Fast Cooling technology implemented on all Hiperbaric HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing) presses allows for increased productivity and cost reduction thanks to a faster and more uniform cooling rate. Fast Cooling technology also allows for the desired microstructure to be obtained. In this article we explain how cooling the pressurized argon in this way is cooling possible using our wire-wound vessel and plugs as heat exchanging components.
Covered in this article, “Systems involved in a hip machine” two of the key systems in an Hiperbaric HIP equipment are the cooling systems and the furnace. Thanks to these two and their components, Fast cooling technology allows to reduce the payload’s temperature quickly increasing the equpment’s productivity and obtain the desired microscrustrure.
What is Fast Cooling technology? How does it work?
Hiperbaric Fast Cooling technology uses a series of technical improvements in HIP vessel construction and furnace design to extract heat from the heat treated load at an evenly fast rate. This is possible thanks to Hiperbaric’s wire wound vessel.
The precompressed vessel is not only the safest pressure containment system but also enables the possibility to include cooling channels close to the vessel’s liner increasing heat extraction.
Furthermore a heat exchanger located at the top plug is also key in evacuating heat to the cooling system.
How is it controlled?
The Fast Cooling feature available on all HIP equipment from Hiperbaric is controlled thanks to a clever furnace design that employs a series of valves and a fan to control the gas flows and achieve an even mixture of the cooled gas with the hot gas inside the furnace.
The inner hot gas is looped over a diffusor and back down again through the heating elements under normal working conditions. When Fast Cooling is activated this gas loop is mixed with the outer, cold gas loop as this gas is introduced through the valves.
The gas can the escape through an upper path guided to the top plug’s heat exchanger and then cool down by the vessel. This is where the heat is removed.
Advantages of the Fast Cooling technology
The advantages are clear, faster cycles allow for higher productivity and lower costs. Furthermore the cooling rates that Fast Cooling achieves are capable of improving material properties thanks to:
Reducing grain growth due to minimizing time at high temperature.
Ceramic and metallic materials have a tendency to increase their grain growth size during exposure at high temperature, this is caused by net diffusion of atoms from small to larger grains. Consequently, mechanical properties worsen with larger grain growth, for example Hall-Petch’s equation correlates grain size and strength.
Enables the possibility to retain solid solution elements on some alloying systems, this makes solubilisation heat treatment and HIP combinable.
Aged hardenable alloys rely on forming precipitates during the aging heat treatment, however for this hardening mechanism to work properly the hardening elements must be retained in solid solution in the material, this is achieved by a certain cooling rate after the solubilisation heat treatment.
Other heat treatment specifications where the material must undergo a certain cooling rate.
Although the cooling rates depend on a multitude of factors, like the temperature and pressure the cycle is performed at as well as the nature of the load, Hiperbaric Fast Cooling technology provide a huge increase in productivity and make the advantages previously mentioned possible.
Contact us if you want to know more. We will be delighted to help you.