Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Utilising High Density Infrared Radiant Heating

Abstract

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a unique rapid heating capability utilising a high density infrared (HDI) radiant plasma arc lamp. Power densities f3 . 5 W cm 22 are achievable over an area 3563 . 175 cm. The power output of the lamp is continuously variable over a range from 1 . 5% to 100% of available power, and power changes can occur in v20 ms. Processing temperatures f3000uC can be obtained in a wide variety of processing environments, making HDI a flexible processing tool. Recently, this newly developed heating method was used to investigate selective softening, i.e. hardness reduction of 6063-T6 aluminium alloy. By changing the incident power and exposure time, the percentage reduction in hardness and softened zone size can be varied. It is shown that computer modelling can be used to predict the thermal history and the resulting heat affected zone during HDI processing. In the present work, a 50% reduction in hardness was achieved and confirmed by mechanical testing and microstructural investigation. Micrographs of softened aluminium show that Mg 2 Si precipitates had dissolved back into solution. This new approach allows materials to be engineered for a predetermined response to dynamic loading or other environmental situations. SE/S282

Thermal annealing of FePt thin films by millisecond plasma arc pulses

“…Others have reported conventional rapid thermal annealing techniques [14][15][16][17], but these time scales are in seconds to tens of seconds, which are orders of magnitude too long. This paper reports the use of a plasma arc lamp that is capable of thermally annealing materials with pulse widths as short as tens of milliseconds over several square centimeters simultaneously [18][19][20]. This capability allows experimental data to bridge the annealing time gaps reported in the literature and relate how the FePt thin film microstructure evolves in the millisecond time regime.…”

Hydroforming of locally heat treated tubes

“…Induction heating or infrared heating are less precise and localized methods and they are suited for treating larger portions. Induction heaters for aluminum tubes are commercially available [28] [27] and infrared heaters have been tested too for alloys of the 6XXX series, although complete annealing is difficult to achieve in this case [29].…”

FAR Infrared Heating Oven

“…Hence, gaseous fuel generation using plastic has dual benefits, one-generation of gaseous fuel by Waste and second -energy efficient heating by infrared system. Advanced manufacturing technologies using high density infrared heating [3] highlights its application for selective softening of aluminum alloy in automotive structural for controlling deformation of crumple zones in the event of a crash.High Density Infrared Heating can be effectively used in induction hardening of steel members to increase strength locally in steel body panels thereby avoiding rigid apparatus and direct contact for heating. The HDI process utilizes a unique technology to produce extremely high power densities of 3500 watts/ Sq.…”