldorf GmbH (FDF). While FDF was expanding in the 1970s, an induction revolution was taking place in Norway, where engineers had figured out how to transistorise frequency converters for induction heating. In 1981 three of those engineers founded ELVA Induksjon a.s. In 1983 they unveiled the Minac range of mobile converters. Workpieces no longer had to be brought at great cost to a stationary induction heater – the heater could now go to the piece. In 1991 the managing directors of FDF and ELVA met by chance. They talked and speculated. FDF was strong in stationary induction hardening machines. ELVA was the agile innovator with a track record in finding new applications for induction heating. What if the two companies got together In January 1996 FDF and ELVA merged to create EFD Induction. And the rest, as they say, is history.