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September 2008 |
905-827-4171 |
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Maintenance Procedures for Vacuum Furnaces Part 1 - Safety
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As with any piece of equipment, proper maintenance at regular intervals is essential for long service life and trouble free operation.
The mechanical components in a vacuum furnace require standard maintenance practices (ie. cleaning, lubrication, etc.). However, successful use of a vacuum furnace depends on the purity and reliability of its vacuum. Additional maintenance activities are required to ensure good vacuum levels in the system. Leaks in joints and contamination of furnace internals will greatly affect operating vacuum levels and the quality of the processing. Leaks are the most time-consuming and troublesome of the maintenance items. READ MORE
This is the first in a series of four articles on Vacuum Furnace Maintenance due to appear over the next three months. |
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Vacuum Brazeability
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Most base metals typically brazed in vacuum furnaces have a natural oxide “coating” that can inhibit the flow of brazing filler metals.
The oxides of the less reactive metals like iron, nickel and cobalt tend to dissociate (break down) under low pressure and high temperature. Therefore, alloys such as the 300 and 400 series stainless steels, carbon steels and many tool steels can be successfully brazed in vacuum at relatively high pressures (1 to 50 microns). READ MORE
This is the first in a series of four articles on Vacuum Furnace Maintenance due to appear over the next three months. |
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Hot Zone Repair, Re-build and Retrofit
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Besides catastrophic damage due to mechanical abuse, eutectic melting or braze alloy spillage, vacuum furnace hot zones will deteriorate over time as a result of the repeated thermal cycling to which they are exposed.
The life of a hot zone may vary widely depending on operating conditions. Furnaces that are operated constantly in aggressive environments (eg. sintering) or consistently at temperatures over 1370ºC (2500ºF) may require fairly major hot zone maintenance as often as once per year. Hot zones in furnaces used for standard heat treating operations can be expected to last from 5 to 7 years. READ MORE
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