Investigations on melt atomization with gas and liquefied cryogenic gas

The present article describes basic investigations on the spray and the powder characteristics of materials atomized with a confined nozzle arrangement using nitrogen and argon as atomizing media in the gaseous and the liquefied state. Cu-, Sn-, Fe- and Ni-base alloys have been treated in more than 80 experiments, covering the range of median particle sizes from above 100 μm down to 7 μm. On-line measurements inside the atomization jets by Phase-Doppler anemometry have been performed in order to characterize the sprays in terms of particle velocity and size. Basic properties for the applied confined nozzles are described. Atomization efficiency is correlated with process conditions, on-line measured data and thermo-physical properties of the melts and atomizing media.