JPH0783959B2 - Continuous vacuum hot press machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention efficiently performs continuous ceramic-metal bonding, metal-metal bonding, or ceramic sintering under vacuum and high temperature conditions. The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum hot press machine capable of performing the above.

(Prior Art) For example, in a high-pitched secondary battery, a joining component in which an insulator made of α-alumina and a lid made of an aluminum alloy are joined is used, and a device for joining such a ceramic and a metal is used. It is known to perform thermocompression bonding in a linear tunnel furnace type processing chamber maintained in a high vacuum atmosphere and at a high temperature.However, in this type of conventional bonding apparatus, it is necessary to maintain a vacuum atmosphere before and after the processing chamber. There is a problem that the apparatus becomes complicated due to the necessity of providing the atmospheric pressure adjusting chamber, and a large pump capacity is required for evacuating the processing chamber, resulting in a large scale and an expensive apparatus as a whole. Further, an apparatus in which a ceramic and a metal are joined by a batch method is also used, but the batch method has a problem that the work loading / unloading work is complicated and the processing capacity is small and the cost is high. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and enables efficient work by a continuous processing method instead of a batch processing method, and also a vacuum processing chamber and a vacuum connected thereto. The present invention has been completed for the purpose of providing a continuous vacuum hot pressing apparatus which has a small pump capacity and can be downsized.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A continuous vacuum hot pressing apparatus according to the present invention made to solve the above problems is rotatable in an assembling / extracting zone, a heating zone, a pressure zone, and a cooling zone. A vacuum chamber, in which a mold for holding a workpiece is housed in the upper part of the carrier, is arranged at equal intervals, and a tunnel furnace for passing a vacuum chamber moving from a heating zone to a cooling zone is provided above the carrier. Further, the pressurizing zone is provided with a press device for thermocompressing the workpiece by applying a pressurizing pressure to the mold of the vacuum chamber in the pressurizing zone from above the tunnel furnace. .

(Example) Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an example of an apparatus used when a workpiece is a ceramic insulator and an aluminum alloy lid which are parts used in a sodium-sulfur battery.

(1) is the assembly / extraction zone (A), heating zone (B),
An intermittently rotatable carrier that circulates in the pressurizing zone (C) and the cooling zone (D), and the illustrated one is a rotary table that is intermittently driven by an index unit (2). Reference numeral (3) is a detachable vacuum chamber arranged on the carrier (1) at equal intervals, and each vacuum chamber (3) is made of a ceramic material which is a workpiece (50) as described later. A mold (12) for sandwiching an insulator (50a) and an aluminum alloy lid (50b) is housed in the upper part, and (4) is located above the carrier (1) from the heating zone (B). The tunnel furnace (5) for passing through the intermittently moving vacuum chamber (3) of the cooling zone (D) is above the pressurizing zone (C), and is located above the tunnel furnace (4) from the pressurizing zone (C). ) Is a press device for applying a press pressure to the mold (12) in the vacuum chamber (3) temporarily stopped in (1) to thermocompress the workpiece (50). A main vacuum chamber (7) that is airtightly held by a rotary vacuum seal (6) and is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) is provided below the rotary table as the carrier (1). 7) and each vacuum chamber (3) are connected via a valve (8). Further, each vacuum chamber (3) is also connected to a separately provided vacuum pump (10) for pre-evacuating via a pre-valve (9), and as will be described later, it is mainly used when the vacuum chamber (3) is attached and detached. The vacuum degree of the vacuum chamber (7) is prevented from lowering. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum chamber (3) holds an object to be processed (50) in a removable cylinder (11) and an insulator (50a) to be joined in the cylinder. A mold (12) consisting of an upper mold (12a) and a lower mold (12b) for sandwiching the lid body (50b) is provided, and the upper and lower ends are provided when the press device (5) is operated. A bellows (13) that absorbs displacement is attached, and a load cell (14) for load measurement is attached to the bottom surface. In the pressing device (5), a press rod (5a) penetrating the through hole (15) of the heating furnace (4) presses the upper end portion of the vacuum chamber (3) to support a workpiece ( 50) is pressed and thermocompression bonded.

In the above embodiment, the carrier is operated intermittently. However, other than this, for example, the carrier may be operated continuously, and the carrier operated in this way has a smooth temperature with respect to the object to be heated. Control is easily obtained.

(Operation) In the one configured as described above, for example, 20 vacuum chambers (3) are rotated once in 8 hours,
In the assembling / extracting zone (A) of FIG. 1, the workpiece (50) is set on the die (12) located in the upper part of the vacuum chamber (3) and is sent to the next heating zone (B). . In addition,
When the workpiece (50) is assembled in the vacuum chamber (3), the valve (8) of the vacuum chamber (3) is closed and the cylinder (11) is opened as shown in FIG. The vacuum degree of the other vacuum chambers and the main vacuum chamber (7) is prevented from lowering, and the spare valve (9) is opened after the work piece (50) is assembled to open the vacuum pump (10). Since the vacuum chamber is evacuated by communicating with the main vacuum chamber (7) and then the auxiliary valve (9) is closed and the valve (8) is opened to communicate with the main vacuum chamber (7), it is possible to prevent the vacuum degree from decreasing during this period. Becomes And heating zone (B)
When the upper end of the vacuum chamber (3) heated to a predetermined temperature by the pressing device (5) is pressed by the pressing device (5), the vacuum chamber (3) is clamped by the upper mold (12a) and the lower mold (12b). The insulator (50a) and the lid (50b) are securely bonded by heat and pressure, then the temperature is lowered to a predetermined temperature in the cooling zone, and finally the bonding is completed in the assembly / extraction zone (A). The object (50) is taken out. Also in this taking-out step, the vacuum degree of the other vacuum chambers and the main vacuum chamber (7) is not lowered by operating the valve (8) and the spare valve (9) as in the above-mentioned attaching step.

Although only the case where the rotary table is used as the carrier (1) has been described in the above embodiment, a traveling rail laid in the current state is provided so that the vacuum chamber is mounted on the carriage so that it can be intermittently moved. The number of pressing devices (5) and vacuum chambers (3) is not particularly limited. Further, in the above embodiment, only the joining of ceramics and metal is described, but it goes without saying that the apparatus of the present invention can also perform the sintering of ceramics or the joining of metal and metal.

(Effects of the Invention) As is apparent from the above description, the present invention enables efficient bonding work by a continuous processing method unlike the conventional batch processing method, and the vacuum chamber is externally connected to a tunnel furnace. Since heating is performed, temperature control is easy and a heat curve corresponding to various heating conditions can be obtained. In particular, a main vacuum chamber connected to a vacuum pump is provided below the carrier as a rotary table, and each vacuum chamber is provided. When the main vacuum chamber is connected to and separated from the main vacuum chamber via a valve, the volume of each vacuum chamber can be reduced, and the vacuum level can be prevented from lowering during work. It is a maintainable and compact device with excellent workability.

Therefore, the present invention greatly contributes to the industrial development as a continuous vacuum hot pressing apparatus that eliminates the conventional problems.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view of the same, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an essential part, and FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram for explaining a valve operation. Is. (1): carrier, (3): vacuum chamber, (4): tunnel furnace, (5): press machine, (7): main vacuum chamber, (8): valve, (12): mold.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum chamber in which a die (12) for holding a workpiece on a rotatable carrier (1) circulating in an assembling / extracting zone, a heating zone, a pressurizing zone, and a cooling zone is housed in the upper portion. (3) are arranged at equal intervals, and a tunnel furnace (4) is provided above the carrier (1) for passing through a vacuum chamber (3) moving from a heating zone to a cooling zone. A press device (5) for applying a press pressure to the mold (12) of the vacuum chamber (3) in the pressurizing zone from above the tunnel furnace (4) to thermocompress the workpiece is provided. A continuous vacuum hot press machine characterized by. 2. A carrier (1) is a rotary table, and a main vacuum chamber (7) connected to a vacuum pump is provided below the rotary table, and each vacuum chamber (3) is provided with respect to the main vacuum chamber (7). 2. The continuous vacuum hot pressing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the continuous vacuum hot pressing apparatus is capable of freely coming into contact with and separating from the valve (8).