07 October 2016 News Both industrial processes as well as research and development, for example in accelerator technology or EUV technology, increasingly require a clean and better vacuum. Producing UHV and XHV however, is associated with high costs since it is very time-consuming and energy-intensive. Comparing stainless steel and aluminum, the most commonly used materials in this context, one finding is obvious: aluminum has very promising properties. Hence, it has a legitimate chance of becoming the material of the future in the field of vacuum chamber construction and in the UHV and XHV vacuum technology. VACOM has now added the production of aluminum-CF components and chambers to its portfolio. Here, it should be mentioned that the entire CF connections are made of aluminum alloys according to ISO/TS 3669-2:2007. This has the particular advantage that the magnetic permeability of the complete component is µr = 1.00002. Furthermore, aluminum components have only about 1/3 of the weight in comparison with stainless steel. The mechanical strength of 6000 aluminum alloys is sufficient to manufacture solid CF knife edges. When used with aluminum or annealed copper gaskets, VACOM's aluminum-CF components are therefore suitable for stable long-term applications.