Solar Atmospheres announced that the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent
No. 8,088,328 covering Solar’s new vacuum gas-nitriding furnace design. The
patent, including 14 claims, centers on an all-graphite hot-zone design
featuring graphite heating elements, graphite gas baffles, graphite fan and
graphite felt insulation housed in a vacuum-chamber enclosure. The advantage of
the all-graphite hot zone is the combination of non-nitriding components that
do not require retort teardown and scrubbing to restore nitriding constants, as
with prior 330 alloy retorts.
The low-mass
hot zone provides rapid heating, and combined with an external gas blower and heat
exchanger, allows fast heat up and cool down for nitriding cycles that are 50% faster
than standard brick or retort designs. According to Roger A. Jones, corporate
president of Solar Atmospheres, the new furnace has proved equally useful for
bright tempering of alloys like H11, 13, D2 and bright annealing of brass
alloys.
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