A sintering tool for cylindrical target material and sintering method thereof

Abstract

The present invention discloses a sintering tool and a sintering method for a cylindrical target material, wherein the sintering tool comprises a sleeve and a sintering mechanism, the sleeve comprises a conical cavity and a cylindrical cavity coaxially connected to the conical cavity; the sintering mechanism comprises a supporting cylinder and a conical cylinder coaxially connected to the supporting cylinder, after the sleeve is placed in the sintering mechanism, the conical cylinder is in contact with and connected to the conical cavity, wherein the length of the supporting cylinder is greater than the length of the cylindrical cavity, and the inner diameter is greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity. The present invention fixes the sleeve in an upright state in the sintering mechanism by placing the sleeve in the sintering mechanism, the conical cylinder is in contact with and connected to the conical cavity; and then by making the bottom of the sleeve suspended in the supporting cylinder, the sleeve is allowed to shrink freely under the action of temperature and pressure without the hindrance of friction resistance, thereby reducing the bending deformation of the target material and improving the product qualification rate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of powder metallurgy sintering, and in particular relates to a sintering tool for a cylindrical target material and a sintering method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Most of the sputtering targets currently used are circular or rectangular planar targets, but the planar target utilization rate is low, only 30%-40%. Therefore, in order to improve the sputtering efficiency, more and more cylindrical targets are used, but the manufacture of cylindrical targets is more difficult than that of planar targets.

[0003] Since most cylindrical targets are relatively long, deformation along the length is particularly considered to be a problem that affects product quality. If the cylindrical target is deformed in length, it will come into contact with the magnet inserted into the cylindrical target, causing the magnet and the inner wall of the target to rub against each other, resulting in damage to the magnet. Therefore, deformation of the length of the cylindrical target during the manufacturing process will cause the target to be unqualified, becoming an important factor restricting the low material qualification rate. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of the above prior art, the present invention provides a sintering tool for a cylindrical target material and a sintering method thereof, which reduces the bending deformation of the target material and improves the product qualification rate by allowing the cylindrical target material to shrink freely without resistance during the sintering process.

[0005] A first aspect of the present invention provides a sintering tool for a cylindrical target material, comprising:

[0006] The sleeve comprises a conical cavity and a cylindrical cavity coaxially connected to the conical cavity;

[0007] The sintering mechanism comprises a supporting cylinder and a conical cylinder coaxially connected to the supporting cylinder. After the sleeve is placed in the sintering mechanism, the conical cylinder is in contact and connected with the conical cavity, wherein the length of the supporting cylinder is greater than the length of the cylindrical cavity, and the inner diameter is greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity.

[0008] Furthermore, the size of the conical tube gradually increases from the inside to the outside, and the cone angle of the conical tube is smaller than the cone angle of the conical cavity, and the height of the conical tube is greater than the height of the conical cavity.

[0009] Furthermore, the diameter of the connection between the conical cylinder and the supporting cylinder is the same as the diameter of the supporting cylinder.

[0010] Furthermore, a plurality of heat transfer holes are distributed on the supporting cylinder.

[0011] Furthermore, the supporting cylinder and the conical cylinder are both made of alumina or zirconia refractory bricks.

[0012] Furthermore, the conical cavity and the cylindrical cavity on the sheath are surrounded by an inner sheath and an outer sheath, wherein the inner sheath is made of a stainless steel seamless pipe, and the outer sheath is made of a low-carbon steel pipe.

[0013] Furthermore, the wall thickness of the outer sleeve is smaller than the wall thickness of the inner sleeve.

[0014] Furthermore, a degassing nozzle is provided at the top of the conical cavity.

[0015] A second aspect of the present invention provides a sintering method for a cylindrical target material, comprising:

[0016] The powder to be sintered is placed in a sleeve in a sintering tool for a cylindrical target as described above;

[0017] placing the bag in a degassing furnace for degassing;

[0018] placing the sheath into the sintering mechanism so that the sheath remains upright;

[0019] The sintering tool is placed in a hot isostatic pressing furnace for sintering to obtain a cylindrical target material.

[0020] Furthermore, the powder to be sintered is loaded into the package by a vibration table powder loading method.

[0021] The present invention provides a sintering tool and a sintering method for a cylindrical target material. The supporting cylinder and the conical cylinder are coaxially connected. After the sleeve is placed in the sintering mechanism, the conical cylinder is contacted and connected with the conical cavity, so that the conical cavity is fixed in the conical cylinder, and the sleeve is fixed in the sintering mechanism in an upright state. Then, the length of the supporting cylinder is greater than the length of the cylindrical cavity, and the inner diameter is greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity. The sleeve, which is in a state of slow contraction under the action of temperature and pressure, moves along the inner wall of the sintering mechanism while the bottom of the sleeve is suspended in the supporting cylinder. Therefore, the sleeve can be freely contracted under the action of temperature and pressure without being hindered by friction resistance, thereby reducing the bending deformation of the target material and improving the product qualification rate.

[0022] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in the following description, and partly become apparent from the description, or understood by practicing the present invention. The purpose and other advantages of the present invention can be realized and obtained by the structures particularly pointed out in the written description, claims, and drawings.

[0023] The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail below through the accompanying drawings and embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present invention, they are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute a limitation of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:

[0025] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a sintering tool for a cylindrical target provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 A schematic structural diagram of a sintering mechanism 2 provided for an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of a package 1 provided for an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 A schematic flow chart of a sintering method for a cylindrical target material provided in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] In the figure:

[0030] 1- sleeve, 101- conical cavity, 102- cylindrical cavity, 103- inner sleeve, 104- outer sleeve, 105- degassing nozzle;

[0031] 2-sintering mechanism, 201-support cylinder, 202-conical cylinder, 203-heat transfer hole;

[0032] 3- Powder. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0034] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0035] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0036] The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0037] In order to solve the technical problem in the prior art that deformation of a prepared cylindrical target material along the length direction cannot be avoided, the present invention provides a sintering tool and a sintering method for a cylindrical target material.

[0038] The first aspect of the present invention provides a sintering tool for a cylindrical target material, see Figures 1 to 3 The sintering tooling includes a sleeve 1 and a sintering mechanism 2. The sleeve 1 includes a conical cavity 101 and a cylindrical cavity 102 coaxially connected to the conical cavity 101; the sintering mechanism 2 includes a supporting cylinder 201 and a conical cylinder 202 coaxially connected to the supporting cylinder 201. After the sleeve 1 is placed in the sintering mechanism 2, the conical cylinder 202 is in contact with and connected to the conical cavity 101, wherein the length of the supporting cylinder 201 is greater than the length of the cylindrical cavity 102, and the inner diameter of the supporting cylinder 201 is greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity 102, wherein the size of the conical cavity 101 gradually increases from the inside to the outside, and the bottom of the conical cavity 101 has the same shape as the connecting surface of the cylindrical cavity 102.

[0039] The supporting cylinder 201 and the conical cylinder 202 are coaxially connected, and after the sleeve 1 is placed in the sintering mechanism 2, the conical cylinder 202 is in contact with the conical cavity 101, so that the conical cavity 101 is fixed in the conical cylinder 202, and the sleeve 1 is fixed in the sintering mechanism 2 in an upright state; and the supporting cylinder 201 is longer than the length of the cylindrical cavity 102, and the inner diameter is larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity 102, so that the sleeve 1, which is in a state of slow contraction under the action of temperature and pressure, moves along the inner wall of the sintering mechanism 2, and the bottom of the sleeve 1 is suspended in the supporting cylinder 201, so that the sleeve 1 can freely contract under the action of temperature and pressure without the hindrance of friction resistance, thereby reducing the bending deformation of the target material and improving the product qualification rate.

[0040] As a preferred embodiment, the size of the conical cylinder 202 gradually increases from the inside to the outside, and the cone angle of the conical cylinder 202 is smaller than the cone angle of the conical cavity 101, and the height of the conical cylinder 202 is greater than the height of the conical cavity 101. In this embodiment, by preferably making the conical cylinder 202 preferably a conical cylinder 202 whose size gradually increases from the inside to the outside, and making the cone angle of the conical cylinder 202 smaller than the cone angle of the conical cavity 101, the target material located in the conical cavity 101 of the sheath 1 can be sintered, and the sheath 1 whose size changes with the shrinkage of the target material can always be connected to the conical cylinder 202 on the sintering mechanism 2, so as to prevent the deformed sheath 1 from falling in the sintering mechanism 2; at the same time, by making the height of the conical cylinder 202 greater than the height of the conical cavity 101, the conical cavity 101 whose size changes with the shrinkage of the target material can always be located in the conical cylinder 202.

[0041] As a preferred embodiment, the diameter of the connection between the conical cylinder 202 and the support cylinder 201 is the same as the diameter of the support cylinder 201. In this embodiment, since the diameter of the support cylinder 201 is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical cavity 102 of the sheath 1 before sintering, by making the diameter of the support cylinder 201 and the diameter of the connection between the bottom of the conical cylinder 202 and the support cylinder 201 the same, it is possible to prevent the sheath 1 from contacting the connection between the conical cylinder 202 and the support cylinder 201 during sintering.

[0042] As a preferred embodiment, a plurality of heat transfer holes 203 are distributed on the support cylinder 201. In this embodiment, by providing uniform heat transfer holes 203 in the height direction of the support cylinder 201, it is possible to ensure that the heat and pressure in the sintering furnace are transferred to the sintered target material in a timely manner, thereby avoiding the situation where the target material is insufficiently contracted due to heat transfer.

[0043] As a preferred embodiment, the supporting cylinder 201 and the conical cylinder 202 are both made of alumina or zirconia refractory bricks.

[0044] As a preferred embodiment, the conical cavity 101 and the cylindrical cavity 102 on the sheath 1 are surrounded by an inner sheath 103 and an outer sheath 104, wherein the inner sheath 103 is made of a stainless steel seamless pipe, and the outer sheath 104 is made of a low-carbon steel pipe. In this embodiment, the inner sheath 103 and the outer sheath 104 are fixedly connected by welding.

[0045] As a preferred embodiment, the wall thickness of the outer sheath 104 is smaller than the wall thickness of the inner sheath 103. In this embodiment, the wall thickness of the inner sheath 103 is 4 mm, and the wall thickness of the outer sheath 104 is 2 mm.

[0046] As a preferred embodiment, a degassing nozzle 105 is provided at the top of the conical cavity 101 .

[0047] The second aspect of the present invention provides a sintering method for a cylindrical target material, see Figure 4 , including the following steps:

[0048] S100, loading the powder to be sintered into the sleeve 1 in the sintering tool for the cylindrical target as described above;

[0049] S200, placing the package 1 in a degassing furnace for degassing, the degassing temperature is 300-500°C, and the degassing time is 4h-10h;

[0050] S300, placing the package 1 into the sintering mechanism 2, so that the package 1 remains upright, and the bottom of the package 1 remains suspended under the support of the sintering mechanism 2;

[0051] S400, placing the sintering tool into a hot isostatic pressing furnace for sintering, with a holding temperature of 1000-1300°C, a holding time of 2-5h, and a holding pressure of 120-150MPa, to obtain a cylindrical target.

[0052] As a preferred embodiment, the powder to be sintered is loaded into the package 1 by a vibration table powder loading method.

[0053] The following uses a cylindrical chromium target as an example to illustrate the entire product realization process, and further explains how to use the sintering tooling.

[0054] Example 1

[0055] A sintering method for a cylindrical target material comprises the following steps:

[0056] (1) Making the sheath 1: The inner sheath 103 is made of a stainless steel seamless pipe with a wall thickness of 4 mm, and the outer sheath 104 is made of a low-carbon steel pipe with a wall thickness of 2 mm. Figure 2 Welding of structures;

[0057] (2) Powder loading: The powder to be sintered is loaded into the welded package 1 by using a vibrating table powder loading method;

[0058] (3) Degassing: The powder-filled package 1 is placed in a degassing furnace for degassing. The degassing temperature is 300-500° C. and the degassing time varies from 4 h to 10 h depending on the amount of powder loaded.

[0059] (4) Sintering mechanism 2: The sintering mechanism 2 is made of alumina refractory bricks with a wall thickness of 30 mm. The upper part is a conical cylinder 202, and the lower part is a straight cylinder. 50 mm circular holes are distributed on the circumference to facilitate the heat and gas in the sintering furnace to enter the sintering mechanism 2;

[0060] (5) Assembly: According to Figure 3The package 1 is transferred into the sintering tooling to ensure the verticality of the package 1 and the bottom of the package 1 is kept suspended under the support of the sintering mechanism 2;

[0061] (6) Sintering: Place the tooling into a hot isostatic pressing furnace with a holding temperature of 1000-1300°C, a time of 2-5 hours, and a pressure of 120-150 MPa to obtain a cylindrical target.

[0062] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A sintering tool for a cylindrical target, characterized in that: include: The sleeve (1) comprises a conical cavity (101) and a cylindrical cavity (102) coaxially connected to the conical cavity (101); A sintering mechanism (2) comprising a supporting cylinder (201) and a conical cylinder (202) coaxially connected to the supporting cylinder (201); after the sleeve (1) is placed in the sintering mechanism (2), the conical cylinder (202) is in contact and connected with the conical cavity (101); The length of the supporting cylinder (201) is greater than the length of the cylindrical cavity (102), and the inner diameter is greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical cavity (102); the size of the conical cylinder (202) gradually increases from the inside to the outside, and the cone angle of the conical cylinder (202) is smaller than the cone angle of the conical cavity (101); the height of the conical cylinder (202) is greater than the height of the conical cavity (101); The conical cavity (101) and the cylindrical cavity (102) on the sheath (1) are surrounded by an inner sheath (103) and an outer sheath (104), and the wall thickness of the outer sheath (104) is smaller than the wall thickness of the inner sheath (103).

2. The sintering tool for cylindrical target material according to claim 1, characterized in that: The diameter of the connection between the conical cylinder (202) and the supporting cylinder (201) is the same as the diameter of the supporting cylinder (201).

3. The sintering tool for cylindrical target material according to claim 1, characterized in that: A plurality of heat transfer holes (203) are distributed on the supporting cylinder (201).

4. The sintering tool for cylindrical target material according to claim 1, characterized in that: The supporting cylinder (201) and the conical cylinder (202) are both made of alumina or zirconia refractory bricks.

5. The sintering tool for cylindrical target material according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner casing (103) is made of a stainless steel seamless pipe, and the outer casing (104) is made of a low-carbon steel pipe.

6. The sintering tool for cylindrical target material according to claim 1, characterized in that: A degassing nozzle (105) is provided at the top of the conical cavity (101).

7. A sintering method for a cylindrical target, characterized in that: include: The powder to be sintered is placed in a sleeve in a sintering tool for a cylindrical target as described in any one of claims 1 to 6; placing the bag in a degassing furnace for degassing; placing the sheath into the sintering mechanism so that the sheath remains upright; The sintering tool is placed in a hot isostatic pressing furnace for sintering to obtain a cylindrical target material.

8. A sintering method for a cylindrical target according to claim 7, characterized in that: The powder to be sintered is loaded into the package by a vibration table powder loading method.

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