FCT Systeme GmbH products

Gas pressure sintering systems are particularly suitable for sintering ceramics or metals that tend to decompose at high temperatures or that cannot be sintered tightly using standard sintering processes. In this process, there are no restrictions regarding the geometry of the components to be sintered. In addition, such systems are increasingly being used for the synthesis of material powders for the targeted influencing of the chemical equilibrium.

Hot pressing is a shaping process for compacting/sintering of powders or powder compacts using temperature and pressure. The consolidation of mainly composite materials or technical ceramics usually takes place in graphite molds using temperature (resistance heating) up to 2400 °C and uniaxial pressing force up to 50 MPa in a vacuum or inert gas atmosphere.

This innovative hybrid system is a combination of classic hot pressing with gas pressure. Such flexible systems are increasingly in demand for the development of materials, especially when it comes to specifically suppressing the decomposition of material systems in certain temperature ranges during hot pressing. In addition to the hot pressing of samples with a diameter of up to 80 mm and the simultaneous application of gas pressure of up to 10 bar, the system can also be used for both vacuum sintering and pressure sintering. This high level of flexibility sets new standards, particularly in the field of R&D.

In this sintering process, the tool or component is heated in a direct current passage, alowing cycle times of a few minutes are possible. The use of direct current pulses results in an additional increase in sintering activity for many materials due to the processes that take place at the contact points of the powder particles (Joule heating, plasma formation, electromigration, etc.), so that significantly lower temperatures and/or pressures are required than for conventional hot pressing or sintering.

"Hybrid heating" is the combination of the FAST/SPS process with one or more heating systems, that normally influence the press tool systems from the outside. The thermal gradients of a standard FAST/SPS system, which are typically directed from the inside to the outside, can thus be compensated by the inversely directed gradients of the additional heating system. This further improves heating rates while optimising homogeneity and providing all the benefits mentioned above.