The term of Sintered refers to a wide range of products in which the ceramic bonding is generally obtained by firing at high temperature.
Occasionally a few products have only an hydraulic bonding and therefore the ceramic bonding is obtained in situ at working temperature.
Saint-Gobain SEFPRO provides high quality level sintered products specifically dedicated to the construction and equipment of glass furnaces. Several manufacturing processes are currently used :
- mechanical press process for the production of standard shapes in large quantities
- vibrocasting process, particularly well adapted for the production of special shapes and large pieces
- slip cast process, mainly utilized for the production of expendables for glass manufacturing
- isopress process, well adapted for the production of high value special shapes for dedicated applications.
The feasibility of pieces made out of sintered materials is a complex issue which depends on the interaction between several parameters, such as the type of material, the type of manufacturing process, the complexity of the shape, the dimensions of the pieces and the number of pieces to be made. Thanks to their in-depth understanding of the manufacturing process, Saint-Gobain SEFPRO teams can assist the glassmakers in specifying the form and the size of the pieces in order to optimise furnace construction.
When developing sintered products for glass Industry, Saint-Gobain SEFPRO takes always into account the quality requirements for final applications, such as
- glass contact properties for channel blocks and expendables,
- creep under load an vapour attacks for superstructures.
