September, 2004

Thermal-Vac's new 12 bar positive pressure quench furnace is operational and ready to meet your heat treating needs that require a super-fast quench.

Some facts about the furnace:

Work Zone: 36" wide X 36" high X 72" deep
Maximum Operating Temperature: 2400°F
Hearth Weight Capacity: 3500 pounds at 2400°F
Gas Quench: 12 bar (165 psig) with high efficiency blower driven by 400 HP motor Designed for thermal processing of tool steels, including tungsten high speed, molybdenum high speed, and chromium hot work.

Vacuum atmospheres are slightly reducing at heat treating temperatures, hereby keeping clean parts clean and cleaning up the surface of those with minor oxidation.
Gas quenching in vacuum furnaces has several advantages over conventional liquid quenching systems:

• Flexibility to change cooling rates easily, and even within a single cycle. Gas quenching can produce full hardness in steels that were formerly oil quenched. In liquid quenching, where the cooling rate is fixed, multiple baths would be needed.
• An ability to more precisely control heat-up and quench rates helps minimize distortion.
• Gas quenched parts are clean and scale-free.
• M series steels are relatively sensitive to atmosphere, thus vacuum heat treating is advantageous.
• Processing in vacuum furnaces produces no toxic or combustible waste gases, which makes it safer and more environmentally friendly than many liquid quenching processes.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact any of us at (714) 997-2601:
Tammy Dodson, Customer Service, x 101
Charlie Wolter, Director of Sales, x 103
Aaron Anderson, Director of Operations, x 107
Steve Driscol, President, x 115

Thank you for your continued patronage and remember: We build good parts here, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good parts.