Oven

An oven is a heated enclosure that is usually used in air (sometimes under vacuum or in a neutral gas), for heat treatment at set temperatures.

The maximum temperature is of the order of 500°C, and for temperatures higher than this we refer to a furnace.

Ovens are usually heated electrically.

They have a ventilation system to make the temperature as homogeneous as possible.

They are more and more often equipped with a device for thermal cycling that can be coupled with a double bag arrangement for vacuum treatment. Another process that can be used is the dilatation of an expandable elastomer to exert a pressure on a part being moulded (the Elastherm process).

Ovens are widely used in the field of composite materials for the polymerisation of components by curing and also for pre-polymerisation or post-curing.