Sintering furnace

A sintering furnace for sintering of green compacts comprising:

• a retort;
• an inlet for furnace atmosphere gas at one end of the retort;
• a stack of sintering trays including central openings arranged in an interior of the retort, said central openings having an area for transfer of the furnace atmosphere gas introduced through the inlet, wherein neighbouring sintering trays of said stack are spaced apart at a predetermined distance from one another whereby an interspace is provided between said neighbouring sintering trays, said interspace being enclosed by a peripheral wall provided with distributed holes for transfer of the furnace atmosphere gas between the interspace interior of the peripheral wall and a space exterior to the peripheral wall, wherein a ratio of the area of each individual central opening to a total area of the distributed holes between each individual pair of neighbouring sintering trays ranges from 1:10 to 10:1;
• and
• an outlet for withdrawal of the furnace atmosphere gas at an end of the retort opposite to an end of the inlet, said inlet and outlet being arranged at opposite ends of the stack of sintering trays.