A sintering furnace can have a housing, one or more heating elements, and a conveying assembly. Each heating element can be disposed within the housing and can subject a heating zone to a thermal shock temperature profile. A substrate with one or more precursors thereon can be moved by the conveying assembly through an inlet of the housing to the heating zone, where it is subjected to a first temperature of at least 500 C. for a first time period. The conveying assembly can then move the substrate with one or more sintered materials thereon from the heating zone and through an outlet of the housing.

The invention relates to a hybrid process and a hybrid device for the production or thermal treatment of inorganic raw substances or materials in combination with further organic additives with the use of at least one gas burner in combination with at least one plasma burner in a furnace facility.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method of making molten glass. The apparatus includes a vessel for conveying the molten glass and at least one flange configured to supply an electric current to the vessel through the flange, the flange including a first ring extending completely around the vessel in a closed loop, the first ring comprising a first portion including a first thickness and a second portion including a second thickness different from the first thickness, wherein the first portion and the second portion overlap in a plane of the flange such that at least a portion of the first portion is positioned between at least a portion of the second portion and the vessel wall, and neither the first portion nor the second portion extends completely around the vessel. Also disclosed is a method of making glass using the disclosed flange.

Provided is a heater protection tube for use with a molten metal holding furnace with heat dissipation and insulating properties. A heat protection tube 31 has a distal tapered cylindrical portion 35 corresponding to the inside tapered cylindrical portion 21 and a proximal non-tapered cylindrical portion 36 corresponding to the outside non-tapered cylindrical portion 22. The heater protection tube (31) is configured so that it can be mounted in the side wall (13) with the distal tapered cylindrical portion (35) located at the inside tapered cylindrical portion (21) and with the proximal non-tapered cylindrical portion (36) located at the outside non-tapered cylindrical portion (22).

The invention relates to a sintering furnace (1) for components (15) made of a sintered material, in particular for dental components, comprising a furnace chamber (2) having a chamber volume (VK) and a chamber inner surface (OK), wherein a heat-up device (5), a receiving space (9) having a gross volume (VB) located in the chamber volume (VK) and delimited by the heat-up device (5), and a useful region (10) having a useful volume (VN) located in the gross volume (VB), are disposed in the furnace chamber (2). The furnace chamber (2) has an outer wall (3) consisting of a plurality of walls having a wall portion (7) to be opened for introduction into the receiving space (9) of a component to be sintered (15) and having an object volume (VO). In the furnace chamber (2) the heat-up device (5) has a thermal radiator (6) having a radiation field (13) which radiator is disposed on at least one side of the receiving space (9). Said thermal radiator (6) has a specific resistance of 0.1 mm.sup.2/m to 1,000,000 mm.sup.2/m and has a total surface, the maximum of which is three times the chamber inner surface (OK). With this sintering furnace (1) a heat-up temperature of at least 1100 C. can be achieved within 5 minutes at a maximum power input of 1.5 kW.

A vacuum heat treating furnace for the heat treatment of metal parts includes a pressure vessel and a hot zone enclosure that defines a hot zone therein. A heating element array inside the hot zone enclosure includes a first heating element, a second heating element, and a center heating element. The first and second heating elements are suspended on opposing sides of the hot zone enclosure. The center heating element is suspended vertically from the hot zone enclosure between the first and second heating elements. The center heating element is adapted to be connected to the first and second heating elements to form a continuous circuit therewith. The center heating element may be connected to the first and second heating elements with removable/reusable fasteners to provide for reconfiguration of the hot zone to accommodate different size workloads.

A vertical furnace and a method for processing a plurality of substrates in said vertical furnace is disclosed. Embodiments of the presently described vertical furnace comprise a process chamber, a heating element configured to provide the heat to reach the desired process temperature for the processing of the plurality of substrates. The vertical furnace may further comprise heat distributing member for distributing the heat provided by the heating element. Embodiments of the presently described method comprise processing the plurality of substrates in a vertical furnace described herein.

A support arrangement (10) for mounting electric heating elements (5, 7) in a furnace (1). The support arrangement (10) comprises a first insulating body (11), a second insulating body (21), a detachably arranged cover body (30) or cover assembly (60), and a support structure (40). A cavity (15) is formed between the first insulating body (11) and a second insulating body (21) into which the heating elements (5, 7) extend to thereby allow electrical connection to a power source. Each of the first insulating body (11) and a second insulating body (21) comprises at least one longitudinal slot (13, 23) arranged in a first surface facing towards the interior of the furnace (1) to thereby allow insertion of a heating element into the support arrangement (10) from the interior of the furnace (1).

Systems and methods are provided for a high performance heater. In an embodiment, the high performance heater comprises a first stackable tray comprising a first alignment pin that insulates a first heating element disposed in the first stackable tray; a second stackable tray comprising a second alignment pin that insulates a second heating element disposed in the second stackable tray, wherein a top of the first alignment pin fits in to a cut out of a bottom of the second alignment pin when the first and second stackable trays are stacked, and wherein the first and second stackable trays comprise one or more materials, an outer diameter and an inner diameter, and wherein an area between the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the stackable trays comprises at least one cut out portion that allows expansion of the material(s) when the high performance heater is at high temperatures.

Systems and methods for fabrication of ceramics from celestial materials using microwave sintering and mechanical compression for space mining applications are disclosed. In one aspect, a chamber for sintering loose mineral material into solid ceramic shapes includes a plurality of zirconia insulting plates configured to clamp the mineral material and forming a cavity in which the mineral loose material is contained, and at least one dipole array configured to generate microwave energy and apply the microwave energy to the mineral material.