Effective degassing of HIP canisters through the use of residual gas analysis

ABSTRACT

Effective degassing of HIP canisters is paramount to producing high quality components by prevention of the retention of atmospheric contaminants such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and argon. These contaminants are responsible for defects that lead to poor materials performance and reducing confidence in HIP products. The solution to degassing of large HIP canisters ready for processing is often met with extended degassing times to ensure adequate evacuation. We present the use of residual gas analysis by spectroscopy for the enhancement of the degassing process and compare the amount of time required for degassing of different powders exposed to varied atmospheric conditions. We consider the use of an automated algorithm to detect and notify users when degas is complete based on the residual gas analysis to shorten processing times for HIP parts, whilst ensuring quality.

KEYWORDS:

• Degassing
• HIP
• residual gas analysis
• mass spectrometry
• near-net shape
• quality control

Acknowledgements

This work could not have been completed without the expertise and assistance of Phil Taylor and Mike Whitfield of Designed Materials Ltd., Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK who adapted the MTCs existing degassing system to allow new interrogation techniques.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Alasdair Morrison holds a DPhil in Materials Science from The University of Oxford and is interested in the industrial application of powder metallurgy for extreme environments.

Mark Taylor holds a PhD from The University of Sheffield in materials science and is concerned with the application of net-shape manufacturing techniques for hard-to-process materials.

Niall Burtt is a recent graduate in Materials Science from Loughborough University.

Charley Carpenter holds a PhD in Materials Science from The University of Nottingham and is interested in the industrialisation of emerging component manufacturing technologies.