UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO - NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SINGLE SOURCE CONTRACT: 19-022
Thermal Debinding and Sinter Unit
The University of Waterloo (UW) intends to award a single source contract to XERION BERLIN LABORATORIES GmbH, of Salzufer 15/16 10587 Berlin, for the purchase of a Thermal Debinding and Sinter Unit (standard furnace of Fusion Factory) for post-processing of parts produced using additive manufacturing processes required by our Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) Laboratory. The budget for this entire package is approximately $140,000 CAD, not including HST.
This is an Advanced Notice indicating to the supplier community that UW intends to award a contract for this equipment to a pre-identified supplier. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date of this notice, a statement of specifications that satisfies the stated requirements set out in this Notice, the competitive requirements of the University are considered to have been met. Following notification to any suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their statement of specifications meets the requirements set out in this Notice, the contract may then be awarded to the pre-identified supplier.
If other potential suppliers submit statements of specifications during the fifteen calendar day posting period, and meet the requirements set out in this Notice, UW will proceed to a Request for Proposal process, in order to award the contract.
Process - Suppliers who can provide equivalent equipment with proven functionality required for the research, within budget, may submit a statement of specifications, in writing, to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date of this Notice. The statement of specifications must unequivocally demonstrate how the supplier meets these advertised requirements within budget.
SPECIFICATIONS -
The Thermal Debinding and Sinter Unit (standard furnace of Fusion Factory) described above consists of a unit used for the thermal debinding and sintering of the parts.
Because of flammable sintering gas atmosphere required in the MSAM laboratory, a high-level safety system is required: the sintering process is fully automated, only the loading and unloading procedure is manual. The detailed specifications are included below:
Technical Specifications
Load / Unloading Drawer type with electropneumatic clamps
Maximum temperature1500 °C
Maximum continuous sintering temperature1450 °C
Inside retort dimension At least W 150 mm x D 150 mm x H 150 mm
Temperature measurement Double Thermocouple type S for control with SAT TC conduit, Double Thermocouple type S for overtemperature safety
Housing of sample By retort
Atmospheres Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Argon, Vacuum, Air
There are 3 modes for atmospheres. The modes are switchable by a knob with a key:
Modus Hydrogen: Hydrogen, Inert gas or vacuum
Modus Inert gas: Inert gas or vacuum
Modus Air: Synthetic air or vacuum
All gas lines are equipped with Mass Flow Controller for adjustage of the gas flow.
Heating elements MoSi2
Programming of the temperature ramps The controller has 99 programs with 20 time steps in each program
Temperature control over the span of the temperatures in terms of resolution The controller has 3 PID sets for the complete span of working temperature. The resolution is better than 0,1 K. The deviation of setpoint temperature to real temperature is less than ± 2 K in the dwell times.
Insulation Ceramic fibre boards
Pumping unit Cooling trap and Vacuum pump
Cooling trap Watercooled
Vacuum pump Rotary vane pump
Pressure regulation 10 … 500 mbar (abs.) (only inert gas atmosphere)
Ultimate vacuum 1 mbar (upgradeable to high vacuum)
Gas flow Inertgas 0 … 10 l/min (adjusted by Mass Flow Controller)
Gas flow Hydrogen 0 … 10 l/min (adjusted by Mass Flow Controller)
Gas exhaust Afterburner, Complete proofed system with safety control, Flame covered by stainless steel grid
Safety system Integrated in the Control Unit (fail – safe)
- Overtemperature
- Pressure
- Oxygen content in gas exhaust
- Afterburner
- Separate bottle Nitrogen for emergency inertisation
Safety procedure Integrated in the Control Unit (failure – safe)
Before heating process (preprocessing):
- Check of closed clamps
- Leakage test
- Overpressure test
- Test of level and pressure emergency bottle
- Evacuating and filling the vessel with inert gas
After heating process (postprocessing):
- Evacuating and filling the vessel with inert gas
before opening
Warranty A minimum of 12 months warranty is required
Training In-house training required to be included
SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION
The equipment package from XERION BERLIN LABORATORIES GmbH, Thermal Debinding and Sinter Unit (standard furnace of Fusion Factory), is comprehensive and offers de-binding and sintering under vacuum, inert, air and hydrogen, and to the best of our knowledge, no such system exists at the price range and function provided by Xerion. In addition, the equipment is required for de-binding of components produced via additive manufacturing processes, thus requiring specialized gas handling in terms of afterburner and safety considerations; as such, our group could not find competing products with equal specifications in this price range. In addition, the equipment can go beyond the temperatures required for de-binding (<1000 °C) and cross into sintering temperatures (up to 1500 °C), which is favourable for the complete thermal treatment de-binding and sintering all in one unit, thus ensuring that the products maintain their structural integrity (by avoiding physical re-location to another oven) between de-binding and sintering.
The MSAM Laboratory is collaborating with the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada on this research project – the University of Waterloo has provided a schedule for the acquisition of the MSAM equipment installations that meets NRC’s timelines. Delivery lead times for this equipment are tight.
Date of issue: Monday, March 4 , 2019
Closing Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. EST
Contact:
Christine Wagner, CPPB, CSCP – Research Coordinator and Senior Buyer
Procurement and Contract Services
University of Waterloo
Ph: 519-888-4567 ext. 32074
Email – cpwagner@uwaterloo.ca, or, procure@uwaterloo.ca
