Rapid High Pressure Gas Quenching During HIP: Combining Densification and Heat Treatment into a Single Process

摘要

Hot isostatic pressing or HIP is a process that is primarily used to eliminate porosity in castings and PM materials however, since the development of rapid cool HIP systems, researchers have examined the possibility of merging densification and heat treatment in order to add value to a critical process. In the past, the maximum cooling rates that were attainable in a rapid-cool HIP system limited the achievement of this goal. The recent development of uniform rapid quench (URQ) HIP equipment has dramatically changed this situation. By increasing the rate at which material within the HIP unit can be cooled and by offering the possibility of maintaining elevated pressure during gas quenching, new opportunities have become apparent. This paper presents an analysis of URQ HIP as a heat treating process and reviews the possibilities of integrating HIP and heat treatment for selected commercial alloys.