There’s a lot you can say about the evolution of vacuum technology, especially over recent years. But one thing that’s always been true is how versatile vacuum technology truly is. The idea of using a vacuum in different industries and for different purposes has been around since its discovery many centuries ago. Nowadays, you can find vacuum technology and vacuum devices in many places you might have never considered before. This application’s numerous and versatile applications are some of the reasons it’s become so widespread.

To give you a little bit of a better idea about the practical applications of vacuum, we’re going to take a look at the role of vacuum technology in various industries. While some of these industries only use vacuum technology for simple purposes, you’ll find that it plays a key role in many others. The wide range of uses is one of vacuum technology’s greatest strengths, and you can get a solid feel for its future possibilities by examining how we already utilize this technology.

Metal Fabrication

When we consider the industries where vacuum technology plays a large part, you can see that metal fabrication relies on it heavily. Vacuum technology is a key component of alloying metals, where fabricators will use it to suck out any excess gases that may make the alloy less pure. Vacuum can also help in the removal of trace elements from the metals that are to be combined. In doing this, the resulting alloys are more stable and have increased levels of strength, malleability, and ductility. For creating metals that are safe and reliable, vacuum power is the answer.

Plastics and Textiles

For many of these industries, using vacuum technology for drying is a common thing that they all share. The plastics industry and textile industry both use vacuum drying to increase production. Waiting for products to dry naturally is a slow and laborious process that eats into production time. Vacuum drying, on the other hand, greatly speeds up this process. An added benefit to using a vacuum for drying purposes is that it is often the gentlest way to dry something when compared to other drying methods. Fragile materials need vacuum drying to prevent any damage from ruining them.

Medical

When someone thinks about the role of vacuum technology in various industries, the medical industry is often one of the first industries that comes to mind. Both the medical care industry and pharmaceuticals utilize vacuum technology for a variety of purposes. Using vacuum technology is one of the safest methods of sterilizing medical equipment. As sterile conditions for rooms and tools are a major focus in the medical industry, hospitals and clinics rely on vacuum technology to keep their fragile tools and instruments clean and sanitary.

Pharmaceutical

Beyond the medical field, we also see vacuum technology used in the pharmaceutical industry. Vacuum technology is a crucial component for the production of various medicines and supplements. One of the purposes of vacuum in the pharmaceutical field is vacuum distillation. This distillation process for certain oils, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals is how we get many of our supplements and curative products. Crystallization is another purpose for vacuum technology. To create the environment for certain elements to crystallize, pharmaceutical professionals will use vacuum to control cooling and evaporation rates.

Oil and Gas

When you consider industries that are as large as the oil and gas industries, it’s not surprising that you would find these professionals using vacuum technology somewhere in their work. Vacuum technology is essential for dealing with harmful vapors that are a result of the refinement process in both industries. You can even find vacuum pumps in the refinement process of petroleum. These pumps help with the compression of vent gases, as well as gas boosting. Vacuum technology helps create safe environments for the workers in both of these crucial industries.

Ceramics

In this case, when we refer to ceramics and ceramic products, we refer mostly to products such as bricks, roofing tiles, and other building materials that aren’t made of a metallic substance. Vacuum pumps can come in handy for creating these products as well, in a similar way that they help the production of metal alloys by removing impurities. In the case of ceramics, vacuum pumps help to remove air pockets and collapse smaller gaps in the material that might make these products less sturdy or more brittle.

Printing

As an industry, printing is a broad, umbrella term for many different processes, all of which benefit from the use of vacuum technology. Some examples of the work this industry does include running printing presses, screen printing, and bookbinding. There is a process done with printing presses called powdering that utilizes vacuum technology. Similar to the drying of products in the plastic and textile industries, the drying of various inks is another process where a vacuum can be of use in the printing industry.

Aerospace

Perhaps one of the more interesting uses for vacuum technology is its role in the aerospace industry. When materials of any kind are sent into space, either for satellites or even something bound for a space station, they can go through a process called off-gassing. This happens when these materials hit the vacuum of space, which pulls gases and other loose elements off of the material. This off-gassing can be dangerous to the structural integrity of the materials sent into space. To combat this off-gassing process, certain materials slated to go into space are exposed to a vacuum down on earth through vacuum technology. This is a more stable way to deal with the problem of off-gassing.

Packaging

You might interact with more products in your day-to-day life that are related to a piece of vacuum technology than you realize. You can find vacuum technology a lot in the packaging industry. Here, manufacturers will use vacuum technology to remove air and other elements from a package to ensure that nothing gets trapped in with the product once they seal it. Many food products have packaging that met a vacuum pump at some point before being sealed.

Hopefully, this look into where you can find vacuum technology in various industries makes you see how far-reaching this technology truly is. Here at DigiVac, we specialize in vacuum measurement instruments that our customers can trust. If you have any questions about our products, contact us and we’ll be glad to answer them.