Nippon Steel Corporation

Daicel Chemical Industries, Ltd.

Masato Fujioka

Mitsuhiko Fukabori

Katsuyoshi Kobayashi

Norio Yoshitake

Nobuyoshi Nishihara

Kanshi Sakai

Koichi Yuta

Yasumitsu Suzuki

Nobuo Nakabayashi

Recovery of air bag inflator metal cases. An inflator processing apparatus configured to process a gas-generating chemical-containing inflator for automobile air bags, by heating the inflator to a temperature not lower than an operating temperature of the chemical to facilitate recovery of the metal inflator case. In the apparatus, a protective metal partition wall is provided between an inner surface of a wall of an inflator-processing furnace and the chemical-containing inflator. This prevents damage to the refractory furnace wall, and also prevents melting of the metal inflator case, which could otherwise be occasioned by the chemical during thermal processing of the inflator containing the gas-generating chemical.

Inflator processing apparatus and method of judging charge of inflator

A continuous heat treatment furnace for heat-treating a metal strip by passing the metal strip continuously through the interior of the furnace, comprising a wall of an air-permeable solid having a three-dimensional skeleton structure or net-like laminate structure satisfying the following requirement: ##EQU1## wherein .delta. stands for the thickness (m) of the air-permeable solid wall, a.sub.p the specific surface area (m.sup.2 /m.sup.3) of the air-permeable solid wall, and .epsilon. a porosity of the air-permeable solid wall, is arranged between the confronting surfaces of the strip.

Continuous heat treatment furnace

Growing community of inventors

Kitakyushu, Japan

Masato Fujioka