How It's Done and Why: Transitioning Parts From Atmosphere Carburizing to Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing

For more than 20 years now Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing  (LPVC) has taken over several industries as the main carburizing choice. These industries take advantage of LPVC’s clean environment, versatility, “just in time” processing, along with possible distortion control that comes with gas quenching capabilities to process millions of parts each month. However, there are still hundreds of types of parts that can be moved to LPVC with little effort. The authors will show the recent history and products currently being processed in LPVC and how they were transitioned to LPVC. Metallurgical results will be shown along with production loading scenarios. In addition, we will review the process of a particular part showing timing and cost of each treatment process. These facts will show the audience the benefits and how they can take advantage of Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing.