Preparation of metal powder.

At present, the preparation process of powder is mainly divided into: reduction, electrolysis, carbonyl decomposition, grinding, atomization, etc.
Among them, the application of powder as raw material to powder metallurgy industry by reduction method, electrolysis method and atomization method is more common.
However, the electrolytic and reduction methods are limited to the production of single metal powders, and these methods are not applicable to the alloy powder.
Atomization method for alloy powder production, at the same time, modern atomization technology on the shape of the powder also can make control, the continuous development of atomizing chamber structure significantly improved the atomization efficiency, which makes the atomization method developed as the main method of powder production.
The atomization method meets the special requirement of 3D printing consumable metal powder.

The method of atomization is to break the metal molten liquid into a particle size less than 150 mm by mechanical means.

The method can be divided into atomization including two - flow atomization, centrifugal atomization, ultrasonic atomization, vacuum atomization and so on.
These atomization methods have their own characteristics and have been successfully applied to industrial production.
The water vapour atomization method has the advantages of simple production equipment and technology, low energy consumption and large batch. It has become the main industrial production method of metal powder.