A Gas Atomization Primer
07.04.2023If you are seeking consistent high quality titanium powder for your additive manufacturing course of, the difficulty might not be with the powder itself, but with the process used to provide it.
In our series, «A Clear Ti,» we’ll take a look at key sources of contamination for titanium and other pre-alloyed, gas atomized, spherical powders. Make no mistake: clean issues. Cross-contamination disrupts elements manufacturing in two key ways:
1. Performance — If an element is going to fail it would always be at the purpose the place contamination is current.2. Course of Predictability — Much more importantly, suppliers should anticipate and alleviate contamination on the source or the powder supply can grow to be unpredictable which might cost you money and time, and doubtlessly clients.
The first step in understanding powder contamination risks is knowing the process used to supply it. We’ve made it so simple as possible in this temporary primer.
4 Steps in Gasoline Atomization
Fuel atomization is a strong know-how for creating pure, free-flowing, pre-alloyed metal powder particles together with titanium powders. First, the raw material is ready for atomization in a plasma arc melter. This unit melts the powder into lengthy bars or smoore electrodes so they are often fed into the atomizer.
The electrode is positioned within the atomizer and heated until molten steel drips off the end of the electrode till all but the end of the electrode is consumed. As the molten metal drips into the atomizer tower it’s met by a stream of excessive-stress, inert gasoline, usually argon or nitrogen.
The collision breaks the stream into into spherical powder particles that solidify in flight. The particles have the same chemistry as the molten stream, hence the time period pre-alloyed.
4 Benefits of Gas Atomization
While it is necessary to know and handle contamination danger so as to make sure constant powder high quality, gasoline atomization presents some necessary advantages over different pre-alloyed particle manufacturing:
1. Chemistry Control: Gasoline atomization produces very pure powders that assist extremely tight chemistry tolerances. Which means they are often custom-made to fulfill stringent utility requirements. 2. Powder Morphology: Gas atomized powders are spherically formed. 3. Wide Particle Dimension Distribution (PSD): A large PSD permits for top packing density, which maximizes the quantity of powder in a given volume. Because they’re free flowing they are perfect for additive manufacturing functions the place powder stream is important. 4. Extremely Versatile Capability: Gasoline atomizers can produce just a few pounds to several tons in a single heat with equal ease.