Mentor Vacuum Furnace

Mentor® Vacuum Furnace

Compact, economical production furnaces

The Mentor®, model HFL-2018-2IQ, is a horizontal, front loading, compact, vacuum heat treating and brazing furnace generally designed and developed to accommodate small to mid-size furnace loads in an efficient and economic manner. It is a high temperature, high vacuum, batch-type furnace with electrical resistance heating elements. The Mentor® is mounted on a single, portable platform for easy shipment and maneuverability. Designed for heat treating, hardening, brazing, stress relieving, normalizing, annealing, tempering, sintering, homogenizing, degassing, diffusion bonding, and creep forming.




 

Features and Benefits

  • Designed for easy maintenance and minimal downtime
  • Hot zone measuring 12″ H x 12″ W x 18″ D
  • Weight capacity of 250 pounds
  • Energy efficient graphite felt insulation for operating temperatures up to 2400°F
  • Temperature uniformity of approximately ±10°F (AMS 2750 Compliant)
  • High performance 7.5 HP internal gas quenching up to 15 PSIG (2 Bar)
  • 2-gas backfill (Argon and Nitrogen)
  • 2-gas partial pressure (Nitrogen and Argon)
  • SolarVac® Essentials fully automated and programmable industrial controls package
  • Backed by fully stocked spare parts warehouse and the best technical support
  • Full one year warranty

The Mentor Vacuum Furnace

 Hot Zone

  • Hearth: molybdenum support pins and rails
  • Heating Elements: curved, segmented graphite bands
  • Insulation: six layers of 1/2″ thick high purity rayon graphite felt with a Flexshield hot face
  • Insulation and heating elements are mounted on a heavy duty (0.105″) stainless steel support structure

 

 Power Supply

  • MSI SCR power supply rated at 40 KVA 460 volt/3 phase/60 Hertz

 

 Vacuum Chamber

  • All stainless steel, double wall, water cooled, horizontal front loading vacuum chamber
  • Hinged and bolted front door permits the furnace to safely quench at positive pressures up to 2-bar
  • Oversized water inlets and outlets assure maximum water flow

 

Gas Quenching System

  • The internal gas quench system provides the lowest resistance, highest efficiency gas flow at positive pressures up to 2-bar.
  • A 7.5 HP motor drives a high-speed turbine fan to recirculate the quench gas straight through the water-to-gas heat exchanger and then into the hot zone at high velocity.
  • The tapered graphite gas nozzles are specifically directed at the work load for optimum cooling.

 

Vacuum Pumping System

  • Mechanical Pump: High capacity, 2-stage, rotary piston pump
  • Diffusion Pump: Varian VHS-6 6″
  • Holding Pump: High capacity rotary vane pump
  • High Vacuum Valve: 6″ Right angle poppet valve

 

Control Cabinet and Instrumentation

The SolarVac® Essentials is a PLC based control system with operator interface, recipe storage, alarm management, and data acquisition functions. Enables the operator to monitor, control, record, and quickly understand the status of the furnace operation. All controls and instrumentation are housed in a suitable NEMA-rated control cabinet.

  • HMI Operator Interface: Industrial PC with large, color touchscreen. Utilizing supervisory-level HMI software to display information and diagnostic messaging graphically.
  • Programmable Logic Controller: Allen-Bradley CompactLogix
  • Temperature Controller: Eurotherm EPC3004 Single Loop Digital Controller
  • Overtemperature Controller: Eurotherm EPC3004 Limit Digital Controller
  • Graphic Video Recorder: Eurotherm Model 6100A utilizing a color touchscreen
  • Vacuum Instrumentation: Televac with active gauge heads
  • Control Thermocouples: Type “S”
  • Work Thermocouples: Type “K”

 

Equipment Options

  • High Temperature Graphite Insulated Hot Zone Option for 3000°F includes: Type “C” control & overtemp TCs, boron nitride insulators
  • All-metallic (moly) shielded hot zone for 2400°F operation with power supply rated at 65 KVA
  • Hydrogen partial pressure
  • Gas backfill reservoir
  • RA330 and molybdenum work grids
  • Water re-circulating cooling systems
  • Workload truck – manual
  • Oil mist separator

 

Typical Materials Processed in the Mentor® Furnace

  • Alloy Steels
  • Titanium
  • Tantalum
  • Inconel
  • Nitinol
  • Stainless Steel
  • Tool Steel
  • Precipitation Hardening Stainless Steel (PH)
  • AerMet® 100
  • Tungsten
  • Zirconium
  • High Speed Tool Steels
  • Copper
  • Brass
  • Hot Working Tool Steels
  • Nickel Based Alloys
  • . . . and more

 

Typical Components Processed in the Mentor® Furnace

  • Aircraft parts and equipment
  • Power Generation blades and components
  • Medical devices
  • Additive Manufactured components
  • Implants
  • Tooling
  • Gears
  • Braze assemblies
  • Plate
  • Forgings
  • Bar
  • Ingots
  • Weldments
  • Structural components
  • Castings
  • Sheet
  • Tube and pipe
  • . . . and more

Request A Quote