| Equipment |
Image |
Area Heated |
Key Features |
| Hot Bar / Thermode |
 |
Area of contact and surrounding area through conduction |
- Contact heating
- Heat transfer dependent on surface area of contact
- Thermodes wear with use
|
| Hot Plate |
 |
Entire product through conduction from contact surface out to extremities |
- Contact heating
- Heating rate dependent on contact surface area
- Heats from the “bottom” up
|
| Resistance |
 |
Conductive material between electrodes |
- Contact heating
- Performance partly dependent on contact area between part and electrodes
|
| Soldering Iron |
 |
Point touched and surrounding area through conduction |
- Contact heating
- Heat transfer dependent on surface area of contact
- Tips wear with use
|
| Torch |
 |
Area of flame focus and surrounding area through conduction |
- No physical contact; flame touches part
- Available in very high energy capacity; with increased capacity comes increased flame size
- Open flame ignites flammable materials
|
| Convection Oven |
 |
Whole product |
- Non-contact heating
- Tight peak temperature control
- Uniform heating across product
- High throughput
|
Focused
Hot Air |
 |
Area defined by nozzle design, air dispersion, and conduction |
- Non-contact heating
- More local than a convection oven
- Tight temperature control
|
| Induction |
 |
- All conductive materials within inductive field and surrounding area through conduction
- Field strength decreases with the square of the distance
|
- Non-contact heating
- Available in very high energy capacity
- Heats materials with higher electrical resistance faster (e.g. steel faster than copper)
- Field shape is a function of coil shape
|
| Infra Red (IR) |
 |
Area of IR exposure and surrounding area through conduction |
- Non-contact heating
- Energy absorption is material dependent with metals being poor absorbers
- Area of IR exposure can vary from as small as an 8mm spot to a theoretically unlimited area
|
| Diode Laser |
 |
Area of laser focus and surrounding area through conduction |
- Non-contact heating
- Area of focus can be as small as 0.6mm
- Precise energy output control
- Energy absorption is material-dependent
|