Can industrial multi temperature zone rotary furnaces sinter powders?

The industrial multi temperature zone rotary furnace can be fully used for sintering powder materials. Its dynamic heating, multi temperature zone independent temperature control, and atmosphere regulation technology make it an ideal equipment in the field of powder sintering, especially suitable for process scenarios that require uniform heating, atmosphere protection, or complex temperature curves. The following is a specific analysis:

1. The core requirements of powder sintering and the adaptability of rotary furnaces
Temperature uniformity requirements
Powder sintering should avoid local overheating or undercooking, otherwise it may lead to abnormal grain growth or insufficient bonding. The rotary furnace can achieve temperature field uniformity within ± 5 ℃ through dynamic rotation (continuous rolling of materials) and segmented temperature control, which is much better than the ± 10 ℃ deviation of static furnaces (such as box furnaces).
Atmosphere control requirements
Many powder materials, such as metals and ceramics, require inert gas (N ₂, Ar) protection during sintering to prevent oxidation, or reducing gas (H ₂) to reduce impurities. The rotary furnace can be equipped with multiple gas pipelines to achieve zone atmosphere control, such as introducing H ₂ reduced iron oxide powder into the front section and switching to N ₂ in the back section to prevent re oxidation.
Continuous production demand
Powder sintering often requires large-scale production, and the continuous feed discharge design of rotary furnaces (such as spiral propulsion or gravity feeding) can achieve 24-hour uninterrupted production, far exceeding the batch capacity of intermittent furnaces.

2. Typical Powder Material Sintering Applications
a. Metal powder sintering
Hard alloy (WC Co)
After mixing cobalt powder with tungsten carbide powder, sintering is carried out at 1400-1450 ℃ in an H ₂ reducing atmosphere. The rotary furnace uniformly infiltrates tungsten carbide particles with cobalt solution through dynamic heating, forming a dense structure with a hardness of HRA92 and higher bending strength.
Stainless steel powder (316L)
Sintering at 1250-1300 ℃ in a N ₂ protective atmosphere, the rotating motion of the rotary furnace promotes diffusion and bonding between powder particles, resulting in high density and reduced corrosion rate compared to castings.
b. Ceramic powder sintering
Aluminum oxide ceramics (Al ₂ O3)
Sintering is carried out at 1600-1700 ℃ in an air atmosphere, and the rotary furnace achieves uniform grain growth, high bending strength, and stable dielectric constant through multi temperature zone temperature control (such as a heating section of 1200 ℃/h and a constant temperature section of 1650 ℃± 5 ℃).
Silicon nitride ceramics (Si ∝ N ₄)
It needs to be sintered at 1700-1800 ℃ in a N ₂ atmosphere. The dynamic heating of the rotary furnace can eliminate powder agglomeration and form β – Si ∝ N ₄ columnar crystals with a fracture toughness of 6.5MPa · m ¹/², suitable for high-strength components such as bearing balls.
c. Sintering of battery material powder
Three element positive electrode material (NCM811)
Sintering is carried out at 800-900 ℃ in an O ₂ atmosphere, and the rotary furnace achieves ordered growth of layered structures through temperature control in 12 temperature zones (such as pre sintering section at 400 ℃ and constant temperature section at 850 ℃± 3 ℃), resulting in higher initial efficiency and a cycle life of over 2000 times.
Silicon carbon negative electrode powder
Sintering at 1000-1100 ℃ in Ar atmosphere, the rotating motion of the rotary furnace promotes uniform bonding between silicon particles and carbon matrix, alleviates volume expansion, and achieves high initial efficiency. After 100 cycles, the capacity retention rate is even higher.

3. Technical advantages support powder sintering
Dynamic heating uniformity
The materials continue to roll inside the furnace, eliminating the “dead corners” problem of static furnaces and ensuring that all powder particles are heated uniformly. For example, in the sintering of alumina ceramics, dynamic heating can reduce the standard deviation of grain size.
Flexible regulation in multiple temperature zones
Different temperature zones (such as preheating section, reaction section, cooling section) can be set according to the characteristics of the powder to achieve complex temperature curves. For example, in the sintering of hard alloys, the first stage is degreased at low temperature (800 ℃), the middle stage is sintered at high temperature (1400 ℃), and the second stage is rapidly cooled (≤ 50 ℃/min) to prevent grain growth.
Atmosphere zoning control
Support the zoning design of reducing atmosphere in the front section, inert atmosphere in the middle section, and cooling atmosphere in the back section to meet the full process requirements of powder sintering. For example, in stainless steel powder sintering, the front section is reduced with iron oxide by H ₂, the middle section is cut with N ₂ to prevent decarburization, and the rear section is naturally cooled.
Continuous operation and scalability
Single line production capacity is higher and product consistency is high, suitable for high-end fields such as battery materials and 3D printing metal powder.