In commemoration of ASM International’s 100th anniversary, Solar Atmospheres Inc. is donating a vacuum furnace to ASM for use in its Teaching Lab at its headquarters in Materials Park, Ohio. The new furnace is expected to ship in June 2013 and be operational in July. The furnace is being built by Solar Manufacturing, a Solar Atmospheres company. It is a horizontal, internal-quenching furnace with a hot zone that measures 12 inches wide x 12 inches high x 18 inches deep and is capable of operation to 2400°F. The hearth will accept a load of 250 pounds.

The hot-zone insulation package will consist of a heavy graphite-foil hot face backed by 4 layers of ½-inch graphite felt, all supported in a stainless steel ring. The elements will be curved solid machined graphite. The vacuum system will incorporate an Alcatel mechanical pump, a Varian 6-inch VHS-6 diffusion pump and an Alcatel holding pump to allow the furnace to operate in the 10^-6 torr range. Gas quenching will be via an internal 5-HP blower/heat-exchanger combination that recirculates the cooling gas through fixed gas nozzles located throughout the hot zone. Instrumentation will include a Honeywell DCP100 programmer/controller, a Eurotherm 6100 temperature/vacuum recorder, a Honeywell UDC2500 over-temperature controller and an Allen Bradley Micrologix 1500 PLC.