Solar Manufacturing shipped a large, horizontal, front-loading vacuum furnace to a titanium manufacturer and fabricator located in the Midwest. The furnace includes a molybdenum-shielded hot zone and heating elements, with a work zone size of 54 inches wide x 54 inches high x 144 inches deep and a weight capacity of 7,500 pounds. It is specifically designed for processing titanium alloys for the aerospace and medical industries, and it is fully compliant to aerospace specification AMS 2750E.
The large work-zone size and heavy weight capacity requires safe and effortless loading and unloading, which is accomplished with a motorized loading truck. The furnace is capable of processing in an argon atmosphere or in high vacuum in the 10-6 Torr range with a 35-inch Varian diffusion pump assisted by a Leybold booster pump and a Leybold dry mechanical roughing pump.
The furnace also incorporates the new SolarVac Polaris control system with large HMI graphic touchscreen overview. Programming capabilities include gas quench-rate control up to 2-bar pressure with an AB variable-frequency drive. Precise temperature control up to 2400°F (1316°C) is accomplished utilizing digital power trimming technology.
