Sintering furnace for producing an HTSC strip
The invention relates to a method for producing a high temperature superconductor (HTSC) from a strip including an upper side precursor layer and which, for continuous sintering of the precursor layer within a furnace in the presence of a fed-in reaction gas, is drawn across a support. A furnace for performing the method is also described.
1. A sintering furnace comprising:
a furnace having a furnace space;
a porous support disposed within the furnace space, the porous support configured to support a substrate having an HTSC precursor layer;
at least one inlet operable to direct reaction gas through the porous support; and
at least one outlet operable to remove reaction gas from the furnace space.
2. The sintering furnace of claim 1 , wherein the inlet is disposed within the furnace at a point below the support.
3. The sintering furnace of claim 2 , wherein:
the outlet includes a vacuum mechanism; and
the reaction gas is directed from the inlet and through the porous support, and then is drawn from the furnace space by the vacuum mechanism.
4. The sintering furnace of claim 1 , wherein the outlet comprises at least one suction mechanism disposed above the porous support, the suction mechanism extending generally parallel to the direction in which the substrate is drawn through the furnace.
5. The sintering furnace of claim 1 further comprising a heating mechanism operable to heat the gas to a predetermined temperature.
6. The sintering furnace of claim 1 further comprising a heating mechanism operable to heat the porous support.
7. The sintering furnace of claim 1 , wherein:
the substrate comprises a first surface including the precursor layer and a second surface facing the support; and
friction between the support and the second surface of the substrate is reduced by directing gas of sufficient pressure between the support and the substrate.