There is a constant evolution in every industry to move towards more efficient, effective and cleaner processes. Gas quenching is one such evolution which is rapidly overtaking other types of processing, including oil quenching.
With gas quenching specially designed cells are used immediately after low pressure carburizing to immerse the metal into highly controlled gas blasts. This injection of high-pressure gas, which can be up to 20 bar, is also moved throughout the cell through the use of turbines for immediate and continual circulation.
The Technology
Gas quenching is definitely more environmentally friendly and provides more uniform cooling over oil quenching, resulting in less variation in the cooling of the metal. This results in fewer post-machining operations and virtually identical parts with every piece through the system.
For the technology to be efficient gas quenching chambers or cells have to be carefully designed to maximize gas flow across the entire cell and to eliminate any areas of low pressure. New designs and research have created just these designs to produce uniform quenching across the materials.
This includes not just single or standard shaped large items but multiple components within the chamber at the same time. Having advanced software to adjust automatically for different materials through the gas quenching is essential within any system. Basically the pressure and the gas velocity are the two adjustments to be made to create uniform cooling with any components in the chamber.
The Benefits
The most obvious benefit to gas quenching is found in the very nature of the process. As a dry quenching method there is no need to keep constantly recycling the liquid, the oil, or to have secondary cleaning processes to remove the oil residue.
In addition, and depending on the system, gasses such as helium can be recycled indefinitely, greatly reducing the cost of the materials as well as having much less of an impact on the environment. There is much less risk of any type of toxicity issues with the process and it is much cleaner than the old style of oil quenching systems.
In addition the part moving through the gas quenching chamber can immediately move through the process into coating. There is no need to clean or to remove dust or residue as this simply isn’t an issue with this type of quenching.
The efficiency, ease and cost-effectiveness of gas quenching are all reasons industry is moving in this direction. It is an extremely versatile option which can be used for parts of small to medium size in any manufacturing line.
As one of the leaders in gas quenching technology and equipment, ECM USA can provide modular and customized systems for your manufacturing line.
