VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT Archives - Page 8 of 8

Coatings Reduce Surface Temps, Firing Times for Kilns and Furnaces Alike

June 8, 2018 / HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Today’s best of the web features a video demonstration from the Crafts Center of North Carolina State University (NCUS), which recently released the results of the trial application of high-temperature ceramic coatings to the linings of kilns used at the center.

Cone 10 Gas Reduction Car Kiln at North Carolina State University Crafts Center

Jennifer Siegel Clay, studio manager at NCUS Crafts Center, summarizes the process of lining two kilns with coatings from ITC Coatings, which produces high-temperature ceramic coatings for kilns, forges, furnaces, ovens and metal equipment, first developed in 1980 in Alliance, Ohio, by Feriz Delkic, a ceramic engineer who was running his own pottery business at the time. ITC Coatings provides solutions to problems faced by industries with heat treatment processes such as steel, power generation, and petrochemical, as well as ceramic artists and home hobbyists all over the world.

The first kiln, a 50 cubic foot Cone 10 gas reduction car kiln was coated with ITC 100HT. The outside surface temp was reduced by 30+ dF and the firing time was reduced by 1 hour (28 hour firing). The second kiln, a Barrel Raku kiln, was coated with ITC 296A. The outside surface temperature was reduced by 50+ degrees F, firing time was reduced by half, and gas consumption was reduced by greater than one third. Siegel Clay refers to it as “armor for your kilns.”

Watch the video:

Coatings Reduce Surface Temps, Firing Times for Kilns and Furnaces Alike Read More »

A Heat Treater’s Primer on Getter Materials

Source: VAC AERO International

A common dilemma for operators of vacuum systems is to protect the integrity and maintain the life expectancy of components when the presence of unwanted gaseous contaminates threatens to destroy the sensitive materials in the processing environment. Getter materials are the MVPs that step up to the plate to protect work in a low-pressure vacuum environment.

Table 1 [1] Getter Capacity of Common Materials

The folks at VAC AERO International have provided a primer on getter materials which answers the heat treater’s questions, such as:

What is a getter?
What are the properties of getter materials?
What materials are best as getters for most heat-treating applications? What about for more sophisticated applications?
What are non-evaporative getters, and what role do they play?

“For heat treaters, getters are often considered a last resort to help keep parts ‘bright and clean’. In point of fact, they play an important role in successful vacuum processing of many highly sophisticated products and materials. As a result, we need to do a better job of understanding their role; how and where they can help.”

Matching Gases with Vacuum Heat Treatment Operations

February 6, 2018 / BULK GASES & SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT, VACUUM PUMPS GAUGES VALVES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: VAC AERO International

Relative Gas Supply Cost Notes: [a] Based on a minimum usage of 2830 cubic meters (100,000 cubic feet) per month. [b] All gases compared to nitrogen whose relative cost is unity. [c] Based on liquid supply.

Heat treaters use a variety of gases with vacuum furnaces during the processing cycle in partial pressure operation, for backfilling to atmospheric pressure at the end of the processing cycle, and for cooling/quenching. In this article, VAC AERO describes the most common of these gases — (in order of frequency of use) nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and helium — as well as other common gases such as various hydrocarbons and ammonia (for vacuum carburizing/carbonitriding) and specialty gases such as neon (for certain electronics applications), and analyzes their uses and value in various vacuum heat treating processes. In addition, their relative cost per 100,000 cubic feet, the liquid properties and physical properties of common backfill gases, and the conversion between common pressure and vacuum units are explored.

Matching Gases with Vacuum Heat Treatment Operations Read More »

Heat Treat CEO Comments on 3D TUS Tool

March 15, 2017 / AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT, VACUUM PUMPS GAUGES VALVES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Mr. William Jones, CEO of the Solar Atmosphere Group of Companies, listened with interest to the recent Heat Treat Radio podcast featuring Phoenix Heat Treating president, Peter Hushek. Peter introduced a new 3D TUS tool, Virtual Visual Surveys.

Below, Mr. Jones offers his comments about this new tool and TUS practices in general.

If you’d like to listen to the Heat Treat Radio episode that sparked these comments, click here.

Please note that immediately following Mr. Jones’ comments is a response from Peter Hushek.

Unedited comments from Mr. Bill Jones, CEO, Solar Atmospheres & Solar Manufacturing…

Like Peter Hushek we have been in this TUS business for more time than we like to remember. So, most up to date HT companies track our TUS data on paperless video recorders and down load onto an Excel spread sheet and plot out the data a minimum of every 30 seconds. This is done with a preprogrammed digital temperature controller thru the necessary ramps, soaks, and set points. The Excel spread sheets also contains all the survey and controller TC correction factors. Prior to the survey each data point contains the preset temperature controller PID parameters. All survey TC’s are set into their preset locations per AMS 2750E with careful notation to position and correct TC length and care for equal hot / cold lengths. Prior to survey each electronic instrument is checked with a calibrated thermocouple millivolt run-up box and each instrument calibrated. Normally midafternoon each furnace under test is set up thus and the survey to run preprogrammed overnight. Our QC department downloads the data, reviews and makes the pass fail decision, within a few hours, the next day. If the TUS failed back to maintenance to look into the issues, make corrections and rerun the TUS. Problems are not always furnace related but thermocouple, TC position, jack panel, jack panel wiring, instrumentation, and numerous other issues. I view the VVS 3D presentation as an aide but only part of the story”.

William R. Jones, CEO, FASM
Solar Atmospheres Inc.
Souderton, Pa.

More about Solar Atmospheres? www.solaratm.com

And Peter Hushek’s unedited response to Mr. Jones’ comments…

In regards to the response from the listener I can say he makes some valid points. There are many issues that can affect the outcome of a TUS. We realize that the evaluation of the furnace uniformity involves many aspects and we are only addressing the data generated by the process. We believe that when companies begin the process of actual data analytics they will become more aware of the process and improve the quality of their processing as a result. VVS is only beginning to scratch the surface of the data flow that occurs daily in processing companies. We look to greater innovation through customer supplier interface as well and technological improvements that can be used as feed stock to improve future generations of this software. We are only starting the process and I hope the market realizes that this is not a static process or company.

If you haven’t done so already, clicking here to listen to the Heat Treat Radio episode being discussed above.

To find out more about VVS, go to www.virtualvisualsurveys.com.

Heat Treat CEO Comments on 3D TUS Tool Read More »

Industry 4.0 + IIoT = Smart Industrial Ovens & Furnaces

August 1, 2016 / CONTROLS NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: Eurotherm by Schneider Electric

“Effective process control and automation technologies link thermal processing equipment such as ovens and furnaces with the operator and the supply-and-delivery chain — in a seamless network of information exchange.”

Industry 4.0 + IIoT = Smart Industrial Ovens & Furnaces Read More »

Vacuum Heat Treatment’s Role in Additive Manufacturing (AM) 3D Printing

July 25, 2016 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, SINTERING POWDER METAL, STRESS RELIEVING TECHNICAL CONTENT, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: Global Heat Treatment Network

“Vacuum heat treatment tasks for AM manufactured parts is the same process as traditional subtractive manufacturing and its purpose is to assure AM parts has the correct physical and metallurgical properties for specific applications. In some cases, when a bidder is involved, the purpose of the heat treatment process is to deciding and sinter parts. Most vacuum furnaces use up to 800°C degrees to relieve stress and a higher temperature of up to 1800°C for other processes.

Vacuum furnaces with high vacuum levels are preferred to heat treatment equipment to process AM parts. AM parts made from Titanium, Cobalt, Aluminum require vacuum levels of up to 10-6 mbar with 99.9995 Argon purity. Argon is the preferred gas because of its neutrality and that it has no adverse reaction with the above alloy components. Creating an Alfa surface layer on titanium parts is not desirable and should be avoided.

The small parts and small production volume influences vacuum furnaces of small to medium size. The next challenge for the heat treatment industry is to integrate heat treatment process into the AM equipment in one continuous process.”

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Enhancing Energy Efficiency of Thermochemical Vacuum-Processes and Systems

July 14, 2016 / AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS, CARBURIZING, FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: Heat Processing

“The energy optimization of thermoprocessing equipment is of great ecological and economical importance. Thermoprocessing equipment consumes up to 40 % of the energy used in industrial applications in Germany. Therefore it is necessary to increase the energy efficiency of thermoprocessing equipment in order to meet the EU’s targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In order to exploit the potential for energy savings, it is essential to analyze and optimize processes and plants as well as operating methods of electrically heated vacuum plants used in large scale production. For processes, the accelerated heating of charges through convection and higher process temperatures in diffusion-controlled thermochemical processes are a possibility. Modular vacuum systems prove to be very energy-efficient because they adapt to the changing production requirements step-by-step. An optimized insulation structure considerably reduces thermal losses. Energy management systems installed in the plant-control optimally manage the energy used for start-up and shutdown of the plants while preventing energy peak loads. The use of new CFC-fixtures also contributes to reduce the energy demand.”

Enhancing Energy Efficiency of Thermochemical Vacuum-Processes and Systems Read More »

Temperature Uniformity Surveying for Vacuum Furnaces

April 12, 2016 / FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Source: Solar Atmosphere’s Vacuum Reference Series Number 2

A Temperature Uniformity Survey ( TUS ) for a vacuum furnace to satisfy AMS 2750D must be performed using established procedures and methods that fully meet the requirements of the specification and allows for consistent and more accurate results of actual furnace capabilities.

Temperature Uniformity Surveying for Vacuum Furnaces Read More »

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