Salient Characteristics.doc

Salient Characteristics

Commercial Availability Certification:

I have evaluated the commercial marketplace and determined that all of the salient characteristics documented below are available in products/services offered in the commercial marketplace.

Signature (typed name): Tucker Moore Technical Point of Contact (TPOC)

The Hybrid Heating Spark Plasma Sintering Furnace will be used for sintering a variety of ceramics, metals, and composites. This system will enable maximum flexibility in sintering techniques, allowing samples to be processed via spark plasma sintering, hot pressing, hybrid spark plasma sintering, pressure less sintering, flash sintering, and pressure assisted flash sintering. Below are the minimum government specifications for the Hybrid Heating Spark Plasma Sintering Furnace:

Spark Plasma Sintering

· The spark plasma sintering furnace shall be capable of sustainably reaching 2300°C operating temperature with 2500°C or higher maximum temperature.

· Hydraulic/pneumatic press shall reach a maximum compressive force of 100 kilonewton(kN) or higher

· Maximum output power shall be 40 Kilowatt (kW) or higher

· Maximum heating rate shall be 300°C/min or higher

· Maximum reach between the pressing rams shall be 200 Millimeter (mm) or higher

· Pulsed direct current (DC) shall have a minimum pulse length of 1 millisecond (ms) or lower

· Temperature measurement from room temperature to maximum operating temperature by optical pyrometer(s) or a combination of retractable thermocouple and optical pyrometer

· Shall be capable of operating in high voltage “flash sintering” mode at voltages of 180 Volt (V) or higher, with maximum power of 5kW or higher Secondary Heating

· Secondary heating option using either graphite resistive elements or induction coils, shall be capable of reaching 2200°C or higher independent of spark plasma sintering heating

· Maximum secondary heating power output shall be 27kW or higher

· Secondary heating shall be able to be used independent of or in conjunction with the spark plasma sintering system using either low or high voltage modes

Atmosphere Systems

· Shall be capable of reaching vacuum pressures of 5 x 10-5 torr or better by use of a turbomolecular pump in conjunction with a mechanical roughing pump.

· Leakage rate shall be < 1 x 10-4 mbar x l/s

· Shall be capable of operating in low vacuum conditions by use of roughing pump without engaging turbomolecular pump

· Shall be capable of operating in flowing inert gas (Ar, N2) with flow rates controllable by mass flow controllers in the range of 0-5 LPM or greater.

Instrumentation

· Shall be fully automated control with instrumented data capture of temperature, power, pressing force, ram displacement, vacuum pressure, etc.; multiple programmable operations via Personal Computer (PC) or Programmable Logic Controller (PLC); no 3rd party license fees for software, firmware, or hardware.

· All operational and captured data shall be recordable at full sensor fidelity into non-proprietary open-source data formats (Comma Separated Values (CSV), JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), etc.), including sensor metadata.

· Shall have all primary furnace functions sensorized with continuous data logging controlled by the centralized PLC including the following areas:

· Voltage

· Amperage

· Setpoints

· Power

· Temperature

· Ram force

· Ram displacement

· Vacuum Pressure

· Gas flow

Power and Cooling

· Unit shall operate via 480V, 3 phase, 60 hertz (Hz) facility power.

· Shall contain stainless-steel water-cooled jacket construction.

· Assembled unit shall comply with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) code of the United States (US): FCC Radio Frequency Devices Regulations, 47 CFR Part 15 (or internationally recognized equivalent).

Graphite tooling

· Shall include graphite dies and punches suitable for pressing 25mm disks at pressures up to 150 Megapascal (MPa)

· 100 each graphite dies

· 200 each graphite punches

· 25 each graphite spacers

· Shall include graphite dies and punches suitable for pressing 38mm disks at pressures up to 150 MPa

· 100 each graphite dies

· 200 each graphite punches

· 25 each graphite spacers

Spare Parts

· Shall come with two (2) sets each of all wear parts and consumables, including but not limited to:

· Secondary heating element

· Insulation package, if applicable

· Fuses

· O-rings Additional Requirements

· The assembled system shall have footprint dimensions of no more than 96in x 66in.

· The system as delivered in packaging must be able to fit through a doorway with dimensions of 66in x 93 in (W x H)

· All safety and regulation systems/devices shall have redundancies to ensure automatic shutdown (return to safe) in the event of total power failure at peak operating temperature.

· Shall be able to data transfer (and/or capture) to a PC computer with additional Universal Serial Bus (USB) / Secure Digital (SD) card port.

· Unit shall be capable of stand-alone operation without the need for internet or other remote interfacing.

· Shall have a Factory Acceptance Test to witness testing up to 2300°C or higher with SPS.

· On site service for set up and training of complete system shall be provided.

· Delivery to DEVCOM-ARL at 6300 Rodman Road FCDD-RLW-ME, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD

· Shall provide support of system for a minimum of 10 years.

· Shall provide free phone support.

· Only original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the high temperature furnace is acceptable. Third party, unauthorized resellers are not acceptable.

Contracting Officer:

Template last updated 07/28/2016