Laboratory-scale Gas Atomizer for the Manufacturing of Metallic Powders

Metallic powders for additive manufacturing (AM) processes are primarily produced by gas atomization, which consists of three steps: melting, atomization and cooling. In the present work, we report on the refurbishing of a laboratory-scale gas atomizer. The equipment facilitates small-scale atomization, useful for developing powders tailored specifically to metal AM processes (e.g. binder jetting laser powder-bed fusion and direct energy deposition). The refurbished atomizer is operated by an in-house measurement and control system, fully equipped with pressure, oxygen, gas-flow and temperature sensors that allow the user to experiment with the input parameters, and thus, understand how they affect the physical and chemical properties of powders. In this paper, the working principle of the laboratory-scale gas atomizer is presented and the main characteristics of the newly refurbished equipment are described.