Equipment for sintering under pressure
AssigneeCommissariat a l'Energie Atomique
InventorJacques P. Carcey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The materials to be sintered are placed in a deformable container which is in turn placed within a non-deformable treatment module equipped with heating means. The temperature of the container is increased under constant pressure until commencement of sintering. The temperature and pressure of the materials are increased simultaneously until sintering conditions are achieved, then maintained at a level stage for a predetermined period of time. The pressure is then reduced to the normal value while maintaining the temperature. The temperature is finally reduced to the room-temperature value.
Claims2
A treatment module for use in a press having a top plate and a bottom plate substantially parallel to each other and means for pressing said top plate towards said bottom press plate so as to compress an object between said plates selectively at a constant pressure or at an increasing pressure, for sintering under pressure, comprising:
- an essentially non-deformable upper element (2a ) and an essentially non-deformable lower element (2d ) connected by flexible means (10) for holding said upper and lower members in proximity to each other while allowing them to be moved together or apart, said upper and lower elements each containing heating means interposed between an upper and lower face plate of the element, said plates of each element being rigidly spaced apart by a compression-withstandiing filling in which said electrical heating means are embedded, and
- a composite container for containing material to be sintered under compression and heat, said container having a bottom wall and a top closure substantially opposite said bottom wall and also a lateral wall formed by a plurality of elements which cooperate with said bottom wall and said top closure to constitute a composite container capable of being deformed in the event the contents thereof spread laterally when pressure is applied between said bottom wall and said top closure, said bottom wall and said top closure being disposed in said module between said non-deformable upper and lower elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.