The paper presents the results of studies on the development of manufacturing technologies to cast hearth plates operating in chamber

furnaces for heat treatment. Castings made from the heat-resistant G-X40CrNiSi27-4 steel were poured in hand-made green sand molds.

The following operations were performed: computer simulation to predict the distribution of internal defects in castings produced by the

above mentioned technology with risers bare and coated with exothermic and insulating sleeves, analysis of each variant of the technology,

and manufacture of experimental castings. As a result of the conducted studies and analysis it was found that the use of risers with

exothermic sleeves does not affect to a significant degree the quality of the produced castings of hearth plates, but it significantly improves

the metal yield.

Creep-resistant parts of heat treatment furnaces are in most cases made from high-alloyed chromium-nickel and nickel-chromium iron alloys, both cast and wrought. This paper presents the types of casting alloys used for this particular purpose, since the majority of furnace components are made by the casting process. Standards were cited which give symbols of alloy grades used in technical specifications by the domestic industry. It has been indicated that castings made currently are based on a wider spectrum of the creep-resistant alloy grades than the number of alloys covered by the standards. Alloy grades recommended by the technical literature for individual parts of the furnace equipment were given. The recommendations reflect both the type of the technological process used and the technical tasks performed by individual parts of the furnace equipment. Comments were also made on the role of individual alloying elements in shaping the performance properties of castings.