Metal Powder Production; Gas Atomization And Other Methods

For powder metallurgy techniques, the metal powder production industry is also a very important business. The powder sufficient powder metal must be provided to those who deal with the part production with the sintering. 

Here, we briefly explain how to produce metal powders and what kinds of mechanisms are used today. 

How To Produce Metal Powders?

Vertical gas atomization illustration(Image Source: www.researchgate.net/figure/Gas-atomization-Courtesy-of-LPW-Technology-reprinted-with-permission-from-Ref-70_fig2_331798165).

The most used process to produce metal powders is gas atomization techniques. In the gas atomization techniques, there is a mechanism that molten metal is provided through a nozzle. And this molten metal is atomized with the application of inert gas jet. This inert gas jet atomizes the molten metal right before the nozzle. 

After this nozzle, the molten metal is separated into very small metal dimples. These dimples are solidified inside the chamber and desired metal powder is produced. 

Also, water atomization techniques are prevalent. In water atomization, water steam is used instead of inert gases or air. Water atomization is applied to metals that melt beneath 1600 celsius degrees. Above these temperatures, oxidation is a very big problem for the molten metal droplets, with the water stream. Also, synthetic oils are used instead of water to overcome this situation. 

Centrifugal atomization techniques which are also called as rotating disk method is used to produce metal powders. In these methods, molten metal is poured onto a rotating disk, which has lots of small holes on it. With the help of these rotation small holes, metal powders are produced. 

In the gas atomization techniques, spherical metal grains are produced. Abut wşth the other techniques, irregular shapes are produced. 

Chemical Metal Powder Production Methods

Electrolysis of iron(Image Source: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-21209-4_10).

Chemical processes are also used to produce metal powders. The first method is chemical reduction. Some of the agents are used to reduce the oxide of the metal oxide to release the metal from them. The product is very high purity of metal powders. 

With the precipitation methods, metals inside the salts can be produced as metal powders by dissolving them in the water. 

Electrolysis is also a very effective process to obtain a high purity of metal powders. 

Various kinds of metal powders can be produced via chemical methods; iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, beryllium, tantalum, titanium…

Conclusion

So, these are the general expression of the metal powder production methods in the metal industry. 

Do not forget to leave your comments and questions below about the metal powder production methods.

Your precious feedbacks are very important to us.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *