A Gasoline Atomization Primer

If you're in search of constant quality titanium powder in your additive manufacturing course of, the issue might not be with the powder itself, but with the process used to produce it.


In our collection, "A Clear Ti," we'll take a look at key sources of contamination for titanium and different pre-alloyed, fuel atomized, spherical powders. Make no mistake: clean matters. Cross-contamination disrupts elements manufacturing in two key ways:


1. Efficiency - If a part is going to fail it'll all the time be at the purpose where contamination is current.
2. Course of Predictability - Even more importantly, suppliers must anticipate and alleviate contamination at the source or panda dtf printer the powder provide can develop into unpredictable which can price you time and money, and doubtlessly prospects.


The first step in understanding powder contamination risks is knowing the method used to provide it. We've made it so simple as doable on this temporary primer.

Four Steps in Fuel Atomization

Gasoline atomization is a strong technology for creating pure, free-flowing, pre-alloyed metal powder particles including titanium powders. First, the raw materials is ready for atomization in a plasma arc melter. This unit melts the powder into long bars or electrodes so they can be fed into the atomizer.


The electrode is placed in the atomizer and heated until molten steel drips off the top of the electrode until all however the end of the electrode is consumed. Because the molten steel drips into the atomizer tower it's met by a stream of excessive-stress, inert gasoline, sometimes argon or nitrogen.


The collision breaks the stream into into spherical powder particles that solidify in flight. The particles have the identical chemistry as the molten stream, therefore the time period pre-alloyed.

Four Advantages of Gasoline Atomization

While it is important to know and manage contamination risk in order to ensure constant powder quality, fuel atomization presents some necessary advantages over other pre-alloyed particle production:


1. Chemistry Management: Fuel atomization produces very pure powders that help extremely tight chemistry tolerances. Meaning they can be customized to fulfill stringent software necessities. 2. Powder Morphology: Gasoline atomized powders are spherically shaped. 3. Extensive Particle Measurement Distribution (PSD): A wide PSD allows for prime packing density, which maximizes the amount of powder in a given volume. As a result of they're free flowing they are perfect for additive manufacturing applications where powder move is essential. 4. Extremely Flexible Capacity: Gasoline atomizers can produce a few pounds to a number of tons in a single heat with equal ease.

Wish to be taught more gas atomization? Take a look at our infographic and download our whitepaper.