The first furnace from this order will be used for the heat treatment of exotic electrical steels. The high-pressure gas quench vacuum furnace is a Vector with diffusion vacuum levels. Its horizontal chamber has a workload size of 24” x 24” x 36” and a 1300 lb. hearth capacity. The second furnace, also a single chamber Vector, will be used for annealing parts produced by 3D printing technology.
Vector furnaces lines are used in multiple applications within the aerospace sector, including many of the most critical processes, such as heat treating turbine blades and landing gear. Vector is also in wide use in the aerospace aftermarket to maintain fleets of aircraft.
Every year, customers across aerospace industry segments expect greater heat treating reliability, efficiency and performance and Seco/Warwick Group’s Vector® vacuum furnace line fulfills those expectations. Aerospace component manufacturers, in particular, are benefiting from expanded capabilities offered by this technology.
Vector is the flagship vacuum furnace technology available from Seco/Warwick Group all over the world. It is a robust and versatile single-chamber, high pressure gas quench heat treat system adaptable to a wide variety of thermal processing applications including annealing, brazing, hardening, LPC and LPN, normalizing, solution heat treating, sintering and tempering.
Vector 3D is the evolution of Seco/Warwick’s top product, the single-chamber vacuum furnace. This solution combines all the advantages of gas quenching capabilities with the growing requirements of the Additive Manufacturing market. Vector 3D allows customers to perform processes such as sintering, debinding, stress-relieving, aging or solution heat treatment, which are essential for the metal 3D printing sector.

3D binder removal systems – a Vector 3D specialty

Depending on binder ingredients, type, intensity and frequency of the process Seco/Warwick engineers select one of four different systems to prevent the accumulation of binder agent on the inside surfaces of the furnace. It secures long-term use of the furnace without the need for removing binder layers after a number of sintering cycles.
Unlike 3D synthetic material printing which has been present for many decades, 3D metal printing is a relatively new technology and requires intensive R&D innovations to optimise processes, norms and standards. Vector 3D successfully utilises crucial technologies in furnace operations facilitating the needs of the 3D printing sector of the Additive Manufacturing industry. It has numerous applications in such industries as aerospace, automotive, medical and energy_.