In the first part of the article, we discussed how different designs impact the efficiency of vacuum furnaces in respect to their heating energy requirements.
Even though the energy used for heating undoubtedly represents the main energy consumption during vacuum heat treatments, several auxiliary systems can be present on vacuum furnaces (or in the plant housing the furnace); just think of the water-cooling system, the gas quenching system and, clearly, vacuum pumps.
Those auxiliary systems are essential to ensure proper functioning of a vacuum furnace, however, they can generate altogether a significant energy consumption source, especially when continuous operation is required.

Vacuum Pumps

Vacuum pumps are the components that allow a sealed, leak tight furnace to reach the desired vacuum level before starting the heat treatment.

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As we all know, global events have led to a significant increase in energy cost in the past two years all over the world.

In Europe, current natural gas prices (February 2023) have more than doubled compared to the same period of 2020. In Italy, the cost of one MWh of electrical energy is about 3 times what the cost was just 1 year ago. Moreover, the strong price uncertainty makes difficult for companies to forecast the energy-related costs involved for the next few months.

Energy-intensive industries are largely impacted by price inflation; among them foundries, the metalworking industry and, of course, commercial heat treaters and companies performing in-house heat treatment of any sort.

Heating a load to a determined temperature for some time requires a certain amount of energy; whether that energy is generated from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, petroleum) or renewable resources (solar power, wind power, hydropower), that is an inescapable reality.

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From 5th to 8th September, TAV VACUUM FURNACES participated at the 27th IFHTSE Congress & European Conference on Heat Treatment 2022, held in Salzburg, Austria.

The International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering is an institution linking organizations around the world active in the fields of heat treatment and surface engineering, including national metallurgical and heat treatment association, such as the AIM (Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia), for which TAV VACUUM FURNACES is a supporting member.

IFHTSE regularly organize international conferences and congresses to promote sharing of knowledge between associations, universities, research institutes and companies.
The IFHTSE – ECHT 2022 covered many different topics related to heat treatment of steels and non-ferrous alloys, thermochemical treatments, coating technologies and finally, furnace technology.

As one of the major vacuum furnaces manufacturer, TAV VACUUM FURNACES gave a speech during the first day of the congress about the heat treatment of titanium alloys, more specifically, on the “Vacuum heat treatment of Ti6Al4V alloy produced via SLM additive manufacturing”. 

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In the introduction of this article, we’ve already discussed how different powder metallurgy technologies rely on vacuum furnaces for critical steps of their production process, mentioning Metal Injection Molding (MIM), Binder Jetting (BJT), Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) and Direct Energy Deposition (DED) additive manufacturing.

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Powder metallurgy refers to a wide range of methodologies through which parts are fabricated starting from metal powders.

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