Characteristics of 7055Al alloy powders manufactured by gas-solid two-phase atomization: A comparison with gas atomization process

Chaorun Si, Xingling Tang, Xianjie Zhang, Junbiao Wang, Weichao Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, the principle of gas-solid two-phase atomization methodology for metal powder is demonstrated. A cost-effective production technology for high-quality metal powder was proposed. The morphology, size distribution, microstructure and cooling rate of two-phase atomized 7055Al powder were examined. The experimental results have demonstrated a number of advantages and unique features of gas-solid two-phase atomization in the preparation of metal powders. When the Argon gas pressure P = 0.6 MPa and iron particle feed rate M′ = 235.6 g·min− 1, the mass median diameter (d50) of the 7055Al powder manufactured by two-phase atomization process was 22.8 μm, which is reduced by 52.7% compared with gas atomized powders with d50 = 48.2 μm under the same atomization parameters. Experimental results also showed that the gas-solid two-phase atomized powders exhibited more irregular shapes than gas atomized powders. The cooling rate of most powders was in the range of 104– 105 K/s, and for some extra checked fine powders the cooling rate can even reach 106 K/s. The two-phase atomized powders had larger cooling rate and presented obvious rapid solidification characteristics than gas atomized powder with the same diameter. Moreover, this study indicates that gas-solid two-phase atomization could be a promising high-quality and low-cost metal powder preparation technology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)66-74
Number of pages9
JournalMaterials and Design
Volume118
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2017

Keywords

  • 7055Al alloy
  • Cooling rate
  • Powder size
  • Two-phase atomization

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