Metallurgy is a diverse field of application that encompasses the production and processing of metals. Vacuum processes in secondary metallurgy and heat treatment play an important role in the industry as they improve the properties of metals and metal alloys, such as tensile strength, breaking strength, formability and hardness. The production of metals with specific properties is crucial for many of today's high-tech industries, such as the automotive, aerospace, chemical or nuclear industries, which require the highest reliability of metal products and structures.
Vacuum solutions are used in various applications in the metallurgical industry. One important application is the heat treatment of metals in vacuum furnaces. In a heat treatment furnace, the vacuum environment provides a controlled atmosphere and reduces the risk of oxidation or other forms of decomposition during heat treatment. This results in end products of the highest quality with improved mechanical and physical properties.
The advantage of heat treatment under vacuum is that no costly or flammable gas atmospheres such as hydrogen or argon are required to prevent oxidation of the material during heating. Vacuum furnaces consist of sealed chambers connected to vacuum systems to remove nitrogen and oxygen and prevent oxidation and contamination of the material.
Various types of heat treatment in vacuum furnaces such as annealing, precipitation hardening, tempering, normalizing and stress relief annealing can be used to achieve the desired material properties. Heat treatment in vacuum furnaces results in consistently high-quality products with a shiny, contamination-free surface that can be used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Another important area is the degassing of steel in secondary metallurgy. Vacuum systems with high pumping speeds and resistance to metal or metal oxide dust are required to degas steel under vacuum. Degassing under vacuum allows steels with low hydrogen and carbon content to be produced.
Special metallurgy covers a wider range of secondary metallurgical processes. Here, vacuum technologies such as vacuum induction melting (VIM) or vacuum arc remelting (VAR) are used to produce high-quality steels or specialty metals such as titanium or niobium. These processes enable cleaning, decarburization and alloy formation under vacuum in order to produce metal alloys with special properties and the desired crystal and phase structure.