Oxygen‐Free Production—From Vision to Application

• Published in: Advanced engineering materials Vol. 25; no. 12
• Main Authors: Wegewitz, Lienhard, Maus-Friedrichs, Wolfgang, Gustus, René, Maier, Hans Jürgen, Herbst, Sebastian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.06.2023
• Subjects: deoxidation; oxygen-free atmosphere; oxygen-free production; production technology; silane; XHV
• ISSN: 1438-1656; 1527-2648
• DOI: 10.1002/adem.202201819

As oxygen negatively affects most production processes in the metalworking industry, a truly oxygen‐free production environment appears attractive in terms of the resulting material and component properties. This overview summarizes research conducted within the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1368. The objectives of this CRC are twofold. First, a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that govern the interaction between a metal surface and the environment is established. Second, it is researched how this understanding can be exploited to improve current production processes and even develop completely new ones. Herein, data obtained within the first funding period, which already demonstrate that significant effects can be realized in processes such as thermal spraying, cold rolling, compound casting, laser brazing, milling or hot stamping to name just a few examples, are presented. In addition, key aspects such as initial deoxidation of the workpieces, their transport under conditions that prevent reoxidation, and the tools needed to establish and control an oxygen‐free process environment are given, and the ramifications with respect to actual applications are discussed. Extremely low oxygen partial pressures can be obtained by adding small amounts of monosilane to an inert gas environment. The effects of such an environment on various production processes such as milling, compound casting, and thermal spraying are analyzed. It is shown that this approach can be exploited to substantially improve today's production process or even create new ones.