Cathode heater potting assembly

Abstract

A potted heater assembly and a method of forming such a potted heater assembly comprises the steps of introducing into a mold having a filament disposed therein a slurry containing a liquid vehicle and particles of a refractory ceramic, said particles having a cylindrical shape and a diameter of generally less than a micron. The method further includes the step of removing the liquid vehicle from the slurry to leave behind a consolidated ceramic embedding the filament, and heating the ceramic having the embedded filament to further consolidate the ceramic to provide said ceramic having a density of at least 85% of theoretical density for the particular ceramic. The potted heating assembly having a ceramic potting embedding a filament heater is provided having higher post-sinter density than prior assemblies and has substantially higher strength.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.