Molten lead is used for tempering of valve-spring wire. Lead has drawbacks due to slow temperature changes. In 1991 the Swedish Parliament passed a Government Bill, in which proposals were made to phase out the use of lead in the long term, primarily through voluntary measures. Tempering of SIS 2090 (SAE 9254, DIN 55SiCr7) wire with different dimensions using induction heating was tested in a pilot process line. An induction coil for six wires and two coils with different lengths designed for single wires were tested. The results showed that an induction coil for six wires gave excessive temperature and property variations between the wires. The shorter of the single wire coils gave fluctuations in temperature and properties using a 3.00-mm wire. No such fluctuations were observed with the longer coil. One of the experiments showed that the process might need time to reach stable conditions. The results so far indicate that it is possible to produce valve-spring wire with induction tempering. The process needs more control and monitoring compared to tempering in molten lead.
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