Abstract
For more than 20 years now Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing (LPC) has taken over several industries as the main carburizing choice. These industries take advantage of LPC’s clean environment, versatility, “just in time” processing, along with possible distortion control that comes with gas quenching capabilities to process millions of parts each month. However, there are still hundreds of types of parts that can be converted to LPC with minimal effort. The authors will show the recent history and products currently being processed in LPC and how they were transitioned to LPC. Metallurgical results will be shown along with production loading scenarios. In addition, the process of a particular part showing timing and cost of each treatment process will be reviewed. These facts will show the audience the benefits and how they can take advantage of low pressure vacuum carburizing.
