GLEEBLE STRIP ANNEALING MCU

Replicate Strip Annealing Thermal Cycles — At Full Scale, In Your Lab

The Gleeble Strip Annealing MCU® is the definitive large-sample mobile conversion unit for physical simulation of continuous strip annealing processes. Engineered for steel producers, metallurgical researchers, and process engineers who demand precision thermo-mechanical testing on real sheet steel specimens — without the cost or risk of full-scale line trials.

WHAT IS THE GLEEBLE LARGE-SAMPLE STRIP ANNEALING MCU?
A purpose-built attachment for the Gleeble physical simulation platform, the Large-Sample Strip Annealing MCU converts your Gleeble system into a high-fidelity replication environment for industrial continuous strip annealing lines — using large sheet steel specimens that reflect real production dimensions.

Continuous annealing is one of the most critical and complex thermal processes in cold-rolled and advanced high-strength steel production. Getting it right — new grades, adjusted cycles, novel chemistries — traditionally requires expensive trials on live production lines. The Gleeble Strip Annealing MCU changes that equation entirely.

Using direct resistance heating with closed-loop control, the MCU heats and cools large strip specimens through exact thermal profiles matching your industrial annealing line. Pneumatic grips apply controlled tension throughout, and integrated air/gas quench systems deliver rapid, repeatable cooling. All of this operates under vacuum or controlled atmosphere, eliminating oxidation variables that would corrupt lab-scale results.

The result: reproducible, production-representative data for new steel grade development, annealing cycle optimization, and mechanical property prediction — entirely within your metallurgical lab.

Direct Resistance Heating

Current flows directly through the steel specimen, providing extremely uniform and rapid heating with minimal thermal gradient across the strip width. Heating rates up to 15°C/s replicate the aggressive ramp rates of industrial continuous annealing lines.

Closed-Loop Thermal Control

Precision closed-loop control maintains ±1°C accuracy in steady state, with thermocouple sampling at twice the power line frequency (100–120 Hz). This ensures your target thermal profile is followed faithfully — critical when validating new annealing cycles.

Large-Sample Geometry

Unlike conventional lab-scale coupons, this MCU accommodates large strip specimens that better represent actual production strip dimensions. This dramatically improves the correlation between lab simulation data and full-scale production outcomes.

Multi-Channel Thermocouple Monitoring

Up to 4 thermocouple channels — or 2 thermocouple channels combined with 1 pyrometer channel — provide spatial temperature mapping across the specimen, essential for characterizing thermal uniformity and edge effects in strip annealing simulation.

Air & Gas Quench System

Integrated air/gas quench capability enables precise, rapid cooling segments that replicate the overaging zones, jet cooling, and water quench sections of continuous annealing lines. Controlled quench rates are programmable and fully reproducible.

Vacuum & Atmosphere Control

Test under vacuum or inert/reducing atmosphere to eliminate surface oxidation from experimental results. Critical for accurately simulating the sealed furnace environment of industrial annealing lines and for generating clean mechanical test specimens.

Pneumatic Grip Tensile Loading

Pneumatically actuated grips apply controlled tensile loads to the strip specimen during and after thermal cycling, enabling post-anneal mechanical property measurement — yield strength, tensile strength, elongation, and more — all in the same test sequence.

Mobile Conversion Unit Architecture

Designed as an MCU — a modular attachment — the strip annealing system integrates with the Gleeble platform without replacing your existing testing infrastructure. Swap between test configurations rapidly, maximizing your Gleeble investment across multiple research programs.