System, process and related sintered article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017210634-A1
Application number	US-201715414109-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 24, 2017
Priority date	Jan 26, 2016
Publication date	Jul 27, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system, process and related sintered article are provided. The process includes supporting a piece of inorganic material with a pressurized gas and sintering the piece of inorganic material while supported by the pressurized gas by heating the piece of inorganic material to a temperature at or above a sintering temperature of the inorganic material such that the inorganic material is at least partially sintered forming the sintered article. The inorganic material is not in contact with a solid support during sintering. The sintered article, such as a ceramic article, is thin, has high surface quality, and/or has large surface areas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A process of forming a sintered article, comprising:
supporting a piece of inorganic material with a pressurized gas; and sintering the piece of inorganic material while supported by the pressurized gas by heating the piece of inorganic material to a temperature at or above a sintering temperature of the inorganic material such that the inorganic material is at least partially sintered forming the sintered article, wherein at least a portion of the inorganic material being sintered is not in contact with a solid support during sintering.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the pressurized gas is provided by a gas bearing including first and second opposing bearing surfaces defining a channel between the first and second bearing surfaces, wherein the gas bearing delivers gas to the channel through the first and second bearing surfaces, wherein supporting the piece of inorganic material comprises positioning the piece of inorganic material within the channel such that opposing first and second major surfaces of the piece of inorganic material are both supported by the pressurized gas.

3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the gas bearing applies pressure to both of the first and second major surface of the piece of inorganic material during sintering such that deformation of the first and second surfaces is resisted during sintering.

4 . The process of claim 3 , further comprising moving the piece of inorganic material through the channel from a first end of the channel to a second end of the channel during sintering, wherein the piece of inorganic material comprises a length and a width, wherein the length of the piece of inorganic material is greater than the distance between the first and second ends of the channel.

5 . The process of claim 4 , wherein during sintering the density of the piece of inorganic material increases such that the density of the piece of inorganic material when located at the second end of the channel is greater than the density of the piece of inorganic material when located at the first end of the channel.

6 . The process of claim 4 , wherein during sintering the width of the piece of inorganic material decreases as the piece of inorganic material moves from the first end of the channel to the second end of the channel.

7 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the piece of inorganic material comprises an organic binder supporting the inorganic material, and further comprising removing the organic binder material by heating the piece of inorganic material including the organic binder to a temperature sufficient to pyrolyze the organic binder, wherein sintering occurs after removing the organic binder.

8 . The process of claim 7 , wherein removing of the organic binder material occurs while the piece of inorganic material is supported by the pressurized gas.

9 . The process of claim 7 , wherein sintering occurs within a sintering zone and removing of the organic binder occurs within a removal zone, the process further comprising heating the piece of inorganic material following binder removal within a heating zone located between the removal zone and the sintering zone such that the temperature of the piece of inorganic material is raised to within 30% of the sintering temperature prior to the piece of inorganic material entering the sintering zone, wherein within the sintering zone the piece of inorganic material is maintained at a substantially constant temperature such that a temperature variation within the sintering zone is less than 30%.

10 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
cooling the sintered article to a temperature below 150 degrees Celsius; and wrapping the sintered article around an uptake reel following cooling.

11 . A sintered article comprising:
a first major surface; a second major surface opposite the first major surface; an at least partially sintered inorganic material defining the first major surface, the second major surface and a body extending between the first and second major surfaces; an average thickness between the first and second major surfaces is no more than 1 mm; a width defined as a first dimension of one of the first or second major surfaces orthogonal to the thickness; and a length of the sintered article defined as a second dimension of one of the first or second major surfaces orthogonal to both the thickness and the width of the sintered article, wherein the sintered article is thin such that at least one of the width and the length is greater than five times the average thickness; wherein the first major surface is defined by a first surface quality metric and the second major surface is defined by a second surface quality metric, wherein the first surface quality metric is substantially the same as the second surface quality metric; wherein the inorganic material is selected from the group consisting of polycrystalline ceramic and synthetic mineral.

12 . The sintered article of claim 11 , wherein the first surface quality metric and second surface quality metric are each a chemical compositions of the sintered article within a depth of 1 μm from the first and second major surfaces, respectively, wherein the first surface quality metric is substantially the same as the second surface quality metric such the chemical composition within a depth of 1 μm from the first surface is at least 99.9% by weight of the inorganic material and the chemical composition within a depth of 1 μm from the second surface is at least 99.9% by weight of the inorganic material.

13 . The sintered article of claim 12 , further comprising a midpoint chemical composition located at a midpoint between the first and second major surfaces, wherein the midpoint chemical composition is at least 99.9% by weight of the inorganic material.

14 . The sintered article of claim 11 , wherein the first surface quality metric and second surface quality metric are each a chemical compositions of the sintered article within a depth of 0.5 μm from the first and second major surfaces, respectively, wherein the first surface quality metric is substantially the same as the second surface quality metric such the chemical composition within a depth of 0.5 μm from the first surface is at least 99.9% the same as the chemical composition within a depth of 0.5 μm from the second surface.

15 . The sintered article of claim 11 , wherein the first surface quality metric and second surface quality metric are each a defect quantity measurement, wherein the first surface quality metric is substantially the same as the second surface quality metric such that the first major surface has fewer than ten surface defects per cm 2 from adhesion or abrasion with a dimension greater than five micrometers and the second major surface has fewer than ten surface defects per cm 2 from adhesion or abrasion with a dimension greater than five micrometers.

16 . The sintered article of claim 11 , wherein the first surface quality metric and second surface quality metric are each a defect size measurement, wherein the first surface quality metric is substantially the same as the second surface quality metric such that a total area of surface defects on the first major surface, measured in a plane perpendicular to the thickness per cm 2 of first major surface area, is within plus or minus 50% of a total area of surface defects on the second major surface, measured in a plane perpendicular to the thickness per cm 2 of second major surface area.

17 . The sintered article of claim 16 , wherein the surface defects of the first a

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Badding Michael Edward
• Bouton William Joseph
• Brackley Douglas Edward
• Kester Lanrik Wayne
• Ketcham Thomas Dale
• Miller Eric Lee
• Tanner Cameron Wayne
• Zimmermann James William

Classifications

• C01G25/02

  Oxides · CPC title

• C04B35/632

  Organic additives · CPC title

• C03B19/06

  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

• C04B35/48

  based on zirconium or hafnium oxides, zirconates, {zircon} or hafnates · CPC title

• C03C8/02

  Frit compositions, i.e. in a powdered or comminuted form · CPC title