Metal Processing and Chemical Conversion
Solar Atmospheres continues to branch out and find new metal processing innovations for our Vacuum Heat Treating Services. This now includes metal processing basic raw materials such as metal powders and their salts. Solar’s experienced research and development group has successfully developed process cycles in areas of powder technology that were not perceived as possible a few years ago. We work closely and confidentially with our customers’ engineers and scientists in order to find the best process cycles to successfully complete the chemical conversion or metal processing changes from the starting material to the final product.
By continually modifying our vacuum furnaces with special gas flow system and pump controls we can use gases individually or combined to change the chemistry of the starting material. Such gases include nitrogen, hydrogen, ammonia, and dilute HCl.
In some cases the chemical conversion involves the evolution of gases such as carbon monoxide, water vapor, or hydrogen, the proper use of vacuum and temperature can ensure the removal of these byproducts resulting in complete conversion from raw material to final product.
Some general examples of Solar’s chemical conversion processes include:
- Drying raw materials: Often powders have high moisture contents due to poor packaging and high humidity. Processes have been developed to remove moisture locked into the salt crystal or metal lattice resulting in a free flowing or lightly agglomerated powder
- Chemically converting material in a vacuum furnace by addition of gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, or ammonia provide a clean and efficient means of metal processing resulting in their corresponding hydride or nitride.
- Heating a mixture of two metals salts in vacuum or partial pressure inert gas to initiate a reaction which will alter the chemistry of the final product.
- Hydride/Dehydride (HDH) of reactive metals: Hydriding large pieces of metals, such as titanium, tantalum, and niobium embrittles these metals for ease of crushing. Once crushed the material can later be dehydrided to provide a source of pure metal powder.
- Degassing: Utilizing vacuum technology to remove interstitial hydrides, nitrides, or other impurities to provide pure metal powders
- Carbothermal Reactions: Convert metals and/or metal oxides to their metal carbide powders
Solar Advantage
- Experienced R&D Technology Group provides metal processing development and guidance
- Large array of furnaces from small scale lab furnaces to large 12 foot car bottom furnaces
- High vacuum High temperature capabilities
- Variety of process gas options to meet atmosphere and reactivity requirements
