Fluidtherm marks first sale of TMax 1300°C roller hearth sintering furnace
November 30, 2021
Powder Metallurgy furnace manufacturer Fluidtherm, Chennai, India, has supplied its first TMax 1300°C roller hearth sintering furnace (RHF) to a multi-national manufacturer of PM and Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) parts for the automotive, power tool, appliance, electronic and energy sectors. The TMax 1300°C RHF has a maximum capacity of twenty 600 mm2 graphite trays per hour, processing up to 450 kg per hour.
“Apart from inherent advantages of high temperature sintering, such as superior mechanical properties, improved pore morphology, better diffusion of alloying elements such as in micro-alloyed parts, Fluidtherm provides its customers the features of in-line carbon restoration and a door enclosed CFD designed rapid gas cooling unit, with a high heat extraction capability,” stated N Gopinath, Managing Director of Fluidtherm.
The furnace, especially suitable for large, heavy parts, incorporates atmosphere lock doors at both ends for high atmosphere integrity, a Level 2.0 SCADA (supervisory control & data acquisition) control system. The furnace conforms to ATEX (European directives for controlling explosive atmospheres) and NFPA (the US’ National Fire Protection Association) directives, and is equipped with features that allow the user to comply with the clauses of AMS 2750D.
In the course of developing the RHF for TMax 1300°C, the company noted that the RHF design can be easily be applied to a max temperature of 1180°C and thus become an alternative to mesh belt furnaces. While the high temperature capability would be absent from the TMax 1180°C version, the other benefits of RHFs, such as low gas consumption, higher atmosphere integrity, higher cooling rates and lower manufacturing cost will be available along with the elimination of mesh belt purchases and saving of the energy required to heat the belt.
