MIM Furnaces

For the demanding environments required for metal injection molded products, AVS MIM vacuum debind and sinter furnaces offer precise gas distribution and flow controls combined with reliable pressure and partial pressure in argon, nitrogen or hydrogen atmospheres. AVS MIM furnaces are available with single or multiple zones of heat control to satisfy precise customer temperature uniformity requirements. Graphite heaters and insulation can meet the basic needs of general-use MIM parts at lower cost. For sensitive medical products and specialty MIM materials, AVS also builds refractory metal hot zones using molybdenum or tungsten elements, heat shields and retorts.

AVS offers several binder removal methods to address a wide range of binders. The combination of solid retort designs and differential pressure controls effectively isolate and remove binders from the product without contaminating the hot zone. Burn-off or incinerator systems eliminate binder vapors; cold traps or two stage condenser systems are available to capture heavier wax or binder loads and to protect vacuum pumps.
AVS designs and fabricates MIM retorts with shelf hangers and gas ports positioned precisely in the retort walls along the edge of each shelf to promote optimal gas flow over the customer’s product. Specially constructed with internal vacuum and gas ducting, AVS metal MIM retorts make efficient use of the available space inside the furnace vessel. Graphite MIM retorts assure similar uniformity of gas flow by relying on AVS advanced differential pressure gas control technologies.

AVS MIM furnaces promote efficiency by enabling the customer to combine binder removal and sintering processes in a single piece of equipment. The AVS ACE™ Data Acquisition Control System constantly controls, monitors, charts and records all MIM temperatures, vacuum or pressure levels, gas flows and gas types for customer confidence that the MIM process is under control. ACE™ provides the ability to review all system or run data from the day before or from years before, even allowing an operator the ability to directly compare a live data chart with any data chart from the memory of the system.