Manufacturing line, process, and sintered article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10766165-B2
Application number	US-201615218689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2016
Priority date	Jun 29, 2015
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

A manufacturing line includes a tape of green material that is directed through a furnace so that the furnace burns off organic binder material and then partially sinters the tape without the use of a setter board. Sintered articles resulting from the manufacturing line may be thin with relatively large surface areas; and, while substantially unpolished, have few sintering-induced surface defects. Tension may be applied to the partially sintered tape as it passes through a second furnace on the manufacturing line to shape resulting sintered articles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sintered article, comprising:
a first surface, a second surface, and a body of material extending therebetween, wherein the second surface is on an opposite side of the sintered article from the first surface such that a thickness of the sintered article is defined as a distance between the first and second surfaces, a width of the sintered article is defined as a first dimension of one of the first or second surfaces orthogonal to the thickness, and a length of the sintered article is defined as a second dimension of one of the first or second surfaces orthogonal to both the thickness and the width of the sintered article,
wherein the body of material comprises an inorganic material;
wherein the length of the sintered article is greater than or equal to the width of the sintered article, and wherein the sintered article is thin such that the width of the sintered article is greater than five times the thickness of the sintered article, the thickness of the sintered article being no more than one millimeter;
wherein the sintered article is substantially unpolished such that the first and second surfaces each have a granular profile;
wherein the sintered article has high surface quality such that the first and second surfaces both have at least a square centimeter of area having fewer than ten surface defects from adhesion or abrasion with a dimension greater than five micrometers, the high surface quality facilitating strength of the sintered article; and
wherein the sintered article has consistent surface quality on both the first and second surfaces such that an average area per square centimeter of the first surface of surface defects from adhesion or abrasion having a dimension greater than 5 micrometers is within plus or minus fifty percent of an average area per square centimeter of the second surface of surface defects from adhesion or abrasion having a dimension greater than 5 micrometers.

2. The sintered article of claim 1 , wherein the granular profile includes grains with a height in a range from twenty-five nanometers to one-hundred-and-fifty micrometers relative to recessed portions of the first and second surfaces at boundaries between the respective grains.

3. The sintered article of claim 1 , wherein the article has a flatness in the range of one hundred nanometers to fifty micrometers over a distance of one centimeter in a lengthwise direction along either the first or second surface.

4. The sintered article of claim 1 , wherein, while being substantially unpolished, at least one of the first and second surfaces has a roughness in the range of one nanometer to ten micrometers over a distance of one centimeter measured along a profile in a lengthwise direction along either the first or second surface.

5. The sintered article of claim 1 , wherein the article is both particularly thin and elongate such that the length of the article is greater than five times the width of the article and the width of the article is greater than ten times the thickness of the article.

6. The sintered article of claim 5 , wherein the thickness of the body is less than half a millimeter and the area of one of the first and second surfaces is greater than thirty square centimeters.

7. The sintered article of claim 6 , wherein the area of one of the first and second surfaces is greater than one hundred square centimeters.

8. The sintered article of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material is inorganic material selected from the group consisting of polycrystalline ceramic and synthetic mineral.

9. A sintered article, comprising:
wherein the sintered article is a sheet comprising a first surface, a second surface, and a body of material extending therebetween, wherein the second surface is on an opposite side of the sheet from the first surface such that a thickness of the sheet is defined as a distance between the first and second surfaces, a width of the sheet is defined as a first dimension of one of the first or second surfaces orthogonal to the thickness, and a length of the sheet is defined as a second dimension of one of the first or second surfaces orthogonal to both the thickness and the width of the sheet,
wherein the body of material is of material selected from the group consisting of polycrystalline ceramic and synthetic mineral, and wherein the material is in a sintered form such that grains of the material are fused to one another;
wherein the first and second surfaces of the sheet are substantially unpolished such that each has a granular profile that includes grains with a height in a range from twenty-five nanometers to one-hundred-and-fifty micrometers relative to recessed portions of the respective surface at boundaries between the grains;
wherein the sheet is thin and elongate such that the length of the sheet is greater than five times the width of the sheet, the width of the sheet is greater than five times the thickness of the sheet, and wherein the thickness of the sheet is no more than one millimeter and the area of each of the first and second surfaces is greater than ten square centimeters;
wherein the sheet has high surface quality such that the first and second surfaces both have at least ten square centimeters of area having fewer than one hundred surface defects from adhesion or abrasion with a dimension greater than five micrometers; and
wherein the sheet has a flatness in the range of one hundred nanometers to fifty micrometers over a distance of one centimeter in a lengthwise direction along either the first or second surface.

10. The sintered article of claim 9 , wherein, in addition to being material selected from the group consisting of polycrystalline ceramic and synthetic mineral, the material of the body of material is also a material selected from the group consisting of alumina, zirconia, spinel, and garnet.

11. The sintered article of claim 10 , wherein the thickness of the sheet is no more than five-hundred micrometers.

12. The sintered article of claim 11 , wherein the sheet is at least partially transparent have a total transmittance of at least thirty percent at wavelengths from about three-hundred nanometers to about eight-hundred nanometers.

13. The sintered article of claim 10 , wherein the area of one of the first and second surfaces is greater than one hundred square centimeters.

14. The sintered article of claim 9 , wherein, while being substantially unpolished, at least one of the first and second surfaces has a roughness in the range of one nanometer to ten micrometers over a distance of one centimeter in a lengthwise direction along either the first or second surface.

15. The sintered article of claim 9 , wherein the sintered article is a ceramic tape.

16. The sintered article of claim 15 , wherein the ceramic tape has bulges, wherein the bulges have smoothly continuous curvature with respect to surrounding, adjoining surfaces such that borders of the bulges are not generally characterized by adhesion or abrasion.

17. The sintered article of claim 15 , wherein, when resting unconstrained on a flat surface, the ceramic tape has a camber about an axis along the length of the ceramic tape.

18. The sintered article of claim 16 , wherein the bulges are generally oblong and have a longest dimension of 100 or more micrometers.

19. The sintered article of claim 18 , wherein major axes of the oblong bulges are oriented generally in the same direction as one another.

20. The sintered article of claim 19 , wherein at least 90% of the oblong bulges are oriente

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Badding Michael Edward
• Bouton William Joseph
• Brown Jacqueline Leslie
• Curry Timothy Joseph
• Hurny Roman E
• Kester Lanrik Wayne
• Ketcham Thomas Dale
• Olenick John Albert
• Olenick Kathleen Ritter
• Paananen Jeremy
• Silverblatt Thomas
• St Julien Dell Joseph
• Venkateswaran Viswanathan
• Zink Nathan Michael

Classifications

• C04B2235/963

  Surface properties, e.g. surface roughness · CPC title

• C04B35/486

  Fine ceramics · CPC title

• C04B35/443

  Magnesium aluminate spinel · CPC title

• C04B2235/9653

  Translucent or transparent ceramics other than alumina · CPC title

• C04B2235/95

  Products characterised by their size, e.g. microceramics · CPC title