A new bell-type vacuum furnace put into operation at PZPS has significantly improved strip quality

A new vacuum bell furnace has been commissioned in the PZPS physical laboratory. This significant step improved heat-treatment processes, positively affecting final product quality and raising overall efficiency in producing precision alloys and steels.

Advantages of the vacuum bell furnace

The furnace is designed for various heat treatments (typically annealing) in vacuum at temperatures up to 1500℃. It is environmentally safe equipment and offers a number of advantages that significantly improve heat-treatment quality:

• Deep vacuum. The new furnace can reach a vacuum on the order of 10⁻⁵–10⁻⁶ Pa, substantially better than similar equipment. This yields better magnetic property indicators in materials.
• Improved fasteners. Thanks to higher strength of structural fasteners, the new furnace makes annealing “cleaner,” preventing unwanted substances from entering from outside.
• Automatic control. A key advantage is the ability to run the vacuum furnace in fully automatic mode, eliminating human-factor influence and ensuring stability of thermal processes.
• Emergency shutdown system. It improves equipment safety: if water supply stops unexpectedly, the vacuum furnace automatically shuts down.

Commissioning the vacuum bell furnace positively affected the quality of soft magnetic alloys (49K2FA, 27Kh, 50N, 50NP, 79NM), reducing coercivity and increasing magnetic permeability and saturation induction. It also significantly improved properties of materials in demand in modern industry — electrical steels (20895, 20880, 20860), which are always in stock at our plant.

Installing the bell furnace is only the beginning of a new stage in our research and development. The PZPS physical laboratory is ready for further development and introduction of advanced technologies to achieve outstanding results in science and industry.

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