Metallic Membrane

CHEM Show '99: The company offers an asymmetric designed metallic membrane with applications for the food and beverage industry; water filtration; general process engineering; filtration of cooling, lubricating and cleaning agents; fine filtration of catalyst particles, as well as for laboratory, medicine and environment technologies.

When compared with standard sintered metal filter cartridges, the SIKA-R…AS provides improved performance in the areas of permeability, particle retention, and back flushing. Economic benefits for customers include low maintenance and reduced investment cost.

Structures formed by the sintering of metal powders into a "solid" component always contain some level of porosity. These interconnected pores are most useful in the field of porous metals.

Metal powders for manufacturing porous parts are selected according to the intended application. The most commonly used powders are bronze, stainless steel, nickel-based super alloys, and titanium. Corrosion resistance can be assured by the proper selection of minerals.

Properties of porous sintered elements include stability of shape; good mechanical strength under permanent loads, impact loading, or pressure peaks; high-temperature strength and thermal shock resistance, and chemical stability against acids and detergents.

A range of precisely defined pore-size distributions is possible. Reverse flow, supersaturated hot steam, chemical agents, or high temperatures can be applied for cleansing and rinsing.

Sika-R…AS is a powder/powder composite consisting of a coarse metal powder, which is the support material, and a thin active filter layer (< 200µm) of the same allow. The support material is produced by axial pressing for plate geometries, and by isostatic pressing for filter cartridges. The thin metallic membrane is applied by a separate process. The support material and active filtration layer are diffusion bonded during the sintering process. The newly developed AS process is a process to produce porous structural parts and coatings allowing the use of very fine metal powders.

The new process makes it possible to produce self-supporting surface filters for liquid and gas filtration. Metallic membranes can be produced in disk and tube shapes of various sizes.

GKN Sinter Metals, 22501 Bohlmann Pkwy., Tel: 708-720-2240. Fax: 708-720-6229.