Examples of applications
Aalberts Surface Technologies is part of the global specialist Aalberts N.V. More than 14.000 people works for Aalberts in more than 50 countries.
Aalberts Surface Technologies offers a whole range of processes for heat- & surface treatments.
Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) significantly increases the chances of success in mission-critical, high-risk applications such as aerospace, nuclear power and orthopedic implants.
aerospace & defense
Aerospace: Casting densification
For aerospace there can be no compromise on quality or room for negligence or carelessness. One of the early uses of Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was to enhance the properties of cast turbine airfoils. Today, HIP is used to remove porosity from a wide range of nickel-based super alloy and titanium precision castings for aircraft engines and structural components. The resultant improvement in strength and service life is especially important for parts which are exposed to very high stresses, such as aircraft turbine blades. In addition, castings can be designed lighter by incorporating HIP into the manufacturing process.
Materials:
- Aluminum alloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s)
- Cobalt Chromium alloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Stainless steels (casting, additively manufactured)
- Nickel & Cobalt-based superalloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Titanium alloys (casting, additively manufactured)
Parts: Turbine blades, Structural casting
Advantages:
- HIP densified castings show improved strength, ductility and fatigue life with significantly less variation from casting to casting. The improved and more consistent material properties reduces part over design. This also decreases quality assurance costs and opens new applications.
- By removing service-induced porosity, HIP is used to rejuvenate aircraft turbine blades, extending their service life for improved economy. In addition to removing creep porosity, HIP improves the weld or braze material by removing porosity and improving bonding.
- Hot isostatic pressing salvages castings scrapped for internal porosity – in fact, it is the only effective way to repair porous castings. Casting yield is significantly improved, resulting in lower costs and more effective utilization of raw materials.
energy
Energy: Power Generation Castings
The complex machines powering our energy infrastructure rely on hot isostatic pressing to ensure all of the moving parts perform optimally and deliver power to our homes and businesses. Hot isostatic pressing is commonly used in the production of the parts in stationary gas turbines. In the power generation industry, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is used to densify components to remove porosity and enhance performance. For example, high temperature airfoils in power-generation gas turbines are HIP treated to extend their life and avoid premature failure. Aeroderivative engines are one of two types of gas turbines used in power plants. These intricate machines were created using the jet engine as a model. These are generally smaller and produce less output than their bigger counterparts, heavy frame engines. Recent innovations in technology have allowed gas turbines to have extraordinary fuel to power efficiency by operating at an incredibly high combustion temperature. Hot isostatic pressing allows for components of these turbines to operate successfully. Add: Creep, Thermomechanical fatigue
Materials:
- Nickel & Cobalt-based superalloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Stainless steels (casting, additively manufactured)
- Further?
Parts: Gas Turbine Blades, Shafts, Discs & Blisks, Structural castings
Advantages:
- HIP densified castings show improved strength, ductility and fatigue life with significantly less variation from casting to casting. The improved and more consistent material properties reduces part over design. This also decreases quality assurance costs and opens new applications.
- By removing service-induced porosity, HIP rejuvenates castings, extending their service life for improved economy.
- Integrated HIP heat treatment – saves costs
- Hot isostatic pressing salvages castings scrapped for internal porosity – in fact, it is the only effective way to repair porous castings. Casting yield is significantly improved, resulting in lower costs and more effective utilization of raw materials.
- Significant cost savings may be realized by starting with a cast part and then HIPping to improve its properties as compared to machining the part from a solid.
powder metallurgy
Powder Metallurgy (PM) consolidation
Powder metal consolidation via hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is a cost-effective alternative manufacturing method to casting or forging. Traditional forging methods often result in parts requiring additional machining and welding to achieve the required finished dimensions. With Powder Metallurgy (PM) near net shape technology large components can be produced faster, with reduced weight and less machining.
Materials:
- Super alloy powders
- High speed / cold work steel powders
- Corrosion resistant (duplex) stainless steel powders
- Titanium powders
- Tungsten carbide
- Specialty/ strategic powder materials
Parts: Firearms Parts, Food Processing Components, High Speed & Tool Steels, Medical Parts, Oil & Gas / Offshore Parts, Paper Industry Parts, Railcar Wheels, Turbine Shafts & Discs
Advantages:
- In powder metallurgy, hot isostatic processing is used to consolidate metal, ceramic, or composite powders into solid parts. With the application of pressure and temperature, the powder is compacted to create fully dense parts of semi-finished and finished products, including billets to be further worked by forging and rolling from which parts are machined.
- High purity and fine grain powders are formed (consolidated) into semi-finished product with minimal deterioration due to impurities, oxidation or grain growth (i.e. Sputtering Targets). Using the HIP/PM route materials and structures may be produced that are not available by more conventional (casting) techniques.
- Parts with complex geometry are formed to near-net shapes, reducing input weight and machining/ finishing requirements.
- In some cases, powder is formed, consolidated and bonded to a substrate in one operation.
- Pre-sintered, powder injection molded (PIM) and metal injection molded (MIM) parts are pressed to full density using hot isostatic pressing for improvement of properties and/or to salvage the parts.
automotive
High-performance turbocharger – turbine wheels
The control of global exhaust gas emissions and the legislation concerning fuel consumption have promoted the reduction of the size of engines for passenger automobiles, and as a result, the engine output per unit cylinder displacement is increasing. As the turbocharger is an effective way of making high-output engines smaller, the demand for turbochargers is increasing, and technological improvements are required. The exhaust gas temperature of gasoline engines is rising, giving better combustion efficiency, and this requires high performing turbochargers.
Materials:
- Ni Superalloys
- Al alloys
- …
Advantages:
One of the problems cast wheels can have are small voids and other internal defects. These voids can cause points of stress concentration inside the compressor wheel which carries a lot of load due to the high rpm it turns at (up to and over 150,000 rpm in some cases). These areas of high stress are called stress risers and can result in wheel failure. Since many alloys are more difficult to cast and are prone to have casting defects hot isostatic pressing is applied to remove casting defects and to homogenize the material structure while increasing safety and performance.
additive manufacturing
Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) enables the production of complex parts using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques that would be difficult to produce using conventional methods. Additive manfacturing, also known as 3D printing, rapid prototyping or freeform fabrication, is a technology that produces three dimensional parts layer by layer from 3D CAD model data. AM is an additive process as opposed to traditional manufacturing methods that remove layers of material such as machining or milling. AM technologies include Selective Laser Melting and Electron Beam Melting where the powder is melted as it is layered; Inkjet Printing where the powder is mixed with a binder while being applied and then consolidated by sintering; and Laser Metal Deposition where powder is blown onto a metal base as it is melted by a laser. The outstanding feature of all AM techniques is their capability to produce parts of high geometrical complexity that cannot be manufactured by any other production technique.
Materials:
- Aluminium alloys
- Titanium alloys
- Cobalt alloys
- Copper alloys
- Nickel alloys
- Low-alloy steels
- Stainless steels
- Tool steels
Parts: Aerospace Components, Automotive Parts, Consumer Products, Industrial Parts, Machine Tools, Medical & Dental Implants, Space
Advantages:
- Additive Manufacturing combined with hot isostatic pressing offers the possibility to produce parts from metal powders with qualities that are comparable to those resulting from conventional manufacturing methods. With the application of pressure and temperature, the parts printed from metal powders can be given longer creep life, greater fatigue resistance and enhanced toughness.
- Parts with complex shapes and/or inner cavities, unable to be produced by traditional machining techniques, can be 3D printed and then have their properties enhanced using HIP processing.
- Shapes and thin walled parts unable to be produced by conventional casting techniques are now possible using AM and HIP.
- Utilizing post processing via HIP, additive manufactured parts can be built with lattice or foam inner structures reducing costs and weight without sacrificing strength.
- By combining additive manfacturing and hot isostatic pressing, metal assemblies that previously required multiple pieces can now be made as one part resulting in significant savings in production costs.
medical
Biomedical Device Densification
The market for femoral and tibial implants continues to grow worldwide. The world population is aging while elder people become more active also because of the viability of medical implants. Orthopedic implants, such as knee components, are subjected to extreme point loadings. Plus, they need to last as long as possible for a number of reasons — not the least of which is the fact that implant procedures can be traumatic and painful. HIPing ensures the maximum fatigue life of the component parts and guards against premature failure.
The medical industry utilizes Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to improve the properties of cast cobalt chrome, titanium and stainless steel implants. HIP processing improves strength and removes porosity creating a smooth, pore free wear surface that reduces friction and the potential for corrosion. Cobalt chrome knee and hip implants are HIPped to protect against the body’s high dynamic stresses and corrosive environment. In addition, hot isostatic pressing also enhances the bonding of biocompatible coatings.
Materials:
- CoCr alloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Ti alloys (casting, additively manufactured)
- Stainless steels (casting, additively manufactured)
Parts: Medical Implants, Knee & HIP Joints
Advantages:
- HIP densified castings show improved strength, ductility and fatigue life with significantly less variation from casting to casting. The improved and more consistent material properties reduces part over design. This also decreases quality assurance costs and opens new applications. SURFACE QUALITY; SLIDING WEAR
- Hot isostatic pressing salvages castings scrapped for internal porosity – in fact, it is the only effective way to repair porous castings. Casting yield is significantly improved, resulting in lower costs and more effective utilization of raw materials.
- ABC
diffusion bonding
Diffusion bonding
For aerospace there can be no compromise on quality or room for negligence or carelessness. One of the early uses of Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was to enhance the properties of cast turbine airfoils. Today, HIP is used to remove porosity from a wide range of nickel-based super alloy and titanium precision castings for aircraft engines and structural components. The resultant improvement in strength and service life is especially important for parts which are exposed to very high stresses, such as aircraft turbine blades. In addition, castings can be designed lighter by incorporating HIP into the manufacturing process.
Materials:
- Composites
- Diamond/ hard facing materials
- Brazing and welding materials
- Super alloys
- Stainless steels
- Corrosion resistant materials
- Titanium alloys
- Aluminum alloys
- Dissimilar temperature materials
Parts: Similar Materials, Dissimilar Materials, Sputtering Targets
Advantages:
- HIP creates essentially seamless diffusion bonds of similar and/or dissimilar materials with different melting temperatures.
- HIP is used for solid state diffusion bonding of complex configurations and materials which will not permit fusion welding.
- Fusion welds are densified by HIP. This not only improves properties and relieves welding stresses, but also improves inspectability because ultrasound scattering is reduced.
- In some cases, powder is consolidated and bonded to a substrate in one operation.
space industry
HIP in the space industry
The growth of the industry has been driven by new satellite programs in recent years, facilitated by the development of new delivery systems and re-usable first stage rockets. The backbone to the development has traditionally been the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite market (2,000km to 35,786km above sea level [3]) following the first successful space flights in the 1960s, however new focus on the moon and beyond, is now gaining momentum following cost reductions in delivery systems for communication satellites focusing on Low Earth Orbits (LEO) 300-400km process.
Materials:
- Leight weight alloys
- Heat resistant and thermal conductivity materials
- Controlled expansion alloys
- Radiation and thermal barriers
- Translucent ceramics
Parts: Rocket engines, Thrusters, Fuel assemblies and tanks, Radiation shields
Advantages:
- ABC CHECK
