An inert gas is required to prevent chemical reactions during the HIP process at elevated temperatures and argon the ideal candidate.
Monitoring the HIP argon gas and its impurities is required to control the quality and repeatability of the HIP process. The general quality control requires the analysis of the trace impurities in a range of 0-100ppm for H2-O2-N2-CH4-CO-CO2-NMHC-H2O in UHP argon.
HIP installations process many tons of titanium, aluminum, steel and super-alloy castings, removing porosity and improving the performance of parts such as turbine blades and oilfield components.
In almost all cases metals in any state require heat treatment to improve their properties, if components are to achieve desired levels of longevity and corrosion performance in use. Without heat treatment car engine components, for example, might last for hundreds of miles rather than the tens of thousands we expect. The use of the specialist surface technologies offers further improve in-use characteristics, particularly in severe environments such as in aircraft engines and in sub-sea oil & gas applications.
Contact our experienced engineers to discuss your application needs.