Continuous sintering furnace and use thereof

摘要

A continuous sintering furnace has an entrance-side deaerating chamber (23) through which trays (22) carrying a material (1) to be sintered may pass, preheating, heating and cooling zones (37, 38 and 39) into which the trays (22) are sequentially fed from the deaerating chamber (23), an exit-side deaerating chamber (26) through which the trays (22) having passed through the cooling zone (39) may pass, a pusher (35) for pushing the trays (22) from the deaerating chamber (23) to the preheating zone (37), a puller (36) for pulling the trays (22) from the cooling zone (39) to the deaerating chamber (26), an intermediate puller (43) for pulling the trays (22) from the heating zone (38) to the cooling zone (39), a vertically movable door (28) between the deaerating chamber (23) and the preheating zone (37), a vertically movable intermediate door (41) adjacent to the door (28) and arranged at the upstream end of the preheating zone (37) in the direction of movement of the trays (22), a vertically movable intermediate door (42) between the heating and cooling zones (38) and (39) and a vertically movable door (29) between the cooling zone (39) and the deaerating chamber (26). When the door (42) is in its closed position, heat flow to the cooling zone (39) is suppressed. Movement of the trays (22) in the cooling zone (39) is effected by the intermediate puller (43), thereby decreasing the number of trays (22) to be moved by the pusher (35).