Claims
- 1. A method of fabricating PTFE material comprising:
preparing a mixture of PTFE resin powder and a susceptor material; feeding the mixture into a compaction zone to at least partially compact and shape the mixture; and providing a continuous flow of the mixture from the compaction zone to a heating zone and heating and sintering the mixture within the heating zone by exciting the susceptor material by application of wave energy.
- 2. The method of claim 1 including drawing a vacuum on the mixture within the heating zone to extract air from the mixture.
- 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the heating zone has an initial stage for preheating and finishing compaction of the mixture prior to sintering the mixture.
- 4. The method of claim 2 including passing the sintered mixture through a cooling zone following the heating zone.
- 5. The method of claim 1 including cutting the PTFE material while the mixture is at a temperature below a sintering temperature within the heating zone but above ambient temperature.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the mixture is compacted into a generally tubular form.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the mixture is heated by microwave energy.
- 8. A method of fabricating a PTFE material, comprising:
preparing a mixture of PTFE resin powder and a susceptor material; compacting the mixture; and sintering the mixture by exciting the susceptor material with microwave energy.
- 9. The method of claim 8 including drawing a vacuum on the mixture during the sintering step to extract air from the mixture.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a continuation in part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/223,206 filed Aug. 19, 2003.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10223206 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Child |
10643097 |
Aug 2003 |
US |