How to produce 3D printing metal powder?

Metal powder manufacturing is a fundamental aspect of powder metallurgy. The different methods used to prepare metal powders include reduction, electrolysis, carbonyl decomposition, grinding, and atomization.

The four most widely used methods of producing metal powders are solid state reduction, electrolysis, chemical and atomization.

Most manufacturers use electrolysis and reduction methods to produce elemental metal powders. But they are not suitable for making alloy powders. However, atomization methods tend to overcome this limitation, so manufacturers use them to produce alloy powders.

Electrolysis is another method used to produce powdered metals. By choosing the proper electrolyte composition, temperature, concentration and current density, different metals can be deposited as sponges or powders. This can be followed by washing, drying, reduction, Annealing and crushing. This method produces metal powders of very high purity. It is basically used for highly conductive copper powders due to its high energy requirements.

The atomization method refers to the method of crushing molten metal into particles with a size smaller than about 150 μm by mechanical means. According to the method of crushing molten metal, the atomization method includes two-flow atomization, centrifugal atomization, ultrasonic atomization, Vacuum atomization, etc. These atomization methods have their own characteristics, and have been successfully applied in industrial production. Among them, the water vapor atomization method has the advantages of simple production equipment and process, low energy consumption, and large batches, and has become the main method of metal powder. industrial production methods.