Sintering apparatus, method of manufacturing sintered compact, and target material

1. A sintering apparatus, comprising:

a non-transportable section mounted exposed to the atmosphere;

a transportable section that has a mold capable of accommodating a material to be processed and is loaded detachably with respect to the non-transportable section; and

a covering member that, separately of the transportable section, envelops the transportable section, including the mold, in an almost hermetically sealed state and allows the transportable section and covering member to be jointly separated from the non-transportable section with the transportable section and the mold enveloped in the almost hermetically sealed state.

2. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the transportable section has:

a main body having the mold; and

a support base on which the main body is mounted.

3. The sintering apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the covering member is supported in a suspending arrangement by surface contact with a top surface of the main body, and an airflow-enabled gap is provided between the covering member and the support base.

4. The sintering apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the top surface of the main body or the covering member has a step, and a relative positional relationship of the covering member with respect to the top surface of the main body is defined by the step.

5. The sintering apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the covering member is supported by the surface contact with the support base, and an airflow-enabled gap is provided between the covering member and a side surface of the main body.

6. The sintering apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the covering member has:

a lower covering member supported by the surface contact with the support base; and

an upper covering member supported in a suspending arrangement by surface contact with the top surface of the main body, wherein

an airflow-enabled gap is provided between the lower covering member and the upper covering member.

7. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the covering member is configured of quartz glass.

8. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the covering member is configured of a ceramic material, and has an opening for temperature measurement on a side surface.

9. The sintering apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the upper covering member is configured of a ceramic material, and the lower covering member is configured of quartz glass.

10. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the covering member has a through-hole, and a gas introduction pipe is inserted into the through-hole.

11. The sintering apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the covering member has:

a gas diffusion chamber that is joined with the gas introduction pipe and surrounds the main body; and

a gas blowoff outlet provided in the gas diffusion chamber.

12. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the mold has a hole heading from an outer surface toward an inner surface.

13. The sintering apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein when the material to be processed is placed in the mold, the hole is provided at a position different from a placement position of the material to be processed in a height direction of the mold.

14. The sintering apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the non-transportable section has:

a pressure ram configured to pressurize the material to be processed in the mold; and

a heating section configured to heat the material to be processed in the mold,

wherein the covering member has an opening via which the pressure ram is received.

15. The sintering apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the heating section has a high-frequency induction coil configured to perform induction heating of an outer surface of the mold.