Heat treatment tube furnace

Heat treatment tube furnace is a high-temperature heating equipment widely used in material heat treatment, sintering, annealing, melting and other processes. Its core structure is a tubular furnace, and the sample is placed inside the furnace tube for heating treatment. Let’s take a detailed look at the heat treatment tube furnace below!

Commonly used laboratory dual temperature zone tube furnace (click on the image to view product details)

1. Working principle
The heat treatment tube furnace converts electrical energy into thermal energy through heating elements such as resistance wires, silicon carbon rods, silicon molybdenum rods, etc., and transfers the heat to the samples inside the furnace tube through thermal radiation and convection. The heating method is resistance heating, where current passes through the heating element to generate resistance heat, achieving uniform heating.
Modern tube furnaces are equipped with high-precision temperature controllers that can be programmed to set heating rates, constant temperature times, and cooling curves. Temperature is monitored in real-time through thermocouples to ensure precise control of process parameters.

2.Structural Features
Furnace body design:
Tubular furnace: usually uses quartz tubes, alumina fiber ceramic tubes, or heat-resistant metal tubes for easy sample loading and unloading and atmosphere control.
Insulation layer: High efficiency insulation materials such as alumina fiber and high-purity quartz cotton are used to reduce heat loss and energy consumption.
Sealing structure: The two ends of the furnace tube are sealed with flanges, supporting vacuum or atmosphere protection (such as nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, etc.) to prevent sample oxidation or contamination.

Heating system:
Heating element layout: Resistance wires or silicon carbide rods are evenly distributed around the furnace tube to ensure uniform temperature field.
Multi temperature zone control: Supports independent temperature control in single, dual, or multiple temperature zones to meet complex process requirements.

Atmosphere control system:
Gas path module: equipped with gas mixing, flow control, and exhaust gas treatment devices, supporting inert gas, reducing gas, or vacuum environments.
Vacuum system: High vacuum environment (up to 10 ⁻ Pa level) is achieved through mechanical pumps or molecular pumps, suitable for sensitive material processing.

3. Application Fields
Metal material processing:
Heat treatment processes such as annealing, quenching, and tempering improve the mechanical properties of materials.
Sintering of metal powder to prepare high-density alloys or ceramic materials.

Ceramic and glass processing:
Ceramic body sintering, controlling grain growth and densification process.
Glass melting and annealing eliminate internal stress and improve optical performance.

Semiconductors and Electronic Devices:
Crystal growth, oxide layer annealing, ion implantation activation and other processes are used to optimize the electrical performance of the device.
Thin film deposition (such as CVD, PECVD) is used to prepare high-purity functional thin films.

Nanomaterial synthesis:
Controllable synthesis of one-dimensional materials such as nanoparticles and nanowires for use in the fields of nanoelectronics or catalysis.

Chemical and Energy Materials:
Sintering of lithium battery positive and negative electrode materials enhances electrode capacity and cycling stability.
Preparation of catalyst support, optimization of catalytic activity and selectivity.

4. Key selection points
Temperature range:
Select according to process requirements (such as choosing a low-temperature tube furnace below 1200 ℃ and a high-temperature silicon carbide rod furnace above 1200 ℃).

Furnace tube size and material:
Match sample size to avoid space waste or insufficient processing capacity.
Select materials based on atmospheric conditions (such as quartz tubes for inert gases and ceramic tubes for high-temperature oxidation environments).

Atmosphere control:
Confirm whether vacuum, inert gas protection, or reducing atmosphere is required.
Choose equipment that supports multiple gas pathways to enhance process flexibility.

Temperature control accuracy and uniformity:
Prioritize the PID temperature control system to ensure temperature fluctuations of ≤ ± 5 ℃.
Multi temperature zone design can meet complex process requirements, such as gradient annealing.

Security function:
Equipped with over temperature protection, over-current protection, and door lock switch to ensure safe operation.

Atmosphere Rotating Tube Furnace (Click on the picture to view product details)

Overall, as a commonly used electric heating and heat treatment equipment, the heat treatment tube furnace has the advantages of precise temperature control, strong scalability, and a wide range of applications. Before choosing, you can communicate with relevant technical personnel about the parameters you want, so as to customize a heat treatment tube furnace that is more suitable for your own experiment or production!Click to learn more heat treatment tube furnaces! Or click on online customer service to learn more about product information!