Circular Infrared Furnace
The Circular Infrared Furnace is a 33-kW unit that utilizes a circular array of 165-mm lighted length tungsten halogen lamps, providing a maximum attainable temperature of 1350K for most materials. These bulbs have the ability to go from cold to full emission in 0.75 second and have similar shut down times. Such capability, coupled with its cold wall design, allows for very fast processing rates (see Figure 1), which are ideally suited for heat treating, brazing and coating fusing applications. The furnace is PID/ fuzzy logic controlled, allowing for precise processing schedules. Inside the array, a 92Ğmm I.D. by 73Ğmm-long quartz tube is placed to provide containment for various processing atmospheres, including vacuum (10-mTorr maximum). Convective cooling via shield gas is also possible. The heat zone can accommodate maximum sample size of 82-mm x 57Ğmm x 152 Ğmm.
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Figure
1. Temperature Response of TiAl specimen (29-mm OD, 102-mm length)
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Circular Infrared Furnace set at maximum output. Despite less than optimal conditions (two bulbs burnt out and a severely nucleated quartz tube), the furnace was able to heat the specimen from 140°C to 1250°C in less than five minutes in a very real world test. |
Photograph of the circular infrared furnace