Method and device for producing powders that consist of substantially spherical particles

US7093463B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Applikations-und Technikzentrum fur Energieverfahrens-Umwelt-und Stromungstechnik (ATZ-EVUS) · DE

Inventors

• Gerhard Wolf · Mannheim, DE
• Andreas Emmel · Hahnbach, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 9, 2000
• Grant date: Aug 22, 2006
• Expiry date: Dec 27, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01H1/021
• WIPO field: Materials, metallurgy
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A method for producing powders that consist of substantially spherical particles from a material such as glass, ceramics or plastic that produces a highly viscous melt that solidifies at a glass transition temperature Tg or at a solidification temperature Ts. The inventive method comprises the following steps: (a) producing a melt of a viscosity η in the range of from 0.1 to 100 Ns/m2; (b) atomizing the melt using a first gas, the first gas having a temperature TA≧Tg or ≧0.5Ts at the outlet of the nozzle and (c) cooling off the particles produced by atomization in a cooling section downstream of the nozzle using a coolant, the temperature of the coolant being smaller than Ts or Tg.