Atmospheric furnaces are categorized into tubular and box types in application, while muffle furnaces are different. Below, the atmospheric furnace manufacturer will provide a detailed introduction for you.

The atmosphere furnace is a device that sinter objects by heating them in a furnace chamber filled with gas. It typically consists of a furnace chamber, electrical heating equipment, a sealed furnace shell, a vacuum system, power supply system, and temperature control system. Currently, the equipment is widely used in laboratories of colleges and research institutions, as well as in industrial and mining enterprises for sintering, melting, analysis, and production of ceramics, metallurgy, electronics, glass, chemicals, machinery, refractory materials, new materials development, special materials, building materials, metals, non-metals, and other chemical substances.

Operation Principle:

The atmosphere furnace is a novel heat treatment technology that combines vacuum technology with heat treatment. Compared to conventional heat treatment, vacuum heat treatment achieves oxidation-free, decarbonization, and carburization, cleans the surface scale of workpieces, and removes fats and gases, thereby achieving a bright, clean surface. Its working principle involves sintering objects in a furnace filled with gas.

Vacuum heat treatment refers to the entire or partial process of heat treatment being conducted under a vacuum condition. It can achieve almost all heat treatment processes that conventional heat treatment can involve, but with significantly improved heat treatment quality. In essence, vacuum heat treatment also falls under the category of atmosphere-controlled heat treatment.

The atmosphere furnace has two major distinctions compared to the muffle furnace:

1. Different Structures:

Muffle furnaces typically consist of a furnace chamber, outer shell, furnace door, and electrical control system, usually featuring a side-opening design. They are primarily used for ceramic/metallurgy sintering and high-temperature testing.

The atmosphere furnace has stricter standards and a different design. Based on the original design of the muffle furnace, it incorporates gas routing and vacuum system technology, and adds certain components. It can handle materials under vacuum or infuse protective gases for sintering/quenching and other specialized treatments. Compared to the muffle furnace, it offers superior performance.

2. Varying Application Fields:

Muffle furnaces are primarily used in professional fields such as chemical production, metallurgy, glass manufacturing, ceramics, magnetic materials, refractory materials, crystals, electronic components, kiln manufacturing, and laboratory testing units. Box-type resistance furnaces and box-type high-temperature furnaces are particularly widely used. Muffle furnaces are often paired with vacuum drying ovens.

The atmosphere furnace is characterized by introducing certain artificial atmosphere elements containing specific components into the furnace at a given temperature to achieve heat treatment objectives, such as gas carburization, carbonitriding, bright quenching, annealing, and normalizing.