JPH06297198A - Hot press - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a hot press by which cycle time is shortened and production efficiency is improved. CONSTITUTION:The main body 24 is provided successively and linearly with three chambers of a preheating chamber A, hot press chamber B, and cooling chamber C, and the front and back of each chamber are partitioned by different kinds of doors. The preheating chamber A and the hot press chamber B are provided with heaters 25, 26 for heating molds M in the chambers. The hot press chamber B is also provided with the two shafts of an upper press ram 27 and a lower press ram 28 by which samples inside the molds M are pressurized. Further, a chain-push type conveyor device 32, 33 for transporting the molds M through the chambers are respectively provided in the preheating chamber A and the cooling chamber C.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot press machine used for pressure sintering of ceramics, powder metallurgy, diffusion bonding of various materials, etc., and more particularly to a three-chamber continuous hot press machine. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A multi-chamber continuous hot pressing apparatus is more widely used in recent years because it is more advantageous in production efficiency and energy efficiency than a single-chamber batch hot pressing apparatus. ing.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a conventional multi-chamber continuous hot pressing apparatus. This hot press machine has a main body 1
A three-chamber type in which a hot press chamber 2 is formed by a heat insulating material in the central part of the mold, a front chamber 3 is arranged in the front stage thereof, and a cooling chamber 4 is arranged in the rear stage thereof, and a mold 5 (cover It is configured such that the processed material) is transferred from the front chamber 3 to the hot press chamber 2 and the cooling chamber 4 and continuously treated.

The mold 5 has a cylindrical die 7 filled with a powdery sample 6 and an upper punch 8 and a lower punch 9 mounted on the upper and lower sides thereof, respectively.

The hot press chamber 2 is provided with an upper press ram 10 and a lower press ram 11 on the upper and lower sides thereof, respectively, and is provided with a heater 12 inside, and the mold 5 is placed on the upper end of the lower press ram 11. While heating the mold 5 by the heater 12, the press cylinder 13 is operated to push up the lower press ram 11 to support the bottom surface by a stopper (not shown), and the upper press ram 10 moves the upper punch 8 relative to the die 7. The sample 6 in the mold 5 is pressed down at high temperature.

The front chamber 3 is for accommodating the mold 5 before treatment, and the cooling chamber 4 is for cooling the mold 5 after treatment. A door 14 for opening and closing the insertion port is provided in the portion, an intermediate door 15 for opening and closing a passage leading to the hot press chamber 2 is provided in the rear portion, and a rear portion is provided in the cooling chamber 4 in the cooling chamber 4. A door 16 is provided for opening and closing the extraction port, and an intermediate door 17 for opening and closing a passage leading to the hot press chamber 2 is provided at the front part. The intermediate door 15 together with a door 18 provided at the front of the hot press chamber, and the intermediate door 17 together with a door 19 provided at the rear of the hot press chamber are upwardly moved by air cylinders 20 and 21, respectively. It is designed to be pulled up.

The hot press chamber 2, the antechamber 3, and the cooling chamber 4 can individually adjust the atmosphere such as the degree of vacuum and the temperature inside thereof, and the vacuum exhaust device and the atmosphere for that purpose can be adjusted. A gas supply device, a temperature control device and the like are provided.

Further, inside the front chamber 3 and the cooling chamber 4,
Each of the telescopic-type transfer devices 2 is extendable and retractable so that its tip can enter the hot press chamber 2.
2, 23 are provided, the unprocessed mold 5 is transferred from the antechamber 3 to the hot press chamber 2 by the transfer device 22 in the front chamber 3, and the processed mold 5 is transferred by the transfer device 23 in the cooling chamber 4. Are taken out from the hot press chamber 2 into the cooling chamber 4.

In the above conventional hot press machine, the front chamber 3
The mold 5 stored therein is transferred into the hot press chamber 2 by the transfer device 22, the intermediate door 15 and the door 18 are closed to adjust the inside of the hot press chamber 2 to a predetermined vacuum degree and temperature, and then there. Hot press processing,
After the processing is completed, the intermediate door 17 and the door 19 are opened and the mold 5 is transferred to the cooling chamber 4 by the transfer device 23.
Then, after cooling for a predetermined time, it is taken out from the extraction port. In addition, when transferring the mold 5 from the front chamber 3 to the hot press chamber 2, and when transferring the mold 5 from the hot press chamber 2 to the cooling chamber 4, both doors and intermediate doors are opened before opening or closing both chambers. To the same atmosphere.

Immediately after transferring the mold 5 from the front chamber 3 to the hot press chamber 2, the mold 5 to be processed next is immediately transferred.
Is stored in the front chamber 3, and when the mold 5 that has undergone the hot press treatment is transferred to the cooling chamber 4, the mold 5 in the front chamber 3 is immediately transferred to the hot press chamber 2 and continuously processed. The cycle time can be shortened and the productivity can be improved as compared with the case of processing by a batch method. For example, when the time required for hot pressing is 6 hours (including 3 hours as the temperature rising time prior to pressing) and the time required for cooling is 3 hours, the batch type has a cycle time of 9 hours. In the above-mentioned three-chamber continuous hot pressing apparatus, since cooling and hot pressing can be performed at the same time,
As shown in FIG. 10, the cycle time can be shortened to 6 hours.

[0011]

By the way, since the telescopic type transfer devices 22 and 23 in the conventional hot press device are expandable and contractible, the structure is complicated and not only the equipment cost is increased. However, maintenance is time-consuming, costly, and it is difficult to reduce the size. Therefore, the antechamber 3 and the cooling chamber 4 must be made larger than necessary in order to provide the transfer device. There is.

Further, in the above conventional hot pressing apparatus,
Since the mold 5 is heated from the low temperature state in the hot press chamber 2, a considerable temperature rising time (3 hours in the above example) is required as shown in FIG. Is shorter than the batch type, but is not always sufficiently satisfactory. Therefore, for the purpose of further shortening the cycle time, a preheating chamber is provided between the hot press chamber 2 and the front chamber 3 in the three-chamber type hot press device, and the mold 5 is transferred to the hot press chamber 2. It has been previously studied to shorten the temperature rising time in the hot press chamber 2 by preheating in the preheating chamber.

However, in that case, a transfer device for transferring the mold 5 from the preheating chamber to the hot press chamber 2 is required, and the telescopic transfer device as described above is heated to a high temperature like a preheating chamber. Since it is not possible to install it in the room in terms of heat resistance and durability, it is necessary to further provide a transfer chamber for installing the transfer device between the preheating chamber and the hot press chamber 2. For this reason, not only the entire hot press machine becomes large-scale, but also
Since the mold that has been preheated to a high temperature is passed through the low-temperature transfer chamber, the temperature of the mold may drop at that time, which may adversely affect the product quality.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hot press device capable of shortening the cycle time and improving the production efficiency.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the hot press apparatus of the present invention has three chambers, a preheating chamber, a main heating chamber and a cooling chamber, connected in series in the main body of the device. It is a three-chamber continuous hot press device that transfers the mold by a transfer device over a period of time and presses the sample filled in the mold at high temperature, and adopts a chain pusher type transfer device as the transfer device. It is characterized by what is done.

[0016]

The hot pressing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a preheating chamber for heating the mold and a main heating chamber, and the mold is transferred between the chambers by a chain pusher type conveying device. The pusher type transfer device has high reliability for transfer of a mold in a high temperature atmosphere and can be installed in this hot press device without any trouble.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The hot press apparatus of the present embodiment is a three-chamber type in which a preheating chamber A, a hot press chamber B (main heating chamber), and a cooling chamber C are linearly connected inside the apparatus main body 24. The front and rear of each chamber are partitioned by doors, and the mold M is processed in an independent atmosphere in which each chamber is sealed.

In each of the three chambers, a preheating chamber A is for preheating the mold M by a heater 25 installed therein, and a hot press chamber B is an upper press ram 27 while heating the mold M by a heater 26. The lower press ram 28 is used for pressing, and the cooling chamber C is for cooling the mold M that has been hot pressed.

The mold M is a combination of a cylindrical die in which a powdery sample is filled, and an upper punch 29 and a lower punch 30 mounted above and below the die, which are hot. Since the press device is provided with two pressing shafts, two molds M are placed on one tray 31 and are transported in the device by the transfer devices 32 and 33.

In this hot press machine, the mold M inserted into the preheating chamber A from the external loader 34 arranged outside the preheating chamber A through the charging door 35 is connected to the preheating chamber A and the cooling chamber C. A chain pusher type transfer device (details will be described later) 32 and 33 provided at the bottom are sequentially transferred forward between the chambers to perform hot press processing, and the processed mold M is cooled from the carry-out door 36. It is adapted to be taken out to the external unloader 37 arranged outside the chamber C.

The preheating chamber A and the hot press chamber B are
A heating chamber surrounded by heat insulating walls 38 and 39 is built in each closed container, and each heating chamber has a preheating chamber heater 25 and a hot chamber controlled to perform heating in a predetermined temperature pattern. Each press chamber heater 26 is provided. Further, the cooling chamber C has a water-cooled double wall structure in its wall portion, and the mold M inside the cooling chamber C is cooled by natural cooling.

The front part of the preheating chamber A, the rear part of the cooling chamber C,
Between the preheating chamber A and the hot press chamber B, and between the hot press chamber B and the cooling chamber C, the loading door 35 and the unloading door 3 are respectively provided.
6, an intermediate entrance door 40, and an intermediate exit door 41 are provided, and all of these doors are so-called airtight doors whose airtightness is maintained by an O-ring. Further, a preheating chamber inlet door 42, a preheating chamber outlet door 43, a hot pressing chamber inlet door 44, and a hot pressing chamber outlet door 45 are provided at the front and rear portions in the preheating chamber A and the hot pressing chamber B, respectively. The door is an adiabatic door that forms part of the heat insulating walls 38 and 39 of the heating chamber. All of these airtight doors and adiabatic doors are opened and closed by air cylinders 46, 46, ... Corresponding to the entry and exit of the mold M. Further, among these doors, the hot press room entrance door 44 and the hot press room exit door 45 are adapted to open and close in conjunction with the intermediate entrance door 40 and the intermediate exit door 41, respectively.

Above and below the hot press chamber B, an upper press ram 27 suspended from an upper press frame 47 and a lower part which is pushed up by a press cylinder 49 mounted upward with respect to a lower press frame 48. Two press rams 28 are provided respectively. Then, the two molds M placed on the tray 31 are transferred from the preheating chamber A to a fixed position in the hot press chamber B by the transfer device 32, and then moved down by the lower press ram 28 by operating the press cylinder 49. When the punch 30 is pushed up, the entire mold M is slightly lifted and is sandwiched between the upper punch 29 and the upper press ram 27, and the press cylinder 49 is further operated to push up the mold M. The upper punch 29 is pressed down relative to the die, thereby pressing the sample filled in the die. After the pressing is completed, the lower press ram 28 is lowered to lower the mold M onto the tray 31, and then the tray 31 is transferred from the hot press chamber B to the cooling chamber C.

Next, regarding the conveyance of the mold M, as described above, the tray 31 in which the two molds M are placed at the intervals corresponding to the two pressing axes is handled as one set. , The trays 31 are placed on the free rollers 50 provided in rows at the bottom of each chamber,
The chain pusher type conveying devices 32 and 33 installed in the preheating chamber A and the cooling chamber C are used for conveyance. Here, the transfer device 32 of the preheating chamber A is used for transfer from the preheating chamber A to the hot press chamber B, and the transfer device 33 of the cooling chamber C is used for transfer from the hot press chamber B to the cooling chamber C. ing. That is, in this hot press machine, the transfer path of the mold M extends substantially straight in the horizontal direction.

The chain pusher type conveying devices 32, 3
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, 3 has a dog plate 52 connected to the tip of the link chain 51, a pusher tilting 53 rotatably connected to the tip of the dog plate 52, and a link chain. Side rollers 54 are attached to the side surfaces of 51 and the dog plate 52, and a sprocket (not shown) is rotated by a geared motor (not shown) to reciprocate the link chain 51 along the chain guide 58. It is the one.

Next, a method of loading and unloading the mold M into and from the hot press chamber B will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 7. First, when loading the tray 31 on which the mold M is placed into the preheating chamber A, the loading door 35 of the preheating chamber A is opened, and the tray 31 is placed in front of the preheating chamber A (D) via the external loader 34. Push it in position. Therefore, the pusher tilting 53 of the transfer device 32 of the preheating chamber A is hooked on the opening 31 a of the tray 31 to cause the preheating chamber entrance door 42 of the preheating chamber A to be hooked.
Is opened and the tray 31 is pushed into the preheating chamber A through the loader 32 inside the preheating chamber to a fixed position (E). Next, the dog plate 52 is returned to the position (D) in front of the preheating chamber A.

After the completion of the preheat treatment, the preheat chamber inlet door 42 and the preheat chamber outlet door 43 of the preheat chamber A are opened, the pusher tilting 53 is applied to the end surface of the tray 31, and the intermediate inlet door 40 and the hot inlet door 40 are hot. After opening the press chamber entrance door 44 and raising the elevating rail 56 to the same height as the roller guides 57 of the preheating chamber A and the hot pressing chamber B, the tray 31 is fixed by the dog plate 52 in the hot pressing chamber B. Push in to position (F). Next, the dog plate 52 is returned to the position (D) in front of the preheating chamber A.

Next, when the mold M that has undergone the hot press processing is carried out to the cooling chamber C, the intermediate exit door 41
Also, the hot press chamber exit door 45 is opened, and the dog plate 52 of the transport device 33 in the cooling chamber C is placed in the hot press chamber B.
Introduce to. Therefore, the pusher tilting 53 is hooked on the opening 31a of the tray 31 to open the tray 31 (G).
Is pulled out to the position (H) outside the hot press chamber B, the dog plate 52 is further advanced toward the hot press chamber B, and the tray 31 is moved to the position (I).
The tray 31 is carried out to the position of the fixed position (J) of the cooling chamber C while the pusher tilting 53 is applied to the end surface of the tray 31. Then, the carry-out door 36 is opened, and the tray 31 is pulled out to the outside of the cooling chamber C by the duck bar (not shown) of the external unloader 37.

In the hot press apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, after the mold M is charged into the preheating chamber A and preheated, it is transferred to the hot pressing chamber B for hot pressing, and then transferred to the cooling chamber C. A series of steps of carrying out after cooling is continuously performed. Particularly, by performing preheating in a preheating chamber A provided before the hot press chamber B, the conventional method shown in FIG. In the three-chamber type device, the heating time in the hot press chamber is replaced with the preheating time in the preheating chamber, and therefore the cycle time can be further shortened.

For example, as described above, when the temperature rising time (preheating time) is 3 hours, the time required for hot pressing is 3 hours, and the cooling time is 3 hours, the mold M is placed in each chamber for 3 hours. In this case, the cycle time can be halved from the conventional 6 hours to 3 hours as shown in FIG. 8, and the production efficiency is markedly higher than that of the conventional three-chamber hot press machine. Can be improved.

Then, as described above, the hot press room B
Providing the preheating chamber A in the preceding stage is a chain pusher type transfer device 3 as a transfer device for transferring the mold M.
This is made possible by adopting 2, 33. That is, when a conventional telescopic transfer device is used, it is impossible to install the transfer device in the preheating chamber in terms of heat resistance and durability. It is necessary to separately provide a transfer chamber, but this causes an increase in the size of the entire apparatus and lowers the product temperature during transfer, which is not preferable and not realistic. On the other hand, by adopting the chain pusher type transfer devices 32 and 33, such a problem does not occur at all, and the hot press device having the above-described configuration can be easily realized.

According to the structure of the chain pusher type conveying devices 32 and 33 adopted in this embodiment, the link chain 51 and the dog plate 52, which are movable parts, are molded by the mold M.
Since it only passes through the high-temperature atmosphere of the preheating chamber A or the hot press chamber B for a very short time at the time of transferring, the movable parts of the transfer devices 32 and 33 are not significantly damaged by heat, and thus there is a possibility of failure. Less and more reliable.

Then, as described above, the transport devices 32, 3
Since the movable part of 3 does not receive a large amount of heat, heat loss is reduced, and since the preheating chamber A and the hot press chamber B are separated by only two doors and are adjacently arranged, Since M does not pass through the low temperature atmosphere while being transferred from the preheating chamber A to the hot press chamber B, the temperature drop can be reduced.

The pressing system of this hot pressing apparatus is a so-called lower pressing system in which the lower press ram 28 is pushed up by the press cylinder 49. Since the mold M is pressed in the lifted state, the lower press ram 28 and the upper press ram 27 are pressed. It is possible to obtain a pressing effect by both of them, and an effect of uniformly distributing the pressing force over the entire mold M can be obtained.

In the hot pressing apparatus of this embodiment, in addition to the preheating chamber A being provided, two pressing shafts for the mold M are provided in the hot pressing chamber B, so that the hot pressing device B is different from the case of a single shaft. Although the production efficiency is doubled, more pressing shafts may be installed, which has the effect of further improving the production efficiency. Further, when it is necessary to perform preliminary pressing or cold pressing, a pressing shaft may be provided in the preheating chamber A or the cooling chamber C. Furthermore, in this embodiment,
The lower press ram 28 is configured to be pushed up by the press cylinder 49, that is, so-called lower push is performed. In addition to that, the upper press ram is configured to be pushed down by the press cylinder to perform the upper push by the upper press ram or the lower press ram and the upper press ram. It is also possible to perform both pushes by both.

Further, in this embodiment, the cooling chamber is cooled by the natural cooling method, but instead of this, a forced convection cooling method may be adopted by providing a fan. Further, regarding the doors at the front and rear of the hot press room B, the airtight door and the adiabatic door are configured to be opened and closed by interlocking with each other. It can also be configured as follows.

[0037]

As described above in detail, the hot press machine of the present invention adopts the chain pusher type conveyor as a conveyor for conveying the mold, and thus the conventional general telescopic type conveyor is realized. It is possible to obtain the effect that the heat resistance and the durability can be easily ensured as compared with. Therefore, by adopting such a transfer device, this transfer device can be provided in the preheating chamber, and the mold preheated in the preheating chamber can be transferred to the hot press chamber without interruption,
Cycle time can be shortened and production efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment of a hot pressing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a preheating chamber portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a hot press chamber portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a cooling chamber portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a tip end portion of the chain pusher type conveying device in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the same.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation procedure of the chain pusher type transport device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a processing step of the hot press device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front sectional view showing an example of a conventional hot pressing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining processing steps of a conventional hot press device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Preheating chamber B Hot press chamber (main heating chamber) C Cooling chamber M Mold 24 Machine body 32, 33 Chain pusher type transport device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A preheating chamber, a main heating chamber, and a cooling chamber are continuously provided in the main body of the apparatus, and a mold is transferred between these chambers by a transfer device to press a sample filled in the mold at a high temperature. A three-chamber continuous hot press device configured as described above, wherein a chain pusher type transfer device is adopted as the transfer device.