Laboratory Furnaces: Core Equipment Support for Metal Heat Treatment Research

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Laboratory Furnaces: Core Equipment Support for Metal Heat Treatment Research

I. Laboratory Furnaces: Core Equipment Support for Metal Heat Treatment Research
Metal heat treatment is a key technology that modifies the internal structure of metal materials through processes such as heating, heat preservation, and cooling to optimize their mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, or processability. It is widely used in aerospace, machinery manufacturing, electronic engineering, and other fields. In materials science research, laboratory furnaces have become the core equipment for metal material composition optimization, process parameter exploration, and performance mechanism analysis due to their high temperature control precision, flexible atmosphere regulation, convenient operation, and compact size.

Compared with industrial-grade heat treatment furnaces, laboratory furnaces focus more on "precise control" and "small-scale experiments". They can achieve a temperature control accuracy of ±1℃, multi-stage programmable process curves, and rapid switching of various atmospheres (air, inert gas, reducing atmosphere, etc.). They can meet the diverse heat treatment needs of small-batch samples (gram to kilogram level) in laboratories, providing researchers with stable and repeatable experimental conditions.

II. Typical Application Cases of Laboratory Furnaces in Metal Heat Treatment

Case 1: Optimization of Quenching-Tempering Process for High-Strength Steel
Research Objective: Optimize the quenching-tempering process of 42CrMo high-strength steel to improve its tensile strength and impact toughness, meeting the requirements of key components in construction machinery.
Laboratory Furnace Selection: Box-type atmosphere-protected laboratory furnace (maximum operating temperature 1200℃, supporting nitrogen protection).
Heat Treatment Process and Operation Points:
Quenching stage: Place 42CrMo steel samples into the furnace, heat up to 850℃ at a rate of 10℃/min, hold for 2h (to ensure austenite homogenization), then quickly transfer to oil cooling medium for cooling (cooling rate ≥50℃/s) to obtain martensite structure;
Tempering stage: Re-place the quenched samples into the furnace, heat up to 550℃ at a rate of 5℃/min, hold for 3h, and cool to room temperature with the furnace to eliminate quenching internal stress and form tempered sorbite structure.
Experimental Results: Through precise control of heating rate, holding time, and cooling method by the laboratory furnace, the optimized process increased the tensile strength of 42CrMo steel from 1000MPa to 1250MPa, and the impact toughness (Akv) from 45J to 62J, meeting the dual requirements of high strength and high toughness for construction machinery components.

Case 2: Vacuum Annealing of Titanium Alloy and Corrosion Resistance Improvement
Research Objective: Solve the residual stress problem of TC4 titanium alloy during processing and improve its corrosion resistance in marine environments.
Laboratory Furnace Selection: Vacuum laboratory furnace (ultimate vacuum ≤5×10⁻³Pa, supporting vacuum + inert gas backfilling).
Heat Treatment Process and Operation Points:
Vacuum pretreatment: Place TC4 titanium alloy samples into the furnace, start the vacuum pump after closing the furnace door, pump to the ultimate vacuum, then introduce argon (purity ≥99.999%) for 3 gas replacements to remove residual oxygen in the furnace;
Annealing process: Heat up to 750℃ at a rate of 8℃/min, hold for 4h (vacuum maintained at 1×10⁻²Pa), then stop heating, cool to below 200℃ with the furnace, and then introduce argon to atmospheric pressure before taking out the samples.
Experimental Results: After vacuum annealing, the residual stress of TC4 titanium alloy decreased from 350MPa to below 80MPa, and the uniformity of the microstructure was significantly improved; electrochemical corrosion experiments showed that the corrosion current density of the samples in 3.5% NaCl solution decreased from 1.2×10⁻⁶A/cm² to 3.5×10⁻⁷A/cm², and the corrosion resistance increased by about 3 times.

Case 3: Solution Strengthening and Aging Treatment of Copper Alloy
Research Objective: Optimize the shape memory effect of Cu-Zn-Al memory alloy through solution-aging treatment, improving its recovery rate and service life.
Laboratory Furnace Selection: Tube-type laboratory furnace (heating zone length 500mm, supporting segmental temperature control).
Heat Treatment Process and Operation Points:
Solution treatment: Place Cu-Zn-Al alloy samples into a quartz tube, introduce nitrogen protection (flow rate 0.5L/min), heat up to 900℃ at a rate of 15℃/min, hold for 1h, then quickly water quench (cooling rate ≥100℃/s) to obtain supersaturated solid solution;
Aging treatment: Place the solution-treated samples into the furnace, heat up to 400℃ at a rate of 3℃/min, hold for 6h, cool with the furnace to promote uniform precipitation of second-phase particles.
Experimental Results: The optimized solution-aging process increased the shape memory recovery rate of Cu-Zn-Al alloy from 85% to 98%, and it maintained good stability after 100 cycles of deformation, which can be applied to the manufacture of micro-driving devices.

III. Key Technical Advantages of Laboratory Furnaces in Metal Heat Treatment
Precise Temperature Control to Ensure Process Repeatability: Adopt PID closed-loop control and multi-stage programmable logic, which can accurately set heating, heat preservation, and cooling curves with a temperature control accuracy of ±1℃. It avoids experimental errors caused by temperature fluctuations and ensures process consistency of samples from different batches;
Flexible Atmosphere Regulation to Adapt to Diverse Needs: Support multiple modes such as air, vacuum, inert gas (Ar, N₂), and reducing atmosphere (H₂-N₂ mixed gas). Suitable atmospheres can be selected according to the characteristics of metal materials (such as oxidation-prone titanium alloy and high-strength steel requiring decarburization protection) to prevent oxidation, decarburization, or nitridation of samples during heat treatment;
Compact Size to Adapt to Laboratory Scenarios: The furnace chamber volume is usually 1~50L, occupying small space, which can be flexibly placed inside the laboratory. Moreover, it has low heating power (1~5kW) and low energy consumption, suitable for small-batch and multi-batch scientific research experiments;
Convenient Operation and Traceable Data: Equipped with a digital control panel, it can display parameters such as internal furnace temperature and atmosphere pressure in real time, supporting data recording and export, which is convenient for researchers to track the experimental process and analyze the correlation between process and performance.

Zhengzhou Protech Technology Co.,LTD is a professional manufacturer specializing in tube furnaces, muffle furnaces, atmosphere furnaces, and vacuum furnaces. We are committed to providing targeted solutions to meet your diverse heating equipment needs.
For customized heating solutions tailored to your specific requirements, feel free to get in touch with us:
WhatsApp: +86 17719806024
Email: info@lab-furnace.com

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