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High-purity metal powder is made by the electron beam melting of a starting material in rod form in a vacuum wherein the molten metal is momentarily caught on a spinning plate rotating at high speed and flung therefrom and thereafter solidified by cooling. The metal on the spinning plate is bombarde

High-purity metal powder is made by the electron beam melting of a starting material in rod form in a vacuum wherein the molten metal is momentarily caught on a spinning plate rotating at high speed and flung therefrom and thereafter solidified by cooling. The metal on the spinning plate is bombarded with an electron beam that is so focused and periodically deflected that its focal spot is many times smaller than the diameter of the spinning plate. The beam deflection between the rotational center of the spinning plate and its marginal area is performed such that the spinning plate is scanned in a zone that extends radially of the axis of rotation of the spinning plate and is small in relation to its diameter. Cooling of the metal particles to the point of solidification is accomplished by radiation loss.

대표청구항 ▼

An apparatus for making high-purity metal powder from high purity metal while maintaining the initial high purity of the starting material, comprising: a. a circular plate having a given diameter and a circumferential marginal area and means for rotating same at a high speed about a vertical axis of

An apparatus for making high-purity metal powder from high purity metal while maintaining the initial high purity of the starting material, comprising: a. a circular plate having a given diameter and a circumferential marginal area and means for rotating same at a high speed about a vertical axis of rotation corresponding to the center of the plate; b. means for electron beam melting high purity metal starting material in rod form in vacuo into molten metal droplets directed onto the circular plate; c. means for producing an electron beam focusable to a given focal spot on the plate and for focusing the focal spot such that its diameter is many times smaller than the given diameter of the plate and deflecting the beam between the rotational center of the spinning plate and the marginal area to effect the scanning of the plate in a zone that extends radially of the axis of rotation of the plate to said marginal area when the plate is spinning to direct the molten metal droplets by centrifugal force from the plate when it is spinning in a controlled manner within a fixed narrow angular portion of the circumference of the spinning plate to define a fixed narrow angular range of flight paths of the molten metal droplets leaving the plate; and d. means for collecting the metal particles formed from the droplets undergoing cooling and solidification due to loss of heat due to radiation during flight to form the metal powder.