Vacuum Metallurgy - ALD Vacuum Technologies

Vacuum Heat Treatment and Sintering
Heat treatment is a sequence of heat
treatment steps in which a workpiece is
exposed completely to time-temperature
sequences in order to change its internal
structure so as to achieve the required
features.
Overpressure vacuum sintering furnace type
VKPgr 50/50/170, 1,600 °C, 60 bar, maximum
gross charge weight up to 1,700 kg.
Hardening and Tempering
The hardening process is a type of heat treatment
comprising austenitizing and quenching of the part.
The necessary requirements are selected in which
the austenitic structure is changed into martensitic
structure. The part undergoes tempering treatment
after hardening in order to obtain high ductility and
toughness.
Brazing
Brazing is a process for combining similar metals,
whereby a liquid phase is created between them by
melting additional material/brazing alloy. Hereby,
the solidus temperature of the base metal is not
reached. The lower pressure reduces the oxides on the
surface of the workpiece and thus creates the requirements
for wetting by the liquid alloy.
Case Hardening
Vacuum carburizing processes with or without
plasma are used in the gear industry as well as for
producing fuel/ diesel injection systems to withstand
highest mechanical stresses and to lower manufacturing
cost.
Multi-chamber vacuum furnace with 8 treatment
modules for carburizing automotive gear parts
After the highly efficient vacuum carburizing
step the parts are quenched with inert gases under
higher pressures. This dry quenching method saves
subsequent cleaning steps and reduces distortion
of the quenched parts which saves or reduces cost
intensive hard machining. Beside these advantages
this newly developed and already introduced technology
enables new manufacturing strategies and
is environmentally friendly.
Sintering
The sintering process takes place in vacuum or
under protective gas at the appropriate temperature
for the material. A defined, reproducible sintering
atmosphere without atmospheric oxygen is important.
At certain pressures and temperatures the process
gas feed during sintering with argon, N 2 , H 2 , CH 4 ,
CO 2 and others influences the structure and chemical
composition of the workpiece.
ModulTherm
Highest flexibility of process and
production volume are a result of the modular design
Following the vacuum sintering process, 6 to 10 MPa
argon gas may be introduced into the furnace at
sintering temperature to further reduce porosity and
to ensure the material quality of high-performance
hard metal tools and other sintered parts.