What is the difference between a vacuum tube furnace and a regular tube furnace?

There are significant differences between vacuum tube furnaces and ordinary tube furnaces in multiple aspects, mainly reflected in their working principles, applicable ranges, heating methods, temperature control, power, and application fields. The following is a detailed analysis of the differences between the two:
1. Working principle
Vacuum tube furnace: On the basis of the tube furnace, a vacuum system is added, which can process materials at high temperature and high vacuum. By using a vacuum pump to extract air from the furnace, a vacuum environment is created to avoid interference from oxygen or other gases during experiments or production processes.
Ordinary tube furnace: There is no vacuum system, and heating treatment is usually carried out under normal pressure or specific atmosphere.
2. Scope of application
Vacuum tube furnace: Due to its unique vacuum environment, it is mainly used in situations where oxidation, corrosion, and pollution need to be avoided, such as high-temperature heat treatment of metal materials (vacuum heat treatment, vacuum tempering, vacuum quenching, etc.), preparation and processing of semiconductor materials, and other high-tech fields.
Ordinary tube furnace: It is widely used in various heat treatment processes such as decomposition, drying, melting, annealing, as well as industries such as non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, and machinery manufacturing.
3. Heating method
Vacuum tube furnace: The heating method is relatively complex, and various heating methods such as resistance heating, electron beam heating, electromagnetic induction heating, etc. can be used according to different material heating requirements.
Ordinary tube furnace: Generally, resistance heating elements (such as chromium aluminum resistance wire, silicon molybdenum rod, etc.) are used for heating, and the heating method is relatively simple.
4. Temperature control
Vacuum tube furnace: It adopts advanced temperature control system (such as artificial intelligence regulation technology, including PID regulation, fuzzy control, self-tuning ability, etc.) for precise temperature control. The temperature display accuracy can reach ± 1 ℃, and the temperature field stability is ± 5 ℃, meeting the requirements of high-precision, consistency, and repeatability heating process.
Ordinary tube furnace: PID regulator is usually used to control temperature, but the accuracy is relatively low, which may not meet the extremely high experimental or production requirements for temperature control.
5. Power
Vacuum tube furnace: Due to the need to maintain a vacuum environment and perform high-temperature heating, its power is usually high, reaching several hundred kilowatts or even thousands of kilowatts.
Ordinary tube furnace: The power is relatively small, generally not exceeding 100kW.
6. Application Fields
Vacuum tube furnace: mainly used in high-tech fields such as aerospace, new materials, energy, optical glass, as well as precision manufacturing industries such as semiconductors, electronics, and medical equipment.
Ordinary tube furnace: It is widely used in various industrial fields, including metallurgy, chemical industry, light industry, building materials, etc.
In summary, there are significant differences between vacuum tube furnaces and conventional tube furnaces in multiple aspects. When choosing to use, it is necessary to comprehensively consider factors such as specific process requirements, working environment, and production scale to ensure the selection of the most suitable furnace type.