MDC Manufacturing Stainless Steel Flex Angle Bellows Vacuum Fitting Conflat

MDC Manufacturing Stainless Steel Flex Angle Bellows Vacuum Fitting Conflat Flange

This is a stainless steel flex angle bellows fitting from MDC Manufacturing, designed for use in high-vacuum and ultra-high vacuum (UHV) plumbing systems. It combines a corrugated stainless steel bellows section with an angled configuration (approximately 45°), allowing flexible, vibration-isolating connections between vacuum chamber ports, pumps, and other vacuum line components where a rigid straight connector would be impractical. Both ends terminate in conflat-style (CF) flanges for leak-tight, bolt-down connections standard in UHV systems.

Specifications & What's Included

• Manufacturer: MDC Manufacturing
• Type: Stainless steel flex angle bellows vacuum fitting
• Material: Stainless steel construction throughout (body, bellows, and flanges)
• Flange style: Conflat-style (CF) flanges on both ends
• Approximate flange bore / inner diameter: ~4 inches (~100 mm) — measured in photos
• Flange bolt pattern: 8-hole pattern visible on both flanges
• Configuration: Angled, approximately 45° between flange axes
• Bellows: Corrugated stainless steel bellows weld cuff providing flexibility and vibration isolation
• Fitting only — no additional hardware, bolts, or gaskets included

Applications

Stainless steel flex angle bellows fittings like this one are standard components in high-vacuum and ultra-high vacuum systems used in semiconductor processing, surface science research, thin-film deposition (CVD, PVD, sputtering), electron microscopy, particle accelerators, and industrial vacuum equipment. The bellows section absorbs mechanical vibration and thermal expansion between rigidly mounted vacuum components — particularly useful when connecting a turbomolecular pump or diffusion pump to a chamber port where perfect axial alignment is difficult to achieve. The angled configuration redirects vacuum line routing while maintaining a hermetic seal. Conflat flanges, which use a soft metal gasket compressed between knife-edge seals on each flange face, are the industry standard for UHV connections capable of reaching pressures below 10⁻⁹ Torr. MDC Manufacturing (MDC Precision) has been a well-known supplier of vacuum components and hardware in the North American scientific and industrial vacuum market for decades.