Solar Atmospheres of Western PA acquired a used external-quench vacuum furnace at an auction in Philadelphia, Pa. The main objective of this purchase was to retrofit the furnace with a new hot zone and pumping technology that will help minimize and target the condensation of detrimental binders evaporating out of MIM parts. Solar Manufacturing designed the technology and the apparatus needed to consolidate the binders into one central location, thus minimizing the cleaning downtime staff was experiencing. This includes a completely new hot zone, a binder pumping port and a second vacuum pump. The collaborative effort ensured both projects came together seamlessly.

By mid-October, the high-production MIM sinter job will be fully transferred from current Solar vacuum furnaces to this dedicated and refurbished vacuum furnace. After multiple sintering runs, Solar will then have the data to compare the downtime of a traditional vacuum furnace versus the newly designed debind/sinter furnace.