Tender for the Supply and Installation of a Sintering System for the Production of Ndfeb Magnets

Contract summary

Industry

• Hydrogen, argon, rare gases, nitrogen and oxygen - 24111000

• Magnets - 31630000

• Industrial or laboratory furnaces, incinerators and ovens - 42300000

Location of contract

B15 2TT

Value of contract

£316,000

Procurement reference

SC10514/22

Published date

6 July 2022

Closing date

13 May 2022

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

20 June 2022

Contract end date

1 July 2023

Contract type

Supply contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

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Description

The University of Birmingham invites tenders for supply of a sintering system for the production of sintered NdFeB permanent magnets. The proposed unit will allow inert charging and sintering of a batch size of a minimum of 50 kg of NdFeB under vacuum or inert atmosphere.

Note, due to space requirements of the system, the proposed sintering system will be installed at Tyesley Energy Park in Birmingham.

This project is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund; Driving the Electric Revolution.

General characteristics
A sintering furnace for NdFeB with a minimum capacity of 50 kg per batch. The system must incorporate inert loading of pressed NdFeB compacts.
The equipment must comply with all the relevant UK law, regulations, and British Standards.

Specification
i. Requirements
1) The complete system must be capable of the handling of batch sizes of a minimum of 50 kg, nominally for rectangular magnet blocks with dimensions up to 40mm x 40mm x 20mm.
2) The system should allow for inert loading of pressed compacts by use of a glove box system.
3) The system needs to be ergonomically designed for the efficient handling of the material, facilitating the inert handling and transfer of green compacts (maximum oxygen content 20 ppm) also allowing for the easy transfer in and out of sintering trays.
4) The sintering vessel should be capable of being pumped down to a vacuum level of 10-4 mBar, with appropriate filters / traps to avoid powder entering the vacuum pump.
5) The sintering furnace must be capable of consistently achieving temperatures up to a minimum of 1200°C under vacuum or inert gas with good thermal uniformity (in the order of +/-5°C) during the ramp and sintering stages.
6) During the sintering process hydrogen will be evolved from the compacts (up to 900°C). The pumping system must be capable of safely removing this hydrogen.
The sintering system needs to have the ability to actively cool the material from the sintering temperature at a controlled rate. Appropriate control should be incorporated with the ability to log the process parameters. Temp, Vacuum, oxygen levels, moisture levels, flow rates, power consumption. Ability to set multiple programmes for gas control and temp profiles through PID control.
ii. Optional Component Technologies
7) The system could incorporate two solvent extraction chambers and pumping systems to remove solvents from the green compacts prior to the sintering process

All correspondence should go via the University's In-Tend website.
Your tender documents and information must be submitted via In-Tend by the date and time specified; www.in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofbirmingham/aspx/Home
(https://www.in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofbirmingham/aspx/Home)

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More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Tender for the Supply and Installation of a Sintering System for the Production of Ndfeb Magnets

• Opportunity
• Published 25 March 2022

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Award information

Awarded date

14 June 2022

Contract start date

20 June 2022

Contract end date

1 July 2023

Total value of contract

£316,000

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

Shenyang Guangtai Vacuum Technology Co.,Ltd.

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About the buyer

Contact name

Kseniya Samsonik

Address

University of Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM
B152TT
England

Email

k.samsonik@bham.ac.uk