Torr Scientific Ltd

Did you know that annealing metal can change the sound of it? Here at Torr, we always recommend annealed copper gaskets for use with our conflat flanged vacuum viewports. This is due to how heat treatment changes the properties of materials! Annealing is completed by heating and slowly cooling a material to remove stress, for copper this also softens the material! This allows copper gaskets to require less force to create a leak-tight seal which reduces the likelihood of overtightening and damaging the viewport.   The sound change can be noticed when dropping the gasket onto a surface.  If they are not annealed this can sound like a high-pitched ring. However, after annealing this is a duller and muted sound! The reason for this change is that the grain structure within the copper is altered, undergoing recrystallisation.  Reducing irregularities in the atomic lattice means that the vibrations can be absorbed as it travels through the material, compared to the non-annealed metal which allows the sounds waves to travel freely. If you would like to purchase some annealed copper gaskets for your next project, please reach out to our sales team: sales@torrscientific.co.uk    ~~~  #VacuumEngineering #PrecisionEngineering #UHV #EngineeringInAction #MaterialScience 

There is a phrase attributed to Aristotle which states “Horror vacui”. This is usually expressed in English as ‘nature abhors a vacuum’, the idea being that a vacuum cannot exist as nearby matter would immediately rush in to fill it. But can a vacuum appear in our natural world? There is a flower called the common bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris). This plant has a yellow flower emerging above the water surface on a single stem. Below the water, the plant consists of several branched stems with some spindly leaves and a number of small “bladders”. These bladders, up to about 1 cm in size and lethal traps that ensnare small creatures to supplement the nutrition of the bladderwort in its nutrient‑poor ditch water.  Potential victims include nematode worms, Daphnia (water fleas), mosquito larvae and even vertebrates such as tiny newts! A vacuum is usually described as a a region devoid of matter, but a more realistic approach considers any area of lower than ambient atmospheric pressure to be a vacuum. With some flexible thinking, we can likely include trapped volume of fluid held at lower pressure to be a vacuum! This is exactly how the bladderworts traps work! Structures in the wall of the bladders actively pump water out of the interior and as the water pressure decreases, the thin bladder walls flex elastically inwards, storing energy as a spring does. The outer surface of the trap door has several bristles that initiate the firing of the trap when touched by passing prey. During this process, the trap door is sealed again within about 15 milliseconds (0.015 s) of opening and the speed achieved by the victim during ingestion is around 4 metres per second! While not the highest speed, this means the victim is accelerated at 2800 g followed by a deceleration of 1900 g. Learn more about this vacuum in nature from our latest newsletter: https://lnkd.in/enNE5-Rw   ~~~  #VacuumScience #Science #Innovation #STEM #Engineering  (Photo sourced from Wikipedia.)

We often describe how titanium is the ideal material for non-magnetic vacuum applications for zero-length or re-entrant viewports, as well as magneto optical traps.  Part of the reason that titanium is preferable is due to the risk of 316LN stainless steel and niobium creating an intermetallic during welding.  An intermetallic is an alloy with a specific crystal structure called a solid-state compound. This structure for 316LN and niobium impacts the material by reducing the ductility - making it brittle.  The reason for this structure forming is something called “negative mixing enthalpy”. This describes an exothermic reaction where the intermetallic is a lower energy compound compared to the ideal austenitic structure.   For our titanium products, titanium can be used as both the weld ring and the flange material.  This avoids complications such as intermetallics, which improves yields!  Intermetallics aren’t always a problem for manufacturing, they are used in various pieces of equipment including turbine blades for aircraft engines, as well as within solder alloys as they are capable of reaching higher temperatures! For more information about our titanium viewports, please reach out to our sales team: sales@torrscientific.co.uk  ~~~  #VacuumTechnology #UltraHighVacuum #VacuumEngineering #VacuumScience #Metallurgy       

 Here at Torr Scientific, we manufacture products for use under vacuum, but there are various definitions for what a vacuum is! The strictest definition is ‘an area which is devoid of matter’, however this is quite unrealistic to achieve!  In practicality, we refer to anything at a lower pressure than ambient atmosphere (approx. 1 bar) as a vacuum.  To help denote the level of the pressure in a simple way, we also have different levels of vacuums, based on how low the pressure is. The first is rough (or low) vacuum, this describes a pressure which falls between atmospheric levels and 1 mbar. This can be found in vacuum cleaners, which use the pressure differences to cause air, dust and other items to rush into the chamber to fill the area of low pressure! Medium vacuum ranges from 1 to 10^-3 mbar and is the space where a lot of manufacturing takes place including freeze drying and vacuum packaging! High vacuum includes pressures between 10^-3 to 10^-7 mbar, this is where scientific applications begin to emerge. Analysis including scanning electron microscopy occurs in this range, as well as manufacturing techniques such as vacuum sputtering for thin film deposition! Ultra-high vacuum (UHV), ranges from 10^-7 mbar to 10^-12 mbar and is required for high precision research where atoms can interfere with experimental setups or potentially cause contamination. This is required for various types of surface science such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), or for atom trapping setups in magneto-optical traps! This level of vacuum typically requires a bakeout to achieve, which limits the level of outgassing for the materials involved! Finally, extreme high vacuum (XHV), defined as less than 10^-12 mbar is utilised for applications including particle accelerators and simulating outer space atmospheres. All of our brazed viewports are rated for use from 1 bar to 1×10^-11 mbar and our bonded viewports for use from 1 bar to 1×10^-9 mbar. Learn more from our sales team! You can reach us via email: sales@torrscientific.co.uk    ~~~ #VacuumTechnology #UHV #VacuumScience #MagnetoOpticalTrap #Quantum   

Here at Torr one of the ranges of optical materials we offer for vacuum viewports are different types of fluorides. These are barium fluoride, magnesium fluoride, lithium fluoride and calcium fluoride! They are known for their high transmission into the ultraviolet and even into the deep ultraviolet (DUV).  Many materials start to show lower transmission rates within the ultraviolet spectrum as the short wavelengths contain enough energy to surpass the band gap energy.  This means that the electrons within the material will absorb photons to move to a higher energy level, so fewer photons are transmitted through the optic. To solve this problem, you need to choose a material with a larger bandgap, this includes dielectric (non-electrically conductive) materials such as the fluorides! These materials do not conduct electricity as the electrons are bound into a strong ionic crystalline lattice, therefore there are no delocalized electrons to absorb the photons! To enquire further about out fluoride vacuum viewports, please reach out to our sales team at: sales@torrscientific.co.uk ~~~ #DUV #VacuumTechnology #Photonics #Quantum #Physics (Pictured are a CF100 magnesium fluoride, a CF64 barium fluoride and a CF38 calcium fluoride optic)

We recently purchased a new Image Dimension Measurement System to assist with our product inspections before they shipped out to customers! This is the Keyence series IM-X, which has capabilities for high precision measurement for up to 1000 parts at once!  For Torr Scientific, the system is particularly useful for inspecting precision components used in vacuum applications. We can create custom programs to measure and compare the values for specified sections of a component against nominal values and with specified tolerances across 2D dimensions and non-contact height measurements.  This machine can then generate detailed reports for our team regarding these measurements and if the part passes through inspection.   There are various setting for the lighting and cameras, including back-lighting which works much like a shadowgraph for the most accurate 2-dimensional measurement. For the high accuracy edge detection, the machine contains high precision camera, covering a small surface area, and the lighting can switch from white to green. This improves performance because the wavelength for green is useful for providing high brightness contrast. Laser light can also be used to calculate the depth, calculated based on wavelength from the reflections.  Thank you to the KEYENCE CORPORATION team for arranging a visit to get us started on getting our new machine set up! Learn more about the equipment in our factory here: https://lnkd.in/eftKa5xe  ~~~  #VacuumTechnology #NonDestructiveTesting #PrecisionEngineering #QualityControl #AdvancedManufacturing 

Ever wondered where the “torr” in our name comes from? Torr is a unit of pressure and is named after Evangelista Torricelli, a physicist that also worked in the field of optics! He is credited for being the first to scientifically describe how a barometer functions (a tool for measuring air pressure), and the torr was designed to be a unit for the mercury barometer design! The mercury barometer consists of a reservoir of mercury containing a vertical glass column. This mercury filled glass column is closed off at the top but allows the liquid to escape from the base of the column until the weights and pressures are perfectly balanced. Atmospheric pressure determines how much mercury remains in the glass column: lower pressure causes it to fall, and then higher pressure causes it to rise again! A measurement scale is also placed at the top of the tube and would be measured in millimetres (mm) of mercury (elemental symbol: Hg). Therefore, one Torr was designed to be equal to 1 mmHg.  Today the torr is still in use within the vacuum and semiconductor industry but in some parts of the world and other scientific industries it is often replaced with “bar” or the SI unit “pascal”. However, regardless of its use, the torr is an important part of vacuum history and lives on in our name! After learning about the torr, if you would like to learn about the history of Torr Scientific, please check out our website: https://lnkd.in/eYZQci9p     ~~~  #VacuumTechnology #Semiconductor #Physics #Engineering #VacuumScience 

Today (20th July) is Space Exploration Day! Recognised annually on the anniversary of the moon landing in 1969, this is a day to celebrate the human achievements in science and technology that have allowed us to venture beyond Earth! Torr Scientific has worked on numerous aerospace applications, most notably supplying 6 phosphor screens for use on the SWARM satellite for the European Space Agency. These were for use within microchannel plate (MCP) assemblies for thermal ion imaging. They used this technique to learn more about the “magnetic fields generated within the Earth’s core, crust and mantle, as well as of electric currents flowing in the ionosphere and magnetosphere.”  The research conducted on the satellite has been published as a research paper that you can read here: https://lnkd.in/e-b8HfRG  We can offer phosphor screens for a wide range of phosphors, and we also offer a refurbishment service! You can read more about our refurbishments here: https://lnkd.in/ekTzCUQk  Image sourced from: https://lnkd.in/eZtA4hPS ~~~  #SpaceExplorationDay #Aerospace #Engineering #VacuumTechnology #Photonics 

Refurbishment is a cost-effective alternative to replacing x-ray anodes and summer is the perfect time to get these ready for the new academic year! As standard, we can disassemble and inspect the anodes, conduct water flow and helium leak testing, as well as replacing or recoating the mono or dual tip.  All this is carried out in our cleanrooms by experienced technicians! Additionally, we can also offer the application of a CVD diamond tip, and we can manufacture a transit tube to send it back if you don’t have one! Materials we can recoat mono or dual anode tips with, includes tungsten (W), aluminium (Al), yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), silver (Ag), titanium (Ti) and chromium (Cr). If you are interested in giving your x-ray anode another life, please contact our sales team at sales@torrscientific.co.uk    #XRay #Anode #VacuumTechnology #Engineering #UKManufacturing  

Nano-textured viewports are the latest innovation with reducing reflections within optics! This is a designed etched into the bulk material and it is a great alternative to thin film options, which can have limited laser damage thresholds.  The plasma etched design is effective due to the type of pattern, this is a cone-like randomised etching, where the individual cones get thicker until they disappear into the optic.  This gradually implements changes in the overall refractive index through the depth of the optics, as the design moves from mostly air and a small area of the optical material, through to mostly optic and a small area of air, and then finally merging fully into the optic. There are various designed available to target different wavelength ranges, and these texture types differ due to the depth of the etching, as the wavelengths required get longer, the depth increases! Here at Torr Scientific, we can offer nano-textured designed for optical and laser grade viewports and quantum cells. These are currently available in various grades of fused silica, for infrared, visible or ultraviolet applications.     If you would like to learn more about how nano-texturing works, you can find our full newsletter (including how nano-texturing works) here: https://lnkd.in/e3YPDdAG  Or to request a quote you can contact our sales team: sales@torrscientific.co.uk     ~~~ #Quantum #Photonics #RAR #Nanotexture #VacuumTechnology