Retort for improved thermal processing of sinterable objects

A retort for thermally processing sinterable objects, comprising:

• a base plate having a retort inlet and a retort outlet, the retort outlet incorporating a peclet sealing element, the base plate further having a fore volume;
• a plurality of shelf units successively stacked upon one another while a bottom-most one of the plurality of shelf units engages the base plate, wherein each shelf unit includes an inlet plenum region, an outlet plenum region and an interior cavity configured to receive an object to be sintered;
• wherein when successively stacked upon one another the inlet plenum regions of the shelf units form an inlet plenum and the outlet plenum regions of the shelf units form an outlet plenum;
• a top plate configured to engage with an upper-most one of the plurality shelf units;
• wherein when the base plate, the plurality of shelves and the top plate are assembled together to form a retort assembly, the retort assembly includes a process gas flow path through the retort inlet to the fore volume, from the fore volume to the inlet plenum, from the inlet plenum to the interior cavities of the plurality of shelf units, from the plurality of interior cavities to the plenum outlet and from the plenum outlet to the retort outlet through the Peclet sealing element.

A method of thermally processing sinterable objects, comprising:

• disposing an object in a retort having a retort inlet, an internal cavity and a retort outlet incorporating a Peclet sealing element;
• disposing the retort and in a furnace and conducting a thermal process within the retort;
• and
• providing a flow of process gas through the retort inlet, the internal cavity where the process gas interacts with object and exits through the Peclet sealing element of the retort outlet.