Vacuum Hardening and Tempering Services
Vacuum Hardening and Tempering Services
As in annealing, brazing, and stress relieving, vacuum metal processing of tooling and high strength steels can give you an advantage over conventional hardening and tempering. Vacuum hardening prevents high temperature oxidation and decarburization, while gas quenching from vacuum minimizes distortion over traditional oil quenching. Vacuum tempering keeps parts bright and clean with no temper scale.
Hardening and Tempering are essential heat treatment processes used to enhance the mechanical properties of metals:
- Hardening involves heating the metal and then rapidly cooling it, typically through quenching, to increase its strength and hardness.
- Tempering follows hardening to relieve internal stresses and improve the metal’s toughness. This is done by reheating the hardened metal and allowing it to cool gradually.
The combination of hardening and tempering provides an ideal balance of strength, hardness, and toughness, optimizing a part’s durability and mechanical performance.
Benefits of Vacuum Hardening and Tempering
Vacuum hardening and tempering achieve an optimal mix of hardness, strength, and toughness while using a controlled vacuum environment. This method allows components to be machined or formed while soft and then treated to gain greater mechanical properties.
Key Advantages:
- Oxidation Prevention: The vacuum environment prevents oxidation, leaving the treated components with a clean surface, free from impurities. This ensures a high-quality finish.
- Minimal Distortion: With no direct contact cooling, vacuum hardening minimizes distortion, maintaining dimensional accuracy—especially critical in precision parts.
- Reduced Downstream Processing: No reactive gases are used, eliminating the need for post-process cleaning or finishing, which improves productivity.
- Increased Wear Resistance: Vacuum hardening enhances hardness and wear resistance, allowing properties to be tailored for specific applications.
- Environmentally Friendly: The absence of harmful quenching materials reduces emissions and waste, making vacuum hardening a greener choice.
Applications of Vacuum Hardening and Tempering
- Aerospace Industry: Improves the strength and fatigue resistance of critical components like turbine blades and engine parts.
- Medical Industry: Enhances precision, hardness, and corrosion resistance in surgical instruments and implants.
- Metal Forming: Increases the lifespan and wear resistance of tools, such as stamping tools and bending dies.
Temperature Range for Vacuum Hardening
The temperature for vacuum hardening varies based on the material and target properties, typically between 1400°F and 2200°F. Each material has a carefully selected temperature to achieve desired hardness without risking damage to the workpiece.
Unique Capabilities
- Large furnace capacity (up to 48 feet)
- High pressure gas quenching – up to 20-Bar
- Hardness testing
- On-site metallurgical test Lab
- Conformance to AMS and MIL specifications
- Production or one-off jobs
- Cryogenic processing and nitriding
Materials Suitable for Vacuum Hardening
Tool Steels: Used for cutting tools and molds requiring high hardness. Examples include AISI D2, AISI O1, and AISI M2.
Stainless Steel: Common in industries demanding corrosion resistance, with grades like AISI 440C and AISI 304 suitable for vacuum hardening.
Materials Processed
- A-2 Tool Steels
- D-2 Tool Steels
- S-7 Alloy Tool Steel
- H-13 Tool Steel
- 4340 Alloy Steel
- 300M High Strength Steel
- M-2/M-4 High Speed Tool Steel
- And many other grades!