POWDER PROCESSING BY MELT

ATOMIZATION
A Term Paper

Submitted By

Neel Nadpara

MSE 4005: PROCESSING OF MATERIALS IN

THE LIQUID AND VAPOR STATE

Instructor: Professor Theo Z. Kattamis

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Connecticut

March 25, 2017

Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2
Basic Atomization Process ..................................................................................................... 3
Types of Atomization ............................................................................................................. 4
Water Atomization ............................................................................................................ 4
Gas Atomization ................................................................................................................ 6
Vacuum Atomization ...................................................................................................... 7
Centrifugal Atomization ..................................................................................................... 7
Properties and Characterization of Metal Powders ................................................................ 8
Applications of Powdered Metals and Additional Processing Steps ........................................ 9
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 10

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Introduction

Today, many engineering materials are pushed to their limits in order to serve in their respective
applications. In order to do this, the materials must be processed in a specific way to generate optimal
structure allowing for these desired properties.

There are three key factors that influence any type of manufacturing process: time, cost, and
quality. For centuries, mankind has attempted to minimize the time and cost of manufacturing, while
also trying to maximize the quality. One manufacturing process aimed at solving this issue was initiated
in the mid to late 19th century with mass manufacturing of powdered metal. In these early
manufacturing processes, iron was extracted by hand from metal sponge following reduction and was
then reintroduced as a powder for final melting or sintering. One of the first applications of powder
metallurgy was in the manufacture of tungsten filaments for incandescent light bulbs in the early 1900s
(Francis, 2016).

Applications now have grown to include gears, cams, bushings, cutting tools, porous metals, and
automotive components. The powder metallurgy process is a fast, low cost, and high volume production
method used primarily for the structural parts sector. Over the past few decades the technology of
powder forgings has really advanced to the point where the bulk sintered metal has properties
comparable with those of conventional forgings or better. Traditional forgings require expensive dies,
and in order to generate the desired microstructure with fine grains, a great deal of work must be
exhausted to reduce a workpiece by 8 times which in turn requires a great deal of energy. Then the part
must be machined to size which adds a great deal of time and cost.

While considerable time and effort is spent converting the starting material into its powdered
form in powder metallurgy, the powder is solidified rapidly due to its high surface area to volume ratio
which produces superior mechanical properties. Additionally, components are made from metal
powders because these greatly reduce the need to use metal removable processes such as machining.
This reduces yield losses in manufacturing and results in lower costs. Metal powders are also useful
because sometimes depending on the product, it is important to have control over microstructure and
porosity which the powdered metallurgy process allows. This precise control would be very difficult
using traditional processing steps.

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Basic Atomization Process

Bulk metal must to go through the melt atomization process to be turned into fine particles of
metal powder. Almost any material that can be melted can be made into a powder by melt atomization.
The bulk material is melted in a furnace and forced through an orifice as a stream of liquid (typically
using the force of gravity) which is broken up into droplets using high pressure fluid jets (liquids or
gasses) or other force delivering mechanisms (centrifugal forces). The fine droplets are subsequently
solidified rapidly into particles of metal powder due to their high surface area to volume ratio with the
addition of the temperature gradient between the droplets and the working fluid and atmosphere. High
quality powders of aluminum, brass, iron, stainless steel, and superalloys are produced by this method.
However, the reactivity of the alloys must be considered in any melting process which can require
specific alloys for certain processes or special atmospheres. One issue with melt atomization that must
be considered is the interaction between the particle surfaces and the working fluid of the atomizer
(either liquid or gas). This interaction can generate entrapped gas and oxide films which are typically less
prominent within gas atomization with inert gases.

Another aspect of atomization to note is the powder collection tank. The solidifying droplets fall
into the tank where they accumulate by either dry or wet collection. In dry collection, the particles
solidify before they fall to the bottom of the tank. It is important that this collection tank is sufficiently
tall enough that complete solidification occurs before the particles reach the bottom. Wet collection is
when the powder is collected in a water tank at the bottom of the atomization unit. The basic
atomization process can be seen in Figure 1 below (Upadhyaya, 2002). This tank may also be externally
cooled which can be useful to prevent particles sintering together.

Metal powders are prepared by a variety of methods which depends on the properties of the
particular metal and the desired physical characteristics of the powder. These desired characteristics are
size/size distribution, shape, porosity, and surface area. There are certain parameters that can be
controlled to produce the optimal particle sizes and particle microstructures. The speed of cooling
influences microstructure and properties of the powder. Faster cooling leads to metal powders with
finer microstructures and higher yield strengths due to the Hall-Petch relationship. This relation
essentially ascertains that smaller grain size equates to better mechanical properties. Moreover, fine
particles sizes are preferred in subsequent sintering operations to create the bulk metallic sample. This
is due to the smaller and more uniform the powder particles producing lower percent porosity and
smaller grain size (which improves overall mechanical properties) during subsequent sintering and
forging operations.

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 Figure 1: Basic Atomization Process Schematic

Types of Atomization

Water Atomization

In water atomization, a high pressure water stream is forced through nozzles to form a disperse
phase of droplets which then hit the metal stream. Thus, the working fluid is water from which the
process gets its name. The main drawback of this process is that large quantities of energy are required
spray the water at this high pressure which provides an estimation of the overall energy process
efficiency to be under ≤4%. This powder manufacturing process is often employed for low and high alloy
steels such as stainless steel. However, due to oxide formation, water atomization is not likely to be
used as atomization of highly reactive metals such as titanium and super alloys. In general, water
atomized powders have irregular shapes and rough oxidized surfaces which can be advantageous for
certain materials, however typically spherical powders are preferred. The key advantages of water
atomized powders are articulated by P. Ulf Gummeson in High Pressure Water Atomization (1972).
These advantages include freedom to alloy, all particles having the same uniform composition, control
of particle shape (size and structure), relatively high purity, and lower capital cost.

Pouring temperature and water spray pressure are extremely important parameters to control
in water atomization to try and achieve finer, more uniform particle shapes. At higher pouring
temperatures, there is enough superheat post atomization that allows surface tension forces to create
spheroid shapes prior to solidification. The surface tension of molten metal is high thus once the
formation of a droplet is achieved it tends to produce a spherical shape (for this reason skin freezing
alloys are preferred for this process). Additionally, the higher the viscosity of the atomizing fluid, the
greater is the deformation of the droplet. Moreover, as the cooling rate increases, there is less time for

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the surface tensional forces to spheroidize the droplet thereby more irregular particle shape are
generated. Thus, combining a molten superheated alloy with low pressure water sprays creates
relatively uniform particle shapes when employing water atomization. The water pressures typically
used are in the range of 35 x 105 Pa to 210 x 105 Pa while water spray velocities range from 40 m/s to 15
m/s (Upadhyaya, 2002). High water pressure leads to more irregular particle shapes due to larger impact
forces and larger volumes of water which result in more rapid quenching.

Another goal of atomization of multiphase alloy systems is eliminating gross metal segregations.
Hence, the particle structure becomes a function of the solidification rate. Consequently, finer
microstructure is produced using water atomization with low metal pouring temperatures and higher
water pressure.

Below is a schematic (Figure 1) of a water atomization process. This shows the major process
variables in the atomizing process. Important variables to note are the short metal stream (F), diameter
of stream (d), short jet length (E), optimum apex angle (α°), melting temperature (t°), jet velocity (V),
and pressure (P).

Figure 2: Schematic of Water Atomization

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Gas Atomization

In gas atomization, the atomizing media is typically nitrogen, argon, or air. During the process,
the molten metal is atomized by gas jets into fine metal droplets as the stream is being poured. The
droplets cool down and begin to solidify during their fall to the powder collection tank. Gas atomization
employs external mixing techniques as the melt and gas interact outside of the nozzle which is unique to
the atomization of metals. Figure 3 below illustrates the basic schematic of a vertical gas atomization
process (German, 1994).

The gas jets are designed in a particular way in order to properly disintegrate the metal stream
into fine droplets. This is done by equally inclining the gas jets to the melt stream axis at a fixed point.
The gas atomization process is governed by several process variables which include jet distance, jet
pressure, nozzle geometry, velocity of gas and metal, and melt superheat. Typically, higher pressures
and/or smaller jet distances produce finer powder. The typical pressures during gas atomization are in
the range of 14×105 to 42×105 Pa with gas velocities between 50 and 150 m-s-1. Additionally, with those
conditions the powder quench rate is approximately 102 K∙s-1 (Thummler & Oberacker, 1993).

Gas atomized powders are typically spherical and have smooth surfaces which makes the
process popular. This production method is useful for making powders of super alloys, titanium, high
speed steel, and other reactive metals. However, the process is plagued by even lower energy efficiency
than water atomization at less than ~3% (Upadhyaya, 2002).

Figure 3: Vertical Gas Atomization Schematic

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Vacuum Atomization

A subset of gas atomization is vacuum atomization. Vacuum atomization operates on the

principle that when a metal melt is supersaturated with gas under pressure and is exposed to a vacuum,
the gas expands, comes out of solution, and causes the liquid metal to be atomized. The metal is usually
saturated with H2 gas. The schematic representation of vacuum atomization can be seen in Figure 4
below. Vacuum atomization is a commercial batch process that results in high purity powders that are
spherical in shape. Powder made by this method is typically used for production of gas turbine disks and
intricate parts made by injection molding (Francis, 2016).

Figure 4: Schematic representation of vacuum atomization: (a) trap door, (b) transfer tube, (c) molten metal

Centrifugal Atomization

Centrifugal atomization relies of the ejection of molten metal from a rapidly spinning container,
plate, or disc. This method uses centrifugal force to generate turbulence which breaks off molten metal
drops from the molten end of a consumable electrode. This process is called rotating consumable
electrode atomization or REP for short. The metal to be converted to powder takes the form of a rod
which serves as an electrode that is rotated rapidly while being melted at one end by an electric arc. A
stationary electrode that has a tungsten tip is used to create the electric arc that melts the consumable
electrode (bulk metal that is turned into powder). Molten metal spins off the bar and solidifies before it
hits the walls of the inert gas filled outer container (Upadhyaya, 2002).

The molten droplet diameter of a given material is controlled by certain parameters such as
surface tension of liquid metal, centrifugal forces related to rotation speed, and by droplet trajectory
through the inert gas in the container. Furthermore, precise rotation of the anode is key to acquire the
preferred size distribution range of particles. The process was developed primarily for the atomization
for high purity titanium alloys and super alloys with low O2 contents. The particles generated by a REP
process are smooth and spherical with average diameters of ~200µm (Thummler & Oberacker, 1993).
However, tungsten can contaminate the powder due to the use of the stationary electrode which can
bring in impurities over time. Additionally, resonance effects can be experienced in the REP process and
must be dealt with via adequate dampening.

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 Figure 5: Schematic of the Rotating Electrode Process

Above in Figure 5 is a schematic of the rotating electrode process.

Properties and Characterization of Metal Powders

The individual metal particles have shapes, sizes, and features that are important for processing
these particles into dense metal products. These different shapes, sizes, and features of the particles
depend on the atomizing technique used.

Shown below in Figure 6 are SEM images of water atomized iron powder (Francis, 2016). Notice
the irregular shape of the particle which water atomization is known to produce. Typically powder size is
determined either using sieving or microscopy via light microscopy or electron microscopy.

Figure 6: SEM images of Water Atomized Fe Powder

Particles are generally polycrystalline and rarely are single crystals. In polycrystalline particles,
the microstructure contains pores and multiple crystalline phases. Another powder characteristic of

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interest is the specific surface area (surface area per gram of powder). This is a good predictor of
reactivity and sintering characteristics because the roles of surfaces are important in these processes.

Applications of Powdered Metals and Additional Processing Steps

Typically, powdered metals are used to make high quality alloys designed for extreme
applications. For instance, nickel based superalloys are often made by a powdered metallurgy process
due to less material removal processes being required. It’s much more material efficient. Additionally,
there tends to be a more uniform alloy composition as opposed to traditional casting processes.
Furthermore, alloys such as Ti-6AL-4V require a special vacuum melting process which is automatically
provided in gas atomization and leads to parts with less material removal requirements. Also, material
removal is very difficult in materials such as titanium and nickel based superalloys due to their strength,
hardness, and lack of thermal conductivity which makes reducing material removal desirable due to
time and cost savings.

Following powdered metal manufacturing, the parts desired are generated via compaction and
sintering process. Typically, powder is compacted using a press and a die into a green compact. In a
green compact state the parts can be mechanically joined weakly so that they may be handled.
However, a sintering process is required to join these powder particles together. This is completed by
heating the compact just below the melting temperature which allows atoms in the materials diffuse
across the boundaries of the particles, fusing the particles together and creating one solid piece. In
certain processes such as the manufacturing of turbine disks it is important to control all operation
variables at once such as compaction direction, compact density, and sintering temperature. This is
accomplished via a process known as hot isostatic pressing. Another option when many parts need to be
manufactured is metal-injection molding. In this process, vary fine metal powders (<10 μm) are blended
with 25 to 45% polymer or wax binder and the mixture is then processed similar to a die casting in which
the molten mixture (135 to 200°C) is forced into the mold cavity and the binder (either plastic or wax) is
allowed to solidify which in turn holds the part together. The molded green parts are placed in a low-
temperature oven to burn off the plastic (debinding), or the binder is removed by solvent extraction.
The parts then are sintered in a furnace at temperatures as high as 1375°C. This is suitable for many
small parts that need to be produced in high quantities. Other traditional processes such as forging,
rolling, extrusion, and spray deposition may be done with powdered metals as well to serve a wide
variety of applications (Kalpakjian, Schmid, & Musa, 2013).

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Bibliography

Francis, L. F. (2016). Materials Processing: A Unified Approach to Processing of Metals, Ceramics and
Polymers. Elsevier.

German, R. M. (1994). Powder Metallurgy Science. Metal Powder Industries Federation.

Kalpakjian, S., Schmid, S. R., & Musa, H. (2013). Manufacturing Engineering and Technology. New York:
Pearson.

Thummler, F., & Oberacker, R. (1993). Introduction to Powder Metallugry. Cambridge: The Institute of
Materials.

Upadhyaya, g. s. (2002). Powder Metallurgy Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge International Science

Publishing.

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