Rotatable Hot Body Spray Forming for Metal Powder
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gas atomization methods produce metal powders with wide size distributions and satellite or oblate shaped particles, which are not suitable for advanced powder metallurgy applications like additive manufacturing and sintering, leading to inefficient resource utilization and high production costs.
Innovation Solution
A spray forming process where metal droplets are directed at a rotatable hot body, controlling parameters like temperature, pressure, and distance to minimize satellite particles and achieve a narrow particle size distribution, allowing for the simultaneous production of ingots and high-quality metallic powders from what was previously considered scrap material.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If gas atomization is used to produce metal powders, then powder production is achieved, but the particle size distribution becomes wide and includes satellite or oblate shaped particles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the atomization process by introducing a hot body at controlled temperatures (800-1500°C) that interacts with the atomized droplets. This thermal parameter change causes droplets to deform and flatten upon impact, eliminating satellite particles and producing a narrow, controlled particle size distribution suitable for advanced powder metallurgy applications.
2Productivity
If gas atomization produces powders with wide size distribution, then powder production is achieved, but resource utilization becomes inefficient due to waste
Solution Approach 1:
The patent recovers and utilizes what would traditionally be considered scrap material (over-spray droplets that bounce off the hot body) by controlling the hot body temperature and droplet impact conditions. This recovered material forms high-quality powder with narrow size distribution, converting previous waste into valuable product and improving overall resource utilization efficiency.
3Ease of manufacture
If gas atomization is used, then metal powders are produced, but production costs increase due to inefficient resource utilization
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the thermal parameters of the process (introducing a hot body at 800-1500°C), the patent fundamentally alters the droplet behavior during atomization. This parameter change improves powder quality and reduces material waste, leading to lower production costs while maintaining ease of manufacture for advanced metallurgy applications.
4Manufacturing precision
If conventional gas atomization is used, then powder production is achieved, but the powder quality does not meet requirements for advanced powder metallurgy applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies controlled thermal parameters (hot body temperature of 800-1500°C) to the atomization process, causing metal droplets to deform and flatten upon impact. This parameter change produces spherical particles with narrow size distribution and eliminates irregular shapes, achieving powder quality suitable for advanced powder metallurgy applications like additive manufacturing and sintering.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the production of metallic powders with a narrow size distribution and enhanced sphericity, reducing waste and production costs, while utilizing previously scrap material, thus supporting a circular economy and improving the quality of powders for advanced metallurgy applications.
Implementation Method 1
the impact of the high-energy atomizing gas on the melt stream results in a transfer of the impact kinetic energy from the atomizing gas to the melt, and as a result a fine dispersion of metal droplets are generated
Implementation Method 2
During deposition, metal droplets containing enough latent heat are deposited while metal droplets without enough latent heat bounce off of the hot body
Data Source
AI summary
A spray forming method for producing a metallic ingot and metallic powder from a metallic source of metal or metal alloy includes: forming one or more streams of metal or alloy from the source, gas atomizing one or more streams of metal or alloy to form one or more sprays of atomized droplets, directing the spray(s) of droplets through a spray nozzle to a rotatable hot body, depositing the droplets to the hot body to form the ingot, controlling the process parameters 1) temperature of metal or alloy, 2) inlet and outlet pressure of the spray nozzle, 3) rotation speed of the hot body, and/or 4) distance between the hot body and the spray(s) of droplets, and collecting the metallic powder having a predefined size distribution. The process parameters are controlled such that the ingot yield is 60-80% and the metallic powder yield is 40-20%, relative to the metallic source.