The Fraunhofer Institute for
Ceramic Technologies and
Systems IKTS in Dresden is
using a Carbolite furnace to
research debinding and
sintering of ceramics as part
of in-depth investigations
into the application benefits
of foamed ceramics.

A custom-built 35L
capacity 1400°C furnace with
silicon carbide heating was
installed. Fraunhofer IKTS
required the furnace to
provide better management
of toxic cyanide, isocyanate
and nitrogen dioxide fumes
that were produced from a
previous, conventional
furnace, as the polyurethane
foam matrix and organic
binders were burned-off.

Carbolite achieved this by
mounting a secondary
catalytic after-burner on top
of the primary chamber
furnace. The after-burner was
polyisoderived
from a modified
variant of a Carbolite ‘Grange’
tube furnace. It has a
central core comprising a
catalytic labyrinth to ensure
toxic fumes are combusted.

Samples of up to 150g of
polyurethane can now be
tested with processed fumes
from the Carbolite furnace
being fed into Fraunhofer’s
extractor system.