Billet Preheat

Process Time = Heating Time / Parts Per Billet

Process time depends on the following:

Heating Time = Required Heat / Oven Power

Heating time in hours depends on the following:

  • Required heat: see formula.

  • Oven power: specified in kilowatts by the machine property Machine Power. This value is converted to watts for use in this formula.

Required Heat = (Billet Mass *
Material Specific Heat at Room Temp * Delta Temp)

Required heat depends on the following:

  • Billet mass: this is the product of billet volume and material density. See Billet Size and Parts Per Billet.

  • Material specific heat at room temp: specified by the material property Specific Heat RT. This is the amount of heat energy per unit mass that is required to increase the material temperature one degree C.

  • Delta temp: this is the magnitude of the temperature change effected by heating. See formula.

This value is converted from joules to watt-hours for use in the Heating Time formula.

Delta Temp = Solidus Temp – Room Temp

Delta temp is the magnitude of the temperature change effected by heating. It is the difference between the following:

  • Solidus temp: specified by the material property Solidus Temp. This is the highest temperature at which the material remains in a solid state.

  • Room temp: this is the ambient temperature, specified by the cost model variable defaultRoomTemp (23°C in starting point Digital Factories).