Eisenmann plant technology enables Höganäs to simultaneously improve product quality and cost-efficiency

At the Hoganas sintering laboratory in Shanghai, powder metal specialists learned about new advances in process engineering.Photo by EISENMANN Anlagenbau GmbH & Co.KG

Powder metallurgy specialists from all over Asia convene in Höganäs: The “Next Generation” sintering furnace from Eisenmann Thermal Solutions was commissioned at the metal powder manufacturer’s state-of-theart Tech Center in Shanghai. The innovative pilot roller furnace boasts outstanding product quality and low operating costs.

The visitors, experts from leading sintered part manufacturing companies, were given a tour of the newly built laboratory complex at the Höganäs Tech Center (ATEC) and saw the plant in operation. Peter Vervoort, Vice President of Product Development & Technology at Eisenmann, gave an introduction to the excellent qualities of this unique sintering furnace. Simon Tan of Höganäs ATEC presented the first production results since commissioning, which were quite impressive.

Eisenmann had developed and built this pilot plant on behalf of Höganäs. It makes it possible to precisely model and compare the sintering processes in conventional conveyor furnaces and the new high-temperature roller furnaces. The plant can display a wide range of sintering times and product throughputs at temperatures of up to 1400 °C, and the cooling zone is separate from the rest of the workpiece transport system. All this results in optimal processes for the users. One unique feature of the “Next Generation” roller furnaces is that the conveying speed is continuously variable and can be precisely adjusted to suit any product specifications. For the first time, a production facility attained homogeneous cooling rates of up to 8 K/s in the component at sintering temperatures of 1250 °C.

Thanks to the closed furnace concept, operators of this new Eisenmann roller furnace stand to benefit from greatly reduced consumption of energy and technical gases. The vacuum system makes it possible to save up to 50 percent of the nitrogen that would normally be used. The plant boasts highly precise atmospheric control achieved using an additional air seal. It also includes a sophisticated arrangement of connections for gas injection and atmospheric measurement, as well as for controlling the furnace atmospheres. These features allow for extensive gas analysis and active carbon control.

With their new sintering laboratory, Höganäs is offering customers outstanding capabilities in process data determination and powder metal part analysis. Using Eisenmann plant technology they’ve been able to make distinct improvements to product quality while greatly reducing operating costs. The “Next Generation” in sintering technology is here.

For more information, please visit http://www.eisenmann.com.

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