New developments in vacuum and overpressure sintering at ALD vacuum technologies GmbH

Ten years after the introduction of the first vacuum and overpressure sintering furnace to the hard metal industry, this technology remains state of the art. During this time more than 55 ALD production furnaces have been sold worldwide, mostly for the production of hardmetal and other PM components. Improvements in furnace design, controls, temperature uniformity, cost and capacity have given rise to a new generation of furnaces which sinter large workloads in shorter times with excellent reproducibility. Processes and applications for dewaxing, vacuum and overpressure sintering are described, together with economic aspects of the process.