Vacuum Heat Treating of Stainless Steels

Austenitic stainless steels such as 304 or 316 are solution annealed by heating above 1900℉ to dissolve carbides. To prevent sensitization (carbon segregation to grain boundaries), the steel is cooled rapidly using high velocity argon or nitrogen. Additional vacuum heat treatments are available for other types of stainless steel including precipitation hardening.

NATIONAL HEAT TREAT has two (2) vacuum furnaces capable of vacuum annealing and other operations.