HIP technology: High pressures and temperatures to improve critical aluminium components

Hiperbaric, the world leader in high-pressure technologies industrial equipment since 1999, is one of the first companies around the world to design and manufacture HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing) presses. HIP technology is the best post-processing solution for densifying advanced materials and critical industrial components developed through additive manufacturing or other techniques.

Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is a manufacturing process used to densify metal, all types of aluminium alloys and ceramic parts. It is based on applying high-pressure levels (up to 2,000 bar / 200 Mpa) and temperature (up to 2,000 °C) through an inert atmosphere to mainly metallic and ceramic parts and components to densify them and give them excellent mechanical properties.

The only condition (intrinsic in the HIP process itself) is that the part to be treated has closed porosity, i.e. the pores are not connected to the surface. Currently, it is being applied to all types of alloys, such as steel, nickel base, aluminium, titanium, etc.

HIP processing is fully complementary and synergistic with different manufacturing techniques such as Casting, Metal Injection Moulding (MIM), Powder Metallurgy (PM), including Near-Net-Shape (NNS) forming, Diffusion Bonding (DB), and the different Additive Manufacturing technologies (AM).

It allows parts to be developed that reach the quality standards required by sectors interested in manufacturing precision components to be subjected to extreme working conditions. The main beneficiaries of HIP technology are the aerospace, oil and gas, nuclear, automotive, medical implants, defence or industrial sectors.

One of the typical applications of HIP in aeronautics is the densification of parts obtained by lost wax casting, such as engine parts like turbine blades and other structural components manufactured by this technique. These components could present porosities due to shrinkage, compromising their service life. Thanks to HIP, these porosities are eliminated, and service life is not compromised. Its range of materials is also very varied and includes nickel base alloys, steel, titanium, aluminium, etc.

Increased productivity with Hiperbaric Hot Isostatic Pressing and Fast Cooling Technology

Hiperbaric has a range of compact, versatile, efficient and 100% safe hot isostatic pressing equipment. Developed to achieve the highest reliability and performance, Hiperbaric's HIP presses reach up to 200MPa of pressure and feature 'Fast cooling' technology, which allows fast argon cooling, increasing productivity, obtaining the desired microstructure in the parts and allows cost reduction thanks to a faster and more uniform cooling rate.

Hiperbaric Fast Cooling technology uses a series of technical improvements in HIP vessel construction and furnace design to extract heat from the heat-treated load at an evenly fast rate. This is possible thanks to Hiperbaric’s wire wound vessel. Furthermore, a heat exchanger located at the top plug is also key in evacuating heat to the cooling system.

The Fast Cooling feature available on all HIP equipment from Hiperbaric is controlled thanks to a clever furnace design that employs a series of valves and a fan to control the gas flows and achieve an even mixture of the cooled gas with the hot gas inside the furnace.

Hiperbaric's HIP equipment is designed based on the principles of efficiency. Each product comes with excellent features and a competitive price. The presses are equipped with a coiled vessel, with technology guaranteed by more than 20 years of Hiperbaric's experience in high-pressure technology. In the agri-food sector, the company has installed more than 300 pieces of industrial equipment worldwide which incorporate this coiled vessel design.

Thanks to the winding vessel, our presses can perform heat treatments combined with the HIP process thanks to our Fast Cooling technology. The leak-before-burst design ensures safe operation in the pressure vessel.

Advantages of HIP post-processing

It is a widely demanded technology in sectors with strict quality and safety regulations for its advantages:

• Improves material properties and performance:
  • Improves mechanical properties such as fatigue life, resilience or ductility.
  • Increases resistance to corrosion.
  • Produces parts with fine-grain microstructure with good mechanical properties and without anisotropy, thanks to a homogeneous treatment.
  • Joins different metals without the need for adhesives that impose limits on temperature.
• Reaches 100% of the theoretical density:
  • Eliminates porosities and achieves a high degree of material densification.
  • Eliminates internal and casting defects of materials.
  • Gives greater statistical consistency to high-performance materials.

Increased production efficiency in manufacturing processes:

• Reduces the requirements for quality control.
• Optimizes the use of metal powder in additive manufacturing processes.
• Allows the combination of different treatments in a single HIP cycle.

Cost saving:

• Reduces material consumption thanks to the combination of different manufacturing techniques.
• Reduces the number of defective components that otherwise would not pass quality control.
• Reduces costs associated with quality controls thanks to the implementation of statistical control by non-destructive testing (NDT), reducing the number of units that need to be tested.

In November, Hiperbaric will present its HIP technology at the FormNext show in Frankfurt.

For more information, visit www.hiperbaric.com