Vacuum Heat Treating
Vacuum heat treating is a form of heat treating that uses vacuum furnaces for metallurgical reactions. Vacuum heat treating is used to harden or soften metals by heating them with vacuum furnaces and then quenching them, usually with gas.
The lack of air in a vacuum furnace prevents convection, thus removing one risk of contamination for the metal being treated. Since a vacuum removes the presence of all oxygen, vacuum heat treating also preserves surface chemistry and prevents corrosion and oxidation.
Vacuum heat treating utilizes nitrogen, or another inert gas, and controlled-pressure quenching to cool molds for tempering. Because of the controlled heating and cooling employed by this method of heat treating, minimal distortion takes place. Consequently, vacuum heat treating is ideal for the manufacture of quality molds.
Vacuum heat treating is also commonly used to manufacture many tools used in the medical industry. The
vacuum heat treating process produces bright, clean parts. It is also used to make molds for the tool and die and aerospace industries.