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July 23, 2020
Innovations

How Industrial Gases are Used to Innovate in Manufacturing

Industrial gases are the gaseous materials that are manufactured for use in industry. The principal gases provided are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen, helium and acetylene, although many other gases and mixtures are also available in gas cylinders.

 

They are a vital part of the manufacturing process of a wide range of industries including:

  • The automotive industry
  • Food processing
  • Manufacturing
  • Semiconductors
  • Steel manufacturing and metal fabrication

 

Automotive industry

The use of HiQ specialty gases in the automotive industry has increased rapidly in recent decades. Car head lamps contain xenon; indicator lamps contain argon and nitrogen. Sheet metal for doors and the car body is cut with lasers using specialty gas mixtures.

Automotive air conditioning heat exchangers are often assembled using a brazing process done in a controlled nitrogen or hydrogen atmosphere. This reduction atmosphere allows the brazed joints to achieve the highest level of leak-free strength.

Air bags are a critical part of the active safety systems built into today’s vehicles. High-pressure argon, in combination with other rare gases, provides the right properties for ultra-high-speed bag inflation.

 

Food Processing

The global industrial gas market is benefiting from rising consumer demand for freshness in food products. Health-conscious consumers are demanding fewer additives and safer and fresher food products, which increases the demand for industrial gases that can be used in place of chemical ingredients.

Modified Atmosphere Packaging of food, or MAP, is a natural shelf-life-enhancing method that is growing rapidly on an international scale. It often complements other techniques, such as high-pressure and microwave methods or oxygen absorption. The correct gas mixture in MAP maintains high quality by retaining the original taste, texture and appearance of the foodstuff.

The gas atmosphere must be chosen with due consideration of the particular foodstuff and its properties. For low-fat products with a high moisture content, it is especially the growth of micro-organisms that has to be inhibited by using carbon dioxide. On the other hand, should the product have a high fat content and low water activity, oxidation protection is most important and inert nitrogen would be the preferred choice.

 

Manufacturing

HiQ specialty gases are important ingredients in the lighting industry for the manufacture of light bulbs containing argon, nitrogen, neon, krypton and xenon.

They also fill the gap between double glazing windows to ensure that our modern buildings are insulated well to be energy efficient. They are fundamental to many manufacturing processes, for example the use of hydrogen and nitrogen mixtures for the heat treatment of metals to induce hardness and other physical properties.

Quality control of metals, plastics and other purchased raw materials is also enabled using a wide range of HiQ high purity gases, for example in ICP analysis. Safety testing of manufactured products and toys, including flammability or combustibility testing is also enabled using a range of HiQ high purity gases and gas mixtures.

 

Semiconductors

Semiconductors are built and shaped using largely gas materials. In fact, gases have always been a key enabler of semiconductor fabrication, even though the types used continue to change and grow as manufacturing processes evolve.

Gases have the ability to create chemical reactions at the molecular level, helping to shape a semiconductor’s electrical conducting properties to allow or prevent the movement of electrons. But, in order to ensure the semiconductor is configured to properly regulate electron movement, these gases must be precisely and accurately dispensed at every stage of its engineering process to incite the right reactions.

 

Steel Manufacturing and Metal Fabrication

Industrial gases play key roles in primary and fabricated metals production, including steel manufacturing and metal fabrication. Steel is essential to almost all industrial sectors including automotive, construction and defense.

Oxygen has a very important role in the steel manufacturing process: it is a primary raw material for making steel. In fact, oxygen is crucial in the two dominant steel making technologies in the U.S.: the basic oxygen process and the electric arc furnace.

In addition, argon is used in conjunction with oxygen in a common technology for refining stainless steel. Industrial gases also have important applications in metal fabrication. For instance, acetylene is used for welding and metal cutting and argon is used as a shielding gas for the electric arc welding of nonferrous and specialty metals. Nitrogen is used in heat-treating and metalworking for products such as metal sheeting, rods, wires, and castings.

 

Conclusion

Air Source Industries offer high quality industrial gases for your manufacturing needs. The sooner you reach out, the sooner we can help! For price quotes and to speak to our gas experts, simply get a convenient compressed gas quote online or call us today at (562) 426-4017.

 

 

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