Patent ID: 11913724
Assignee: MARKFORGED, INC.
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC F  B  C  Y | IPC B  C  F

Claim 0:
1. A furnace for debinding and sintering additively manufactured parts, comprising:
a tubular retort having at least one open side;
a heater, outside of the tubular retort, for heating a sintering volume within the tubular retort to a debinding temperature and to a sintering temperature;
an end cap sealing the at least one open side;
a forming gas line penetrating the end cap for supplying forming gas at a flowrate; and
a heat exchanger within the tubular retort, outside the sintering volume, and adjacent a wall of the tubular retort that is constructed and arranged to be heated by the heater, the heat exchanger having an inlet connected to the forming gas line and an outlet to the sintering volume, wherein the heat exchanger includes a tube length sufficient to heat the forming gas to within 20 degrees Celsius of the sintering temperature before the forming gas exits the outlet,
wherein at least a portion of the heat exchanger is disposed between the heater and a sidewall of the retort.