New Pilot Plant



ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH has installed a ModulTherm® plant in the workshop in Hanau. In addition to tests for our customers, the plant is used primarily for the new development and advancement of processes in the field of vacuum carburizing and high pressure gas quenching.

It is equipped with one tank each for the quench gas nitrogen and helium. Therefore, both gases can be used for hardening with a quench pressure of up to 20 bar. Furthermore, a frequency converter for the quench motors was installed to adjust not only the quench pressure but also the quench gas velocity for each part.

In addition to acetylene for carburizing, the process gas ammonia is used for carbonitriding, nitrogen and argon are used for annealing processes and hydrogen is provided for special treatments and as an addition to other process gases.

The installed ModulTherm® plant is a production scale plant which allows us to develop processes for our customers. It can also be used for pilot production. The plant at ALD Hanau is operated by the department of research, development and process engineering, directed by Dr. Volker Heuer (Tel. 06181/307 3372, Email dr.volker.heuer(at)ald-vt.de).

ModulTherm®-„XXL“

Modular and flexible vacuum heat treatment system enters new dimensions

ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH, Hanau, is introducing a new size of their trademarked vacuum heat treatment system ModulTherm®. The new ModulTherm® –“XXL”- plant can heat treat load sizes of 1000 x 1000 x 1800 (B x H x L in mm) and a gross load weight of 3.000 kg. Up until now, the plant’s capacity was limited to a load size of 600 x 750 x 1000 (B x H x L in mm) and a gross load weight of 1.000 kg.


The ModulTherm® System meets all requirements of a modular and flexible heat treatment system. The new and bigger plant offers the same range of process applications as the wellestablished ModulTherm® standard system, e.g. annealing, hardening, low pressure carburizing (LPC), brazing etc. The plant is equipped with the well established high pressure gas quench technology. ALD is the first manufacturer of vacuum
heat treatment systems for automated large batch production in the market who meets the requirements for the treatment of large parts, resp. large production volumes.

„We see the primary use of this furnace size in the vacuum treatment of large construction components, such as gear parts for wind energy or large size bearings as well as in the treatment of large production loads”, explains Dr. Klaus Löser, ALD-Vice President Vacuum Heat Treatment. „Finally, manufacturers of large parts, which had to settle for atmosphere processing in the past, now can benefit from the advantages of vacuum technologies.


„Our new ModulTherm®-concept is especially suitable for casehardening with a high carburizing depth. Through the use of LPC at high temperatures the process time is clearly reduced” states Karl Ritter, ALDProduct Manager for the New Technology Heat Treatment. “In most cases, moderate quenching is sufficient since the parts are manufactured either from high-alloyed materials or hardening is not desired because the parts require further mechanical machining”.

ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH is a world-wide supplier of vacuum based heat treatment systems ranging from small single chamber vacuum plants for the tool industry to fully automated, linked multi-chamber systems for large scale heat treatment. For further information about the ModulTherm® system please contact us either by email at info(at)ald-vt.de or by phone +49 6181 307 3279, or simply refer to our homepage www.ald-vt.de.