Should You Choose a Sintering Furnace or Sintering Oven?

Author: Geym

Jun. 24, 2024

Should You Choose a Sintering Furnace or Sintering Oven?

 

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Vacuum Melting Sintering Furnace Manufacturers. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

What is a Sintering Furnace?

Commonly referred to as &#;pusher furnaces&#; or &#;walking-beam furnaces,&#; a high-temperature sintering furnace moves the work through on a series of boats or plates. One boat is pushed against another in a continuous train. A pusher furnace only pauses long enough to remove a boat at the exit end and add one at the entrance end. This is considered a constant push.

A walking-beam sintering furnace utilizes a pusher mechanism to bring the boat into the furnace and place it on the beams. These beams sit analogously to a series of rails. The cam rails lift up, push forward and down, essentially walking the boat or carrier through the furnace. At the exit end, the boats commonly transfer onto a belt for the cooling section.

What is the Difference Between Sintering and Annealing?

The process of sintering, or frittage, compacts and forms a solid mass of material by heat or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction. Sintering happens naturally in mineral deposits or as a manufacturing process used with metals, ceramics, plastics, and other materials.

The atoms in the materials diffuse across the boundaries of the particles, fusing the particles together and creating one solid piece. Because the sintering temperature does not have to reach the melting point of the material, sintering is often chosen as the shaping process for materials with extremely high melting points such as tungsten and molybdenum.

Similar to sintering, annealing ovens alter the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it more workable. It involves heating a material above its recrystallization temperature, maintaining a suitable temperature for a suitable amount of time, and then cooling.

What to Consider When Selecting a Sintering Oven

It is important to understand what features and functionality you need when choosing a sintering oven. Determine the right type of sintering oven by evaluating your application, the production processes needed, and a handful of other requirements. Consider these production needs or application process requirements when evaluating sintering furnaces:

  • Oven operating temperature
  • Required size of sintering furnace opening
  • Furnace process atmosphere
  • Material being processed and mass of component
  • Required output of furnace

Additionally, understand operating costs of your production or application in evaluating a high-temperature industrial laboratory furnace for sintering. Low-volume productions typically use a batch furnace. You only pay for the operation of the unit you use to process parts with a batch furnace. High- or medium-value productions, however, need a continuous furnace, possibly a customized continuous furnace. A continuous furnace offers the lowest processing costs per boat or component.

Sentro Tech Sintering Furnaces & Ovens

A family-owned company based in Northeast Ohio, SentoTech manufactures high-temperature sintering furnaces and ovens for a variety of industries and applications. SentroTech started as a designer and manufacturer of Molybdenum Silicide heating elements and related heating panels. In , the company started manufacturing custom laboratory and production tube furnaces to meet specific application and production needs.

Learn about our sintering furnaces

 

The company is the world’s best China Vacuum Gas Quenching Furnace supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

Custom Types of Sintering Furnaces for Processes

For unique applications or productions, consider a custom-built high-temperature sintering lab furnace. Build a custom high-temperature sintering furnace solution to meet the exact specifications or requirements for your application or production. Custom equipment protects the success of your product development or the outcomes of your production process.

Learn about our customized sintering furnaces

Sintering Furnaces for Metals and Ceramics

Sintering Furnace Applications

Common applications are the sintering of metal or ceramic powders, carbon/graphite/CFC processing, the manufacturing of hard metals such as Tungsten and Carbide, and most non-oxide advanced ceramics including BN, AlN, SiC (pressureless sintering, reaction-bonded, and recrystallized), Si3N4, B4C, AlON, and others. These materials can be processed in any combination of furnace atmospheres including high-vacuum, rough vacuum, partial pressure, or positive pressures of inert or Hydrogen gases. Key applications of sintering furnaces include:

Powder Metallurgy: Sintering furnaces are extensively used in the powder metallurgy industry to produce metallic components. Metal powders are compacted into a desired shape using pressure, and then sintered in a furnace to bond the particles together and create a solid object. This process is widely used in automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries to produce parts such as gears, bearings, and cutting tools.

Ceramics Manufacturing: Sintering is a crucial step in the production of ceramic materials. Ceramic powders may be pressed into a specific shape and then sintered in a furnace to create dense, solid ceramic components. This sintering process is used in the manufacturing of tiles, bricks, electronic ceramics, and various industrial components.

Electronics: Sintering furnaces are used in the electronics industry for the production of electronic components such as capacitors, resistors, and semiconductor devices. Sintering is employed to bond metal or ceramic particles together and to create dense, reliable connections between components.

Advanced Materials: Sintering is used in the production of advanced materials such as composites, metal matrix composites, and ceramics matrix composites. These materials often require specific temperature profiles and controlled atmospheres during the sintering process to achieve desired properties such as strength, hardness, and thermal conductivity.

Medical Devices: Sintering furnaces are used in the manufacturing of medical devices such as dental implants, orthopedic implants, and surgical instruments. Sintering is employed to produce biocompatible materials with precise dimensions and mechanical properties suitable for medical applications.

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing): In some additive manufacturing processes like selective laser sintering (SLS) and binder jetting, sintering furnaces are used to fuse powdered materials layer by layer to create three-dimensional objects. These processes are used in rapid prototyping, custom part manufacturing, and production of complex geometries.

Tool and Die Making: Sintering is utilized in the production of tool and die components for various manufacturing processes. Sintered tool steels and carbides offer high hardness and wear resistance, making them suitable for cutting, shaping, and forming applications in industries such as machining, stamping, and molding.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website China Vacuum Induction Melting Sintering Furnace Equipment.

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