Materials Research Furnaces, Inc

 

    

 

 25 -50 Ton High precision Hot press

General specifications:
  • 2300C operation in gas or vacuum
  • 25 or 50 Ton press
  • High accuracy travel or pressure control
  • Graphite hot zone
  • Synchronized press- temperature control

50 Ton Hot Press
25-50 Ton Hot press

This 50 Ton hot press is ideal for testing materials at elevated temperatures where high accuracy and repeatability are important. Furthermore, temperature profiles can be synchronized automatically with pressure or travel control profiles, if required. Profiles can also be set up to switch from travel to pressure control at once a preset pressure is reached. Temperature control is established by use of a thermocouple and a pyrometer. The furnace can easily be converted to a batch furnace for production. A data acquisition package is supplied to easily document and research previous runs.


Major parts:

  1. Chamber and hot zone
  2. 50 Ton press
  3. Power supply & controls
  4. Vacuum & Gas system
  5. Water cooling
  6. Utilities

Chamber and hot zone

The chamber is loaded from the front and contains a Graphite Hot Zone with a 9.0" dia. x 9.0" high usable zone and +/- 25C gradient. The heating element is a 2/3- 1/3 split design allowing the 8.0" die body to be inserted straight into the zone. The furnace chamber is manufactured from doubled-walled stainless steel welded together and polished for a clean finish and good vacuum integrity.
The hot zone assembly is made up of a graphite element and rigid fibrous graphite insulation. In the hot press configuration the maximum operating temperature is 2200C. With the end plug shields supplied to plug the top and bottom hot rod openings the furnace can be used as a batch/sintering furnace with operation temperatures to 2300C.

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Hydraulic Press

The Post and Platen Press frame with load train is designed and manufactured to withstand well over 50 tons of force. This Post & Platen Frame is fully adjustable in all directions. Unlike the standard welded "H" frame, this MRF design supports the chamber totally free of the load train and is fully adjustable. The support includes, four (4) independent post clamp collars, two (2) horizontal chamber support plates, top platen supporting the top mounted hydraulic cylinder, bottom platen supporting the lower dead rod, and adjustment bolts for the clamp collars and ME5 cylinder flange. The load train includes water-cooled stainless steel top and bottom cold rods, and 3.0" dia. high strength graphite top and bottom hot rods. The top rod has a 6.0" stroke and the top cold rod is sealed by a static O-Ring on a bellows assembly to provide a vacuum seal.

The Servo Hydraulic and Pressure Control System includes a 6.0" dia. bore x 6.0" stroke hydraulic cylinder, a hydraulic power unit, a pressure gauge to monitor hydraulic fluid pressure, a load cell to measure and control pressure. The pump size and servo valve size are calculated to give a cylinder speed on the extend stroke of 30 inches per minute. Cylinder positional accuracy will be .0005 inches but the accumulated accuracy of the controller, servo amplifier and feedback sensors result in a positional accuracy of 0.001" and pressure accuracy of 2 lbs. Manual jog buttons are included to allow for manual control of the top ram for loading and unloading a specimen.

The Hydraulic Control System allows control of travel or pressure for a complete run and also allows control of travel to a certain build-up pressure and switch over automatically to pressure control for the remainder of the press run.

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Power Supply & controls

Power to the hot zone is supplied by a Three Phase SCR controlled power supply, including a circuit breaker, a contactor, an SCR to modulate the power to the hot zone, a main stepdown transformer matched to meet the heating element resistance, Volt and Amp Meters, and a set of water-cooled power cables to supply power to the furnace.

Temperature and press control is accomplished with a Eurotherm Programmable Processor
Controller. The instrument is used to control temperature, the press by force (pressure to 2 lbs. accurate) or displacement (travel to 0.001" accurate). The instrument allows for automatic switching between force control and travel control , and visa versa, while at the same time controlling temperature. The press and temperature control programs can be synchronized. Since the instrument reads and controls travel, temperature, and pressure, other instruments can be eliminated thus simplifying operation and configuration.
The controller can interface with a PC and transmit the temperature, power, pressure, travel, and force readings. This instrument also controls all digital logic required to control the solenoid valves, motor starters, interlocks, hydraulic system, and vacuum system.

A type "C" sheathed and coated thermocouple is supplied and can be used to measure the furnace temperature up to 2300C. When operating the furnace to temperatures above 1600 o C, control is automatically switched over to a Pyrometer.

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Vacuum and Gas System

The evacuation system consists of a Rotary Vane mechanical pump, an electro-pneumatic
vacuum valve, vacuum gauge controller and vacuum TC. This vacuum system will allow for operation in a vacuum environment (10-2 Torr range). A manual valve is provided for leak checking or air releasing the roughing line.

The gas system is supplied to provide an inert environment for the work samples during the heat and physical testing. The process Gas System (Argon): includes solenoid-operated inlet valve, a Compound Gauge (30 P.S.I.G. x 30 in. Hg.), a gas flow meter, and a 2 P.S.I.G. outlet relief valve to maintain a positive pressure. There is also a 5 P.S.I.G. over-pressure safety relief valve.

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Water cooling system

The Furnace Water cooling manifold consists of multiple circuits to adequately cool all the furnace parts and includes a strainer, pressure regulator, pressure gauge, water inlet and outlet manifold, a water flow switch as a visual water flow indicator with a flow interlock to protect the furnace in the event of a water flow failure. This switch turns off power to the hot zone contactor if water flow is below recommended minimum for a certain amount of time. Each part of the furnace is supplied with a separate cooling circuit that can be regulated by independent manual ball valves.

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Utilities

Power: 60 KVA, 480 V/3/60 Hz (other voltages available)
Water: 9 G.P.M. @ 60 o F and 50 P.S.I.G.
Process Gas: Argon or Nitrogen 30 L.P.M. @ 50 P.S.I.G.
Compressed Air: 60-90 P.S.I.G. filtered.

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