Hi guys..We have commissioned a temperature control room, say a basic oven. It is required to increase the temp of steel to ambient befor eit can be painted. Is there any formula to determine the time, a product has to spend in the oven (at a particular temperature) with respect to its mass? any assistance is appreciated. Thanq.

I would reccomend speaking with your paint supplier. They should be able to give you some guidance on this.

Our paint supplier also offers a service of running their data pack through our curing oven. This measures the actual temperature of product through the process.

Hi guys..We have commissioned a temperature control room, say a basic oven. It is required to increase the temp of steel to ambient befor eit can be painted. Is there any formula to determine the time, a product has to spend in the oven (at a particular temperature) with respect to its mass? any assistance is appreciated. Thanq.

I'm no physicist, but this seems to be a Second Law of Thermodynamics (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/seclaw.html) problem. What you're looking for is maximum entropy-the state where heat transfer effectively ceases due to a state of thermodynamic equilibrium having been reached (the heated mass is equal in temperature to the energy source).

I think the issue might be complicated by the size of the object in addition to its mass, and other factors such as "hot spots" in the oven.

I AM a physicist! :-)

Questions like this will depend greatly on a number of factors!
* how much power can the heater provide? if the heater is small, the cold steel would cool off the room, and it would take a while for the heater to catch back up. A large heater will be able to hold the temperature where you want it.

* what is the shape of the steel? Long thin pieces with lots of area exposed to the air will warm much faster than a large chunk.

* what sort of air flow do you have? if the air is still, then it will effectively act like insulation, and the parts will warm up slowly.

* the particular material will matter too. Steel (especially stainless steel) tends to have a low thermal conductivity, which means the "heat" can't travel quickly or easily thru the material.


Tim F

I AM a physicist! :-)

Questions like this will depend greatly on a number of factors!
* how much power can the heater provide? if the heater is small, the cold steel would cool off the room, and it would take a while for the heater to catch back up. A large heater will be able to hold the temperature where you want it.

* what is the shape of the steel? Long thin pieces with lots of area exposed to the air will warm much faster than a large chunk.

* what sort of air flow do you have? if the air is still, then it will effectively act like insulation, and the parts will warm up slowly.

* the particular material will matter too. Steel (especially stainless steel) tends to have a low thermal conductivity, which means the "heat" can't travel quickly or easily thru the material.


Tim FSpoken like a true Physicist. An engineer would say, "Look up Newton's Law of Cooling and approximate everything you can".

Thank you guys... i'll try my best to ellaborate...

This is a process of pre-heating a mild steel tank, say 2 cu.m before it can be put into the painting process.

The oven has a gas burner that can supply 700 MJ. the temp can reach upto 180 deg C.
As i said, its a tank, 5mm thick mild steel
There is a continuous transfer of air, exhausted out of the oven