Heating company Quintus Technologies reports that one of its hot isostatic presses (HIP) has been installed at Xi'an Bright Laser Technologies (BLT), a Chinese provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology.
The QIH48 URC press is equipped with Quintus’ uniform rapid cooling technology that uses traditional hot isostatic pressing with heat treatment in a single system. The integrated materials densification process, known as high pressure heat treatment, produces parts with improved fatigue and ductile properties for industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical and energy, the company says.
BLT possesses around 100 machines for laser additive manufacturing and repair operating in its 40,000 m3 facility in the city of Xi’an. The equipment can print more than 50 grades of materials, including titanium and aIuminum alloys, superalloys, and stainless, die, and high-strength steels.
The Quintus HIP system at BLT features a hot work zone of 14.8 inches (375 mm) in diameter and 47.2 inches (1200 mm) in height, an operating temperature of 2552°F (1400°C); and pressure of 30,000 psi (2070 bar).
‘The streamlined high pressure heat treatment process enables us to serve our customers with shorter lead times,’ said Dr Xue Lei, general manager at BLT. ‘The press’s programmable temperature distribution and high precision can avoid thermal stress deformation caused by temperature change and prevent cracking. In addition, there is no need to clean or dry parts after cooling.’
This story is reprinted from material from Quintus, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
