Commercial heat-treating group Paulo ordered a new hot-isostatic press from Quintus Technologies for its recently expanded Cleveland Div., in Willoughby, OH, to add to the specialized brazing and precision vacuum heat-treatment offered there. The plant has AS9100 quality-management and Nadcap accreditation, making it available for aerospace and power-generation industry customers.
“We see the market for HIP expanding, with a large part attributed to additive manufacturing,” stated Scott Herzing, Paulo v.p. - Engineering. “The ability to combine HIP and heat treatment will allow us to offer one-stop-shop thermal processing solutions, with faster turnaround times.”
The model QIH 122 M URC® press to be installed is equipped with the proprietary uniform rapid cooling (URC) functionality that is valuable for improving the material properties of additive manufactured parts and investment castings.
The HIP will have a work zone of 26.0 in. (660 mm) diameter and 68.9 in. (1,750 mm) high. It operates at a maximum temperature of 2,552°F (1,400°C) and maximum pressure of 30,000 psi (2,070 bar.)
The installation will be configured as a Quintus Modularized Solution, conserving floor-space and energy to that simplify building and civil work, and reducing the infrastructure investment.
According to Quintus, the URC function streamlines the process of material densification by combining heat treatment and cooling in a single process, known as High-Pressure Heat Treatment (HPHT). It means that all processed components cool uniformly, minimizing thermal distortion and non-uniform grain growth. Heating and cooling the workload just once, in a single cycle, improves process efficiency and reduces per-unit processing cost.
Paulo’s turnkey order includes an extra furnace base, extended warranty, and a five-year Quintus® Care preventive maintenance coverage.