Process for sintering material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10619926-B2
Application number	US-201715725909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2017
Priority date	Oct 7, 2016
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

A method for processing material includes sintering a portion of a sheet of material at a location on the sheet, moving the sintering location along the sheet of material at a first rate, and pulling the sintered material away from the sintering location at a second rate that is greater than the first rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing material, comprising:
sintering a portion of a sheet of material at a location on the sheet;
moving the sintering location along the sheet of material at a first rate; and
pulling the sintered material away from the sintering location at a second rate that is greater than the first rate.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sintering, moving, and pulling steps occur concurrently along a manufacturing line.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sintering location extends in a first direction across the sheet of material and the pulling is in a second direction generally orthogonal to the first direction.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of material comprises silica soot, wherein in the sheet of material prior to the sintering has a thickness that is at least 100 μm, and wherein the sintered material, after the pulling, has a thickness less than 50 μm.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of material prior to the sintering is at least 20% porous by volume, while the sintered material is at least 95% fully densified.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein porosity of the sheet of material is decreased in terms of volume percentage by at least 20% as the material is sintered at the sintering location.

7. A line for manufacturing sintered material, comprising:
a sheet of material advancing along the line;
a sintering location on the line where a portion of the sheet of material is sintered, wherein the sheet of material, prior to passing through the sintering location, is advancing along the line at a first rate; and
a sintered portion extending along the line from the sintering location, wherein the sintered portion is advancing along the line at a second rate that is greater than the first rate.

8. The line of claim 7 , wherein the sintering location extends across the sheet of material, orthogonal to the direction that the sheet of material is advancing.

9. The line of claim 7 , wherein the sheet of material is partially sintered prior to passing through the sintering location.

10. The line of claim 9 , wherein the sheet of material is at least 20% porous by volume prior to passing through the sintering location.

11. The line of claim 10 , wherein, after passing through the sintering location, the sintered portion is at least 95% fully densified.

12. The line of claim 10 , wherein porosity of the sheet of material is decreased in terms of volume percentage at least 20% after passing through the sintering location.

13. The line of claim 7 , wherein the sheet of material comprises silica soot.

14. The line of claim 13 , wherein the sintered portion comprises 99.99 wt % pure fused silica.

15. The line of claim 7 , further comprising a laser that heats the sintering location.

16. The line of claim 7 , wherein prior to passing through the sintering location the sheet of material has a thickness that is at least 100 μm, and wherein the sintered material has a thickness less than 50 μm after passing through the sintering location.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Demartino Steven Edward
• Hawtof Daniel Warren
• Lal Archit
• Li Xinghua
• Maurey Daniel L
• Uhlig Kevin William

Classifications

• B29C41/46

  Heating or cooling · CPC title

• F27B21/00 Primary

  Open or uncovered sintering apparatus; Other heat-treatment apparatus of like construction · CPC title

• Y02P40/57

  Improving the yield, e-g- reduction of reject rates · CPC title

• C03B19/06 Primary

  by sintering, {e.g. by cold isostatic pressing of powders and subsequent sintering, by hot pressing of powders, by sintering slurries or dispersions not undergoing a liquid phase reaction} · CPC title

• C04B41/0036

  Laser treatment (working by laser beam B23K26/00) · CPC title