ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH, a division of AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V., Germany, reports that its newly developed velocity gauge enables the gas flow in the batch chamber to be checked during gas quenching, helping to ensure the quality of gas-quenched components. It allows preventive testing of the quenching system, supports fault analysis in the event of quenching problems, and helps to ensure the quality of gas quenched components.
According to the company, an important process parameter in gas quenching is the flow velocity of the circulated quenching gas, as well as other parameters that determine the quenching intensity, such as quenching pressure, gas type, and temperature. These parameters can significantly influence component properties such as hardness, microstructure, and distortion. Therefore, it is important to ensure that these process parameters be measured and documented. Although gas temperature and gas pressure are typically recorded and documented by appropriate sensors, the gas velocity is generally not recorded.
Now gas velocity can be measured and recorded by a velocity gauge, which works according to the physical measuring principle of a Prandtl sensor. The company explains that this makes it possible to measure the distribution of the flow velocity over the base area of a quenching chamber without great effort.
Once the measurement has been recorded, a protocol with the current measurement data is generated, which can then be compared with the data at the time of delivery of the quenching system. In case of deviations, the analysis of the measured flow profile enables conclusions to be drawn about possible causes of faults in the system.
