TTT Group, a commercial heat treater serving the automotive and aerospace industries, is expanding its thermal processing capabilities with the addition of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) technology. The investment establishes a new business unit that will provide HIP processing for aerospace, oil and gas, and other industrial applications.
The new system, to be installed at TTT Group’s facility in Spain, will be supplied by Hiperbaric, a Spain-based manufacturer of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) equipment with U.S. operations in Miami. The Hiperbaric HIP 107 industrial model is capable of operating at pressures up to 2,000 bar (200 MPa) and temperatures up to 1400°C (2550°F), with an option to reach 2000°C (3630°F). The system’s fast cooling technology enables heat treatment and material consolidation to be integrated into a single process step, reducing cycle times and energy consumption.
The investment represents the largest in the company’s 65-year history and supports a strategy to diversify its thermal processing services with a focus on aerospace while also expanding into oil and gas and additive manufacturing applications. The new capability will allow it to offer both conventional heat treatments and HIP densification services under one roof, including support for future powder metallurgy-HIP (PM-HIP) applications.
Hot isostatic pressing subjects components to high temperature and high isostatic gas pressure to eliminate internal porosity and improve material properties such as fatigue resistance, ductility, and toughness. The process is commonly used for cast and additively manufactured metal components intended for demanding applications in the aerospace, defense, and energy sectors.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Main image shows members of Hiperbaric and TTT standing in front of a HIP 107 unit under construction. | Image Credit: Hiperbaric
