Modern Heat Treatment of Large Dies in HPGQ Vacuum Furnaces

The article will be taken on heat treatment of molds, dies and tools made of steel H11/H13. It will be introduced valid standards on the base of requirements NADCA, FORD and GM and demonstrated the differences between them. Presented is a modern single-chamber vacuum furnace equipped with a dynamic cooling system in a gas under high pressure 15/25 bar, and its performance and capabilities as well as the cooling rate achieved. The dynamic cooling system allows programmable change the direction of the gas inflow into the cooling load and implementation of isothermal quenching. The process of hardening is supported by an integrated simulator that allows to predict the course of cooling and its result, and track the process on-line. Heat treatment of tools is a complex process which can be entirely carried out in a vacuum furnace in an one cycle, including such advanced technologies as vacuum nitriding and carburizing.