High Pressure Heat Treatment

HPHTᵀᴹ is short for High Pressure Heat Treatment. It includes capabilities for integrating different heat treatment strategies within the HIP process.

The main features include

• Latest generation of temperature control and high steered cooling rates of the URC®
• Minimum distortion gas quenching feature of the URQ®
• Steered Cooling™
• Quintus Purus®

The basis for these is the ability to control and steer the high-pressure gas in the vessel and furnace.

Uniform Rapid Cooling, URC®, is a Quintus invention which enables uniform cooling of the payload. Forced convection of high temperature and high pressure gas over a heat sink enables controllable cooling of the gas. URC® is used for metals as well as ceramic materials, to increase productivity and heat treat parts.

Uniform Rapid Quenching, URQ®, is a Quintus invention which enables high speed quenching of the payload, at similar cooling rates to gas quenching. Cold gas in the HIP is exchanged with the hot gas in the furnace at a very high rate, effectively quenching the payload in a uniform way with minimal induced stress.

Quintus Purus is a capability developed to ensure the cleanest possible atmosphere during the HIP cycle. Its purpose is to reduce the risk of oxidation and oxygen uptake in component surfaces. It has proven vital for avoiding, e.g., alpha case on titanium alloys used in medical implants.

The different capabilities of HPHTᵀᴹ are features developed for controlling the high-pressurized gas inside the pressure vessel. Having this capability enables us to steer the temperature and temperature change rate the components are subjected to, making accurate process control and heat treatments strategies possible.

HPHTᵀᴹ makes up of different features within Quintus HIP. Its capabilities are to optimize densification, heat treatment, and general processes. It’s done by controlling and steering high-pressure gas.

Most standard heat treatment processes for metals and ceramics, using temperature and temperature change rate, can be performed in the HIP vessel. In addition to the traditional pressureless heat treatments, the MPa pressure of the HIP process can be used both for altering the kinetics of the process and for more precise control of temperature uniformity and temperature change rates.