Many factors come into play during the vacuum sintering process, from the size and materials used in the furnace hot zone to whether debinding and sintering processes are combined in a single unit.

Founded way back in 1912 as the “Replaceable Heating Elements” company in New York, Lindberg/MPH was named after the owner’s patented, replaceable heating elements for research heating applications.

High-temperature furnaces must withstand high temperatures that melt materials, such as titanium, without damage. Usually made of graphite, these furnaces frequently cause contamination with reactive carbon, which can cause damage to the manufactured products. Fully metallic furnaces and heating elements made of suitable materials, on the other hand, are a clean solution. 

Redi-Shapes precast shapes are designed to help steel and aluminum makers significantly reduce the time and labor costs required to repair furnace refractory linings.

Vacuum sintering is one of the unsung heroes of industrial metallurgy. In this crucial process, materials are heated in a vacuum environment until they are almost at the point of melting.

Andritz received an order from China’s HBIS Group Co. Ltd. to supply two strip processing furnaces. One furnace is for a continuous annealing line and will be used to produce the latest generation of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). The annual capacity of the line is 825,000 tons. The second furnace is for a continuous hot-galvanizing line to produce hot-rolled products up to 6 mm thick. The annual capacity of the line is 412,000 tons. Production of the first coil on these two lines is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.

SECO/WARWICK will supply a multipurpose sealed quench-chamber furnace to Kuznia Sulkowicie SA, a Polish manufacturer of matrix forgings, construction connectors and manual tools. The furnace is designed for heat treatment (such as gas carbonitriding and pure hardening) in a controlled endothermic atmosphere. The fully automated operation of the furnace is its unique advantage. Personnel are only required to load and unload the work after treatment. The cycle and product transfer is completely automated.

Gasbarre Furnace Group/J.L. Becker shipped a large-capacity gas-fired temper furnace to a specialty alloy manufacturer located in the northeast U.S. The furnace is designed to temper workloads after hardening. It is capable of processing workloads 32 feet wide x 6 feet long x 4 feet high that weigh up to 40,000 pounds. Temperature uniformity is achieved through five zones of heating, recirculation fans and a custom-designed baffling system. As a result, the furnace is capable of achieving ±10°F from 800°F to 1400°F.

Ebner received an order from Northeast Light Alloy Co. Ltd. of Harbin, China, for a continuous floater furnace facility to harden and temper aluminum alloy strip. The heat-treatment facility fulfills all requirements for achieving aerospace-grade material, including optimum strip shape and surface characteristics, high-temperature uniformity throughout the heating and soaking phases, and appropriately high cooling gradients. The floater furnace, which will start operation at the end of 2019, is designed for a maximum strip width of 2,400 mm (94.5 inches) and strip thicknesses of 0.5-4.0 mm.

International technology group Andritz received an order from thyssenkrupp Steel Europe to supply a hot-dip galvanizing line for the company’s plant in Dortmund, Germany. The new line, which has an annual capacity of 530,000 tons, is designed to produce high-strength steel grades mainly for the automotive industry. Andritz will supply the complete line, including the furnace and mechanical and electrical equipment. Start-up is scheduled for the end of 2020.