Solar Atmospheres in Souderton, PA, is currently commissioning two additional 2-bar vacuum furnaces, expanding its capabilities to meet increased demand in the aerospace, industrial gas turbine sectors, and for specialized hydride/de-hydride processing of Titanium, Tantalum, and Niobium. These vacuum furnaces, produced by Solar's sister company, Solar Manufacturing, feature large working hot zones (45” x 45” x 72”) and are rated for operations up to 2400°F with a precise temperature uniformity of ±10°F.
ECM USA’s Vincent Lelong presented low pressure carburizing with vacuum furnace technology at Purdue University's School of Materials Engineering undergraduate seminar. This seminar regularly features industry speakers, some of whom are members of the Purdue Heat Treating Consortium.
NGC Gears, one of the world’s largest wind power gearbox manufacturers, has completed the installation of two additional EndoFlex generators from UPC-Marathon, a Nitrex company, at its new facility in Jinhu, China location. This acquisition brings the total of generator sets to five since 2022, collectively generating an impressive 800 m³/h (22,252 ft3/h) capacity of endothermic gas supplied to carburizing and hardening furnaces used for processing various gear components. The latest installations in February and March of 2024 support the heat-treating operations of the company’s wind energy gearbox production.
The heat treat industry comes together at FNA to deliver the latest technology on maintenance, equipment, energy, compliance, quenching, productivity, metallurgy, cleaning and more. Top suppliers will be on-hand in the exhibition hall to answer questions and discuss the future of heat treating.
Ipsen recently installed the second Turbo2Treater vacuum furnace at Temprasud, a commercial heat treater in Fresagrandinaria, Italy.
Gas carburizing has been around for a long time. One could argue that gas carburizing is the most common heat treating process. Heat treaters performing gas carburizing are often characterized by a dirty environment, hazy surroundings, and that “smell.” While the product quality may be acceptable, gas carburized parts do come with some challenges, like excessive intergranular oxidation (IGO) or intergranular attack (IGA), which is often ground off. Low-pressure carburizing (LPC) has proven to be a much cleaner and very capable alternative process. Most furnace companies have combined LPC with high pressure gas quenching, which moved carburizing from the dark back room to a relatively “clean room” environment. However, there is still a strong need for oil quenching, which is the common feature of the long used standard integral-quench (IQ) furnace.
Solar Atmospheres’ new Low Torr Vacuum Carburizing furnace and services are now operating at Solar’s Eastern Pennsylvania ...