Resources

The advantages of processing in vacuum including some of the materials and common processes have already been discussed (Process Applications Run in Vacuum Furnaces – Part One). Here we look at custom heat treatment processes conducted in vacuum furnaces including vacuum[...]

There is a constant need throughout the industry to produce the highest quality parts to the most stringent product specifications. Both long-established and new materials are being employed to meet the needs of lighter, stronger, smaller and more efficient designs,[...]

More and more application uses are being found for composite materials and their use is expanding beyond just aerospace applications. As such, you may be wondering how they are manufactured. Composites are manufactured using multiple layers of material, each with[...]

Most base metals typically brazed in vacuum furnaces have a natural oxide “coating” that can inhibit the flow of brazing filler metals.  Conversely, alloys containing appreciable amounts of reactive elements such as aluminum and titanium tend to form oxides at high[...]

For those of us who participate in the Heat Treatment group of LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1855932), which by the way is 8795 members strong (!), an important vacuum processing question was recently asked and what follows is a stimulating exchange of ideas,[...]

Many of us who use vacuum furnaces are all too familiar with and have learned how to counteract the unintentional diffusion bonding that has been known to occur between component parts exposed to high temperatures and low vacuum levels.1 By contrast,[...]

When performing any type of vacuum heat treatment it is always important to be aware of the possibility of evaporation and/or sublimation of elements, which can be present in the material being processed, introduced into the vacuum system with the[...]

Vacuum deposition is a generic term used to describe a type of surface engineering treatment used to deposit layers of material onto a substrate. The types of coatings include metals (e.g., cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, titanium) and nonmetals (e.g., ceramic[...]

Tungsten is used in vacuum furnaces (Fig. 1) when there is a need for structural integrity at elevated temperature and/or in situations where other materials may degrade, such as when lower melting point eutectics are a concern. One example of[...]

Since brazing plays an important part in some of your company’s products, plan to have one or more of your people attend one of the high-powered, three-day (Tues-Thurs) seminars being held in 2019. Contact your people today to have them[...]

A number of years ago I wrote an article about the question of refrigerating brazing paste, something that has caused real problems for a number of people in the brazing industry, and which is still doing so today. A recent[...]

Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) coolers have been used extensively for many years on diesel truck engines, and are now also being used on gasoline engines. EGR coolers are specialized heat-exchanger assemblies that make extensive use of furnace-brazing (usually vacuum brazing)[...]

A number of years ago I wrote an article for this website about the use of a brazing flux in a vacuum furnace, in answer to an inquiry I had received about the advantages or disadvantages of using a paste[...]

Vacuum brazing involves the removal of all gaseous atmosphere from the sealed chamber of a “furnace” used for high-temperature brazing, a “furnace” being defined as any enclosure that can be heated to a high enough temperature to accomplish a specific[...]

The Edwards “RV” (simply meaning Rotary Vane) laboratory sized oil sealed rotary vane vacuum pumps (Fig. 1) have been in the market for 25 years. They have a very unique design with no equal. This article will attempt to show[...]

Vee belt drive design This article discusses one and two-stage “medium vacuum” oil sealed rotary vane vacuum pumps that can produce a catalog ultimate vacuum of about 1 x 10-2 Torr (0.01 Torr or 10 microns) for a one stage model[...]

Fig. 1 Lifting with the aid of Suction Cups. In this article, we're going to take a step away from vacuum pumps and systems and write about general applications that use vacuum in the process.There may be some applications you have[...]

By now, most maintenance departments should have a plan in place for schedules repairs and maintenance during the summer months, especially if the plant has a shutdown for vacation. The part of the vacuum furnace system that I know best[...]

To maximize your investment and produce repeatable high-quality process results, it is mandatory to institute a thorough pump preventative maintenance program. In a pump’s normal operating life, nearly all unexpected vacuum pump failures can be prevented, and when carefully maintained,[...]

Abstract Figure 1: View of the Canyon Diablo meteor crater facing west in Coconino County, Arizona. The crater is approximately circular in shape. About 30 tons of specimens are in collections all over the world making it the most widely studied[...]

Introduction The microstructure of iron-based alloys is very complicated, being influenced by composition, homogeneity, processing and section size. Microstructures in coarse-grained steels are much easier to observe than in fine-grained steels. Of course, steels are normally made with a fine grain[...]

Failures in metallic components may be caused by any of the following factors or combinations of factors: Design shortcomings Imperfections due to faulty processing or fabrication Overloading and other service abuses Improper maintenance and repair Environmental factors Not all failures are[...]

Abstract Tool Steel Failure Examples and Metallographic Imagery below. Steels used for tools and dies differ from most other steels in several aspects. First, they are used in the manufacture of other products by a variety of forming processes. Second, tools and[...]

Abstract Medical technology has developed many new devices that can be implanted into humans (in-vivo) to repair, assist or take the place of diseased or defective bones, arteries and even organs. The materials used for these devices have evolved steadily over[...]