Process Recommendations to Help Prevent Extreme Muffle Corrosion

Recently, Alloy Engineering was called by a powder metal parts manufacturer to see if we could help extend their current muffle life.  The customer explained that they were getting less than one year life from their existing sintering furnace muffles, and the failure mode of the muffle was extreme corrosion of the alloy muffle.  We set up a site visit and offered to help.

Our on-site investigation revealed that the customer operated their furnaces at 2100°F, but had not implemented a formal furnace heat-up procedure.  The customer was also shutting down the furnace on weekends to save energy.  We asked about the type of parts being sintered in the furnace, and what binders were being used in the metal powder. 

The solutions offered by Alloy Engineering included not just a new muffle, but also process recommendations to prevent the extreme muffle corrosion in the sintering furnace. 

See how a new muffle coupled with best practice processes resulted in 2-3x more service life. https://www.alloyengineering.com/blog/prevent-extreme-muffle-corrosion/