Vacuum Carburizing (LPC) | Thermo-chemical treatment

what is low pressure carburizing?

Low Pressure Carburizing (or Vacuum Carburizing as it is also known) provides a clean, modern approach to carburizing. This heat treatment which requires real precision, is one delivering low distortion of the original component whilst carburizing is achieved.

the process

Vacuum (low pressure) carburizing is an alternative technology to traditional gas (atmospheric) carburizing. Thus, it is a thermo-chemical treatment consisting of heating steel parts to temperatures usually in the range of 900-1000°C and heating them to a carburizing atmosphere. The purpose of carburizing is to enrich the surface layer with carbon and, consequently, increase its hardness and abrasion resistance while maintaining malleable core. Immediately after carburizing, hardening and tempering are most often performed, however, unlike traditional carburizing, it has a number of advantages resulting from both the used carrier gases – carburizing (C2H2 – acetylene), and the environment in which it is carried out – a vacuum furnace. Environmentally friendly – no CO2 emissions.

fields of application

Especially tool steel benefits from low pressure carburizing as the process delivers extremely long wearing surfaces, ideal for tooling operations.

The main advantages are:

No oxidation at the grain boundaries (No IGO)
Narrower range of CHD carburizing layer tolerance – smaller scatter of results
Stability and repeatability of results
Accurate carburizing of narrow holes, including blind holes
Minimization of quenching deformations – resulting from the use of gas as a quenching agent
Increasing the production efficiency by the possibility of carrying out processes at higher than traditional temperatures, i.e. 980 ° C and higher.
Clean surface of details (silver metallic), no scale
Environmentally friendly – no CO2 emissions