Racking system for use in continuous sintering furnaces
AssigneeDsb Technologies, LLC
InventorsJoseph Lange, Peter DePoutiloff, Ronald Martin, Paul Attoe, Eldon Fuller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An assembly for carrying parts to be sintered through a sintering furnace includes a boat formed of a refractory metal or metal alloy and including a base and, sidewalls, and a plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles disposed within the boat, each of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles sized to carry a plurality of the parts to be sintered through the sintering furnace.
Claims31
An assembly for carrying parts to be sintered through a sintering furnace comprising:
- a boat formed of a refractory metal or metal alloy and including a base and sidewalls;
- and
- a plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles disposed within the boat, each of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles sized to carry a plurality of the parts to be sintered through the sintering furnace, a lowermost of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles having a greater mechanical strength than an uppermost of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles.
A method of sintering parts, the method comprising:
- mounting a plurality of the parts within a carrier including:
- a boat formed of a refractory metal or metal alloy and including a base and sidewalls, the sidewalls include a plurality of apertures distributed non-uniformly on the sidewalls to adjust the radiant energy and gas flow to the parts;
- and
- a plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles disposed within the boat, each of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles sized to carry a plurality of parts to be sintered through the sintering furnace;
- and
- passing the carrier through a sintering furnace heated to a temperature sufficient to sinter the parts.
A method of retrofitting a sintering system, the method comprising:
- replacing carriers used to transport parts to be sintered through the sintering furnace with carriers including:
- a boat formed of a refractory metal or metal alloy and including a base and sidewalls;
- a plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles disposed within the boat, each of the plurality of vertically stacked ceramic tiles sized to carry a plurality of parts to be sintered through the sintering furnace;
- and
- a top cap formed of one of a refractory metal or a metal alloy, the top cap configured to be supported by standoffs disposed on an uppermost ceramic tile disposed within the boat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.