Can a customized laboratory rotary furnace be used for coating experiments?

The customized laboratory rotary furnace can be fully used for coating experiments. Its dynamic heating, uniform temperature control, flexible atmosphere control, and modular design make it an ideal equipment for coating processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD). The following is a specific analysis:

1. Core requirements for coating experiments
The coating experiment requires the deposition of a thin film on the substrate surface through heating, atmosphere control, and reactant transport. The key requirements include:
Uniform heating: Avoid uneven film thickness or cracking caused by local overheating or underheating of the substrate.
Accurate atmosphere control: Specific gases (such as O ₂, H ₂, N ₂) need to be introduced according to the coating type (such as oxidation, reduction, nitriding), or a vacuum environment (≤ 10 ⁻ ³ Pa) needs to be maintained.
Dynamic reaction environment: Some coating processes (such as CVD) require reactants to continuously flow during the heating process and fully contact the substrate.
Substrate adaptability: Different forms of substrates (such as powders, particles, sheets, and wires) need to be processed to prevent adhesion or contamination.
Process Scalability: Supports process scaling up from laboratory trials to pilot trials, providing data support for mass production.

2. The core advantages of laboratory rotary furnaces
Dynamic heating and uniform heat transfer
The rotary furnace rotates the furnace body to continuously roll the substrate inside the furnace, achieving the following effects:
Eliminating temperature gradient: Avoiding local overheating or underheating caused by substrate accumulation in traditional static coating furnaces, ensuring film thickness uniformity (within ± 3%).
Promoting reactant contact: In CVD coating, dynamic rolling can accelerate the contact between reaction gases (such as SiH ₄, NH ∝) and the substrate, increasing the deposition rate.
Suppressing film stress: By continuous movement, reducing the accumulation of internal stress in the film and lowering the risk of cracking.
Case: In CVD deposition of silicon carbide (SiC) thin films, dynamic heating in a rotary furnace can improve the uniformity of film thickness by 20% while reducing residual stress.
Flexible atmosphere control
Multi atmosphere support: Inert gas (N ₂ Ar）、 Reducing gases (H ₂, CO) or reactive gases (O ₂, NH ∝) to meet different coating process requirements:
Metal coating: H ₂/Ar mixture can prevent substrate oxidation and promote the reduction of metal evaporation sources.
Ceramic coating: O ₂ atmosphere can promote the deposition of oxide ceramics (such as Al ₂ O ∝).
Nitride coating: Low temperature synthesis of silicon nitride (Si ∝ N ₄) thin films can be achieved in an NH3 atmosphere.
Vacuum environment: Some high-end models support vacuum coating (≤ 10 ⁻ ³ Pa), suitable for the deposition of high-purity films or sensitive materials.
Dynamic atmosphere adjustment: During the experimental process, the gas flow rate can be adjusted in real time or the atmosphere type can be switched to adapt to complex coating processes (such as deoxidizing with a reducing atmosphere first, and then depositing with an oxidizing atmosphere).
High precision temperature control
PID intelligent temperature control system: supports multi-stage temperature programming (such as heating, insulation, and segmented cooling), accurately matching the coating process curve.
Rapid heating and cooling capability: Some models use induction heating or high-frequency resistance heating, with a heating rate of up to 50 ℃/min, and the cooling rate can be precisely adjusted through gas flow or water cooling system.
Temperature uniformity verification: Customized rotary furnaces can be equipped with multi-point temperature sensors to monitor the temperature distribution inside the furnace in real time, ensuring consistency in the coating process.
Wide adaptability of substrate
Customization of furnace tube material: Choose quartz, corundum, silicon carbide or heat-resistant alloy furnace tubes according to the chemical properties of the substrate to avoid contamination or reaction.
Customization of furnace size and shape: Supports customization of small experimental furnaces (volume ≤ 1L) to large production simulation furnaces (volume ≥ 100L), adapting to different scales of substrates (such as powders, particles, sheets, and wires).
Special structural support: such as adding inner lining, baffle or vibration device, optimizing substrate movement trajectory, and improving coating effect.

3. Customized design optimization coating experiment
Optimization of furnace structure
Tilt angle adjustment: By customizing the tilt angle of the furnace body (such as 3% -6%), the residence time of the substrate in the furnace can be controlled to optimize the coating efficiency.
Partition heating design: Segmented heating of the furnace body to achieve temperature gradient control, suitable for deposition of gradient films or functional gradient structures.
Integration of vibration or stirring device: Add a vibration table or stirring blade inside the furnace to continuously move the substrate during the heating process, further eliminating blind spots in the coating.
Integration of reactant transport system
Gas injection device: A gas injection ring is installed inside the furnace tube to achieve uniform distribution of reaction gas and improve deposition rate.
Liquid precursor transportation: For coating processes that require the use of liquid precursors (such as TEOS), liquid atomization or vaporization devices can be integrated to achieve precise transportation.
Powder conveying system: For coating powder substrates, a powder spraying device can be integrated to achieve uniform coverage.
Safety and Environmental Design
Explosion proof and leakage alarm: For combustible atmosphere (such as H ₂) experiments, equipped with explosion-proof valves, gas leakage alarms, and automatic power-off functions.
Exhaust gas treatment system: Integrated activated carbon adsorption, catalytic combustion, or wet scrubbing device to treat harmful gases (such as Cl ₂ HF）。
Remote monitoring and data recording: supports real-time monitoring of experimental processes and automatic recording of parameters such as temperature and atmosphere, facilitating process optimization and traceability.

4. Experimental case support
CVD Coating Experiment
Graphene deposition: Graphene is deposited on the surface of copper foil using a rotary furnace, and uniform coverage of single-layer graphene is achieved through dynamic heating and H ₂/CH ₄ atmosphere control, with a layer deviation of less than 1 layer.
Deposition of Silicon Nitride Thin Film: Deposition of silicon nitride thin film on a silicon substrate, using NH3/SiO ₄ atmosphere and dynamic heating to increase the hardness of the film by 30% while reducing surface roughness.
PVD coating experiment
Metal titanium coating: Using a rotary furnace combined with magnetron sputtering technology, a titanium film is deposited on a ceramic substrate, and the adhesion of the film is improved by dynamic rolling, resulting in a 25% increase in bonding strength.
Ceramic alumina coating: Deposition of alumina ceramic film on a metal substrate, and increasing the corrosion resistance of the film by 50% through O ₂/Ar atmosphere and dynamic heating.
Special Material Coating Experiment
Rare earth permanent magnet material coating: Aluminum film is deposited on the surface of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) permanent magnet, and the anti-oxidation performance of the magnet is significantly improved and the service life is extended by three times through dynamic heating and Ar atmosphere control.
Biomedical material coating: Hydroxyapatite (HA) film is deposited on the surface of titanium alloy implants, and the biological activity of the film is increased by 40% through dynamic heating and wet chemical vapor deposition, promoting bone integration.