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Vacuum Hardening

 

Vacuum hardening is a process where the parts are heated up in a vacuum condition and then they are quenched or cooled rapidly to increase the hardness.

Parts that are vacuum hardened will have a higher hardness and typically the parts receive a tempering treatment after hardening to achieve higher ductility and toughness.

Parts are quenched or cooled using Gas (instead of the conventional oil quench), the flow and pressure of the gas can be controlled and adjusted to achieve the desired results, main benefit of gas quench is the minimization and control of the geometrical deformation (distortion) that the parts will have after heat treatment.

Benefits of this process are:

  • Superior quality of the metallurgy with homogeneity of the hardness results
  • Reduction of heat treatment distortion and/or variation of distortion
  • Quenching intensity adjustable by control of gas pressure and gas velocity
  • Green process, no emissions or need to dispose chemicals
  • Clean, non-toxic working conditions
  • Reproducible quenching result, metallurgical and geometrical measurements are consistent
  • Clean and dry parts
  • State of the art, up to date technology
  • In accomplishment with CQI 9.

Components that are typically Vacuum Hardened are: shafts, joints, bars, frames, brakets, nuts and bolts, tools, dies, springs and many more.