Apparatus and method of manufacture of articles containing controlled amounts of binder

Claim 1

In a method of forming ceramic products containing a controlled amount of meltable binder comprising forming a mixture of a melted meltable wax binder which is solid at room temperature and ceramic forming base materials into a solid article of desired configuration by allowing said mixture to solidify in a mold, the improvement in said method comprising the steps of: packing said article into a binder-absorptive material for absorbing said binder when it is converted to a liquid state wherein said binder has a melting point less than the temperature at which said base material is undesirably heat altered and wherein said binder absorptive material has a melting point greater than the melting point of the binder, is non-reactive with said binder, and has a sufficiently small particle size so as to not yield imperfections when contacting the solidified mixture and elevating and maintaining the temperature of said article above the melting point of the meltable binder but below the vaporization temperature of said binder causing said binder to become liquid and allowing said binder to be drawn from said article into said binder-absorptive material by a wicking action until at least 45% of said binder is wicked out of said article and into said binder absorptive material; and thereafter firing said article in a kiln to produce a ceramic product.

Claim 11

A method of forming sintered ceramic products of predetermined form comprising batching a mixture of a granular ceramic material capable of being sintered with a melted paraffinic wax binder and a surfactant and casting said mixture into a solid green piece, the improvement in said method comprising: closely packing said green piece into a paraffinic wax absorptive material wherein said binder has a melting point less than the temperature at which said base material is undesirably heat altered and wherein said binder absorptive material has a melting point greater than the melting point of the binder, is non-reactive with said binder, and has a sufficiently small particle size so as to not yield imperfections when contacting the solidified mixture for drawing liquid paraffinic wax from said green piece; and below the vaporization temperature of said paraffinic wax binder for a period of time to allow at least about 45% to 65% of said paraffinic wax binder in its liquid state to be drawn from said green piece into said absorptive material by a wicking action; and removing said green piece from said absorptive material and firing said green piece.

Claim 12

A method of forming sintered ceramic products of predetermined form comprising batching a mixture of a granular ceramic material capable of being sintered with a melted paraffinic wax binder and a surfactant and casting said mixture into a solid green piece, the improvement in said method comprising: closely packing said green piece into a paraffinic wax absorptive material wherein said binder has a melting point less than the temperature at which said base material is undesirably heat altered and wherein said binder absorptive material has a melting point greater than the melting point of the binder, is non-reactive with said binder, and has a sufficiently small particle size so as to not yield imperfections when contacting the solidified mixture for drawing liquid paraffinic wax from said green piece; and below the vaporization temperature of said paraffinic wax binder for a period of time to allow at least about 45% to 65% of said paraffinic wax binder in its liquid state to be drawn from said green piece into said absorptive material by a wicking action; and removing said green piece from said absorptive material and firing said green piece.