VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

World’s Largest Commercial Vacuum Furnace Completes Successful First Run

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, launched into operation its newest and largest vacuum furnace.  In its inaugural cycle, the 48-foot furnace successfully vacuum heat treated nickel alloy components while preserving the crucial elements of brightness and cleanliness. The state of the art vacuum furnace has the ability to apply tight pyrometric controls to ± 10° F.  The innovative, U.S. patented load car design prevented distortion of the more than 40-foot long tubes. Due to the furnace’s increased efficiency, the total cycle time for this thermal process will be reduced by two days compared to traditional furnace designs. Solar Atmospheres of Western PA is absolutely confident their brand new 48-foot vacuum furnace will consistently surpass customers’ expectations.

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Majority of Heat Treatment Done In-House at SKF — New Equipment Purchased

Ipsen recently installed both atmosphere and vacuum heat-treating systems at SKF’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in St. Louis, Missouri. With the relocation of their existing facility to a new location, SKF continues to focus on enhancing the quality, efficiency and overall effectiveness of their heat-treating equipment. Among this new Ipsen equipment was a complete ATLAS atmosphere heat-treating system, including two ATLAS integral quench batch furnaces and ancillary equipment – washer, temper, endo generator, loader/unloader and a feed-in/feed-out station. SKF also purchased a TITAN® vacuum heat-treating system to round out their production capabilities.

Heat-treating is considered a core competency at SKF, and this new equipment will allow them to bring the majority of heat treatment in-house and efficiently handle the increase they’ve seen in production demands and volume of parts. Reflecting on the equipment purchased and what appealed to SKF, Bryan Stanford said, “Initially, I would say it was the general purposefulness of these Ipsen products that appealed to us. We run a very large variety of parts and batch quantities here. A custom solution designed to run tens of thousands of the same parts was not going to work for us. We wanted a low-cost, off-the-shelf-type solution that would allow us the flexibility we required – which is what the ATLAS and TITAN delivered. Now after having performed some pre-training, I would say what stands out the most is the ease of use and control of the equipment.”

The ATLAS batch furnaces feature a 24″ W x 36″ D x 30″ H (610 mm x 910 mm x 760 mm) load size with an 1,100-pound (500 kg) load capacity. They also operate at temperatures of 1,400 °F to 1,800 °F (750 °C to 980 °C) and have a quench oil capacity of 1,030 gallons (3,900 L). The TITAN vacuum furnace features an 18″ W x 24″ D x 18″ H (455 mm x 610 mm x 455 mm) load size with a 1,000-pound (454 kg) load capacity. It operates at temperatures of 1,000 °F to 2,400 °F (538 °C to 1,316 °C). Overall, this Ipsen equipment will be used for carburizing, carbonitriding, brazing and annealing and will process a wide variety of parts that support SKF’s Lubrication Business Unit.

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Heat Treat TV: 48′ Vacuum Furnace Installed in Western Pennsylvania

Take a look at this fascinating time-lapse video of a 48 foot vacuum furnace being installed at a leading commercial heat treat shop in western Pennsylvania. The furnace was manufactured by Solar Manufacturing and will be used for vacuum processing very large, long, and/or heavy aerospace, automotive and energy sector parts. Watch it now by clicking here or on the image below.

Solar Atmospheres' 48' Vacuum Furnace 2

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Solar Manufacturing, Refrac Systems Partner to Build Furnace System

Refrac Systems of Chandler, Ariz., contracted Solar Manufacturing to design and build a large 100-ton-load gas fan quench vacuum hot press (GFQVHP) system for its aerospace diffusion-bonding operation. Refrac Systems, working with Solar’s engineering team, selected a derivative of Solar’s standard internally quenched 2-bar vacuum furnace as the base design of the system. The new system contains many new designs, as it needed to be both an automated vacuum hot press and be extra versatile for making super plastically formed and diffusion-bonded (SPFDB) aerospace structures. Solar Manufacturing expects to ship the GFQVHP unit in July.

The furnace chamber for this unit was built by Amity Industries of Douglassville, Pa.  Beckwood/Triform of St. Louis, Mo., was selected to build the large 100-ton four-post hydraulic press frame for the system. The control console unit was built by Optima-Stantron of Lawrenceville, Ga. Final assembly, testing and start-up of the system is projected for the fourth quarter of 2016 in Chandler.

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Universal High Pressure Quench Delivers Wide Range of Process Capabilities to Slovenia Commercial Heat Treater, MIHEU

Slovenia commercial heat treater, MIHEU, is expanding their production capacity with the addition of a new Vector™ High Pressure Gas Quench vacuum furnace. Delivered in February 2016, the new installation will enable MIHEU to increase production capacity and expand their markets by offering a wide variety of processes with the installation of a single system.

According to Aleš Prikeržnik, Managing Director, „ We wanted to partner with a company with expertise in both emerging technologies as well as reliable standard solutions to expand our market base and continue to deliver a high quality product to our customers into the future. The SECO/WARWICK team provides more than good equipment, they have the technical and service support that we demand to keep our operation running smoothly.” Family owned for three generations, learn more about MIHEU at www.miheu.si/en/abous-us.html

Maciej Korecki, SECO/WARWICK Vacuum VP commented, „The VECTOR Universal High Pressure Quench is our signature technology in use by commercial heat treaters worldwide for over 20 years. We are pleased to work with MIHEU as a supplier-partner to provide them with the world’s best technology and technical services. ”

VECTOR™ Universal High Pressure Quench Vacuum Furnaces

The standard Universal VECTOR vacuum furnace is used for wide range of industrial heat treatment applications including gas quench hardening & tempering, degassing, annealing, solution heat treatment and brazing. Equipped with Data Portal™, the control system can connect to a configurable website that gives the user access to archive data using a web browser. This application can use an internal data recorder or it can work with other software. Recorded data is displayed in the form of web pages. Access, depending on the customer’s choice, can be through a local area network or via the Internet from anywhere.

The MIHEU Furnace main parameters include:

Useful dimensions: 600 x 600 x 900 mm (24” X 24” X 36”)

Maximum load gross weight: 600kgs (1,300 lbs.)

temperature: 1300°C (2400°F)

Quenching pressure: up to 10,0 bar abs.

The system was delivered complete with a water cooling system, load fixture, DataPortal™ software package, installation, start up and training.

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Brazing and High Vacuum Heat Treat Furnace Delivered to Southwest USA

CHERRY VALLEY, IL – Ipsen recently shipped a horizontal-loading MetalMaster® vacuum furnace with 2-bar gas quenching to a company in the Southwest U.S. for use in manufacturing catalytic converter products, which are then used by such industries as Aerospace, Automotive and Power Generation. Ideal for brazing and other high vacuum applications, this vacuum furnace line performs well with thin section parts and lighter pieces.

This customized furnace features a 36″ x 36″ x 72″ (914 mm x 914 mm x 1,829 mm) graphite work zone with a carbon steel gas distribution plenum and graphite heating elements, as well as a 3,000-pound (1,361 kg) load capacity. It operates at temperatures of 1,000 °F to 2,400 °F (538 °C to 1,316 °C) with ±5 °F (±3 °C) temperature uniformity.

The furnace is also equipped with a 35-inch diffusion pump and Ipsen’s CompuVac® controls system. In addition, this MetalMaster furnace is capable of meeting applicable AMS 2750E requirements and providing tight temperature tolerances with DigiTrim® controls settings. It also features an open heating element detection system, as well as offers a specially engineered heat exchanger and turbine blower that are designed to optimize gas flow for more efficient cooling.

MetalMaster furnaces can also include several high-productivity options, including specialized instrumentation, increased pumping capability and material handling systems.

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