Vertical Oil Quench Vacuum Furnaces: A typical vertical oil quench vacuum furnace (Table 1) either utilizes a heating chamber mounted atop a movable gantry so that loads can be transferred in and out of the furnace and oil quenched in a separate oil tank or designs in which the main furnace chamber is stationary and separated by an isolation valve from a loading vestibule/oil quench tank.
Vacuum oil quenching offers the economic and environmental benefits for processing many critical-performance components such a landing gear bogie beams. Since vacuum furnaces are inherently leak tight, control of surface chemistry is assured, and problems with decarburization and high-temperature oxidation are avoided. Vacuum processing also allows producers of aircraft landing gear to finish machine critical surfaces on these components prior to heat treating. This, in turn, reduces final machining costs when the part is in the hardened condition. Further, quench-related distortion is minimized through load transfer to the quench tank via a high-speed elevator. Warm or hot straightening can be used when necessary to compensate for any dimensional changes.