Powder Metallurgy & Sintered Parts worked example

Sinter Furnace Capacity at 65% furnace uptime: a worked example

Suppose furnace uptime falls to 65%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Sinter furnace capacity tells a powder metallurgy plant how many good, dimensionally sound parts a belt or batch furnace can actually deliver over a planning period, not just how many it can theoretically hold.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Green parts loaded per furnace cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Available sinter cycles in the period: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Furnace uptime (scheduled availability): 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • Post-sinter yield (good parts after inspection): 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross sinter furnace capacity capacity = units per cycle × available cycles.
  • Good output capacity works out to 1,211 units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross capacity works out to 1,920 units at these inputs.
  • Uptime loss works out to 672 units at these inputs.
  • Yield loss works out to 37.44 units at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where furnace uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 1,211 units.
  • It computes net good sintered-part capacity by multiplying parts per cycle by available cycles, then derating for furnace uptime and post-sinter yield. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Good output capacity: 1,211 units (headline result)
  • Gross capacity: 1,920 units
  • Uptime loss: 672 units
  • Yield loss: 37.44 units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Sinter Furnace Capacity calculator, set furnace uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.