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US 10,987,735 B2Granted
Spheroidal titanium metallic powders with custom microstructures
Assignee6K Inc.
InventorsKamal Hadidi, Gregory Wrobel, Makhlouf Redjdal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methodologies, systems, and devices are provided for producing metal spheroidal powder products. By utilizing a microwave plasma, control over spheriodization and resulting microstructure can be tailored to meet desired demands.
Claims24
A method of modifying at least one of particle shape or microstructure of a titanium based feed stock, the method comprising:
- selecting a composition of the titanium based metal feed stock;
- determining a desired microstructure for a final product;
- selecting cooling process parameters based upon the desired microstructure and selected composition of the titanium based metal feed stock;
- melting at least a surface portion of particles of the titanium based metal feed stock in a plasma having a substantially uniform temperature profile at between 4,000K and 8,000K to spheroidize the particles;
- exposing the spheroidized particles to an inert gas;
- and
- setting and applying the selected cooling processing parameters to create spheroidized particles with the desired microstructure,
- wherein the cooling process parameters comprise one or more of a cooling gas flow rate, a residence time of the titanium based metal feed stock, and a cooling gas composition,
- wherein the titanium based metal feed stock has a α-phase crystal structure and the spheroidized particles includes one or more regions of a β-phase crystal structure.
6 more elements
A method of modifying at least one of particle shape or microstructure of a titanium based feed stock, the method comprising:
- selecting a composition of the titanium based metal feed stock;
- determining a desired microstructure for a final product;
- selecting cooling process parameters based upon the desired microstructure and selected composition of the titanium based metal feed stock;
- melting at least a surface portion of particles of the titanium based metal feed stock in a plasma having a substantially uniform temperature profile at between 4,000K and 8,000K to spheroidize the particles;
- exposing the spheroidized particles to an inert gas;
- and
- setting and applying the selected cooling processing parameters to create spheroidized particles with the desired microstructure,
- wherein the cooling process parameters comprise one or more of a cooling gas flow rate, a residence time of the titanium based metal feed stock, and a cooling gas composition,
- wherein the titanium based metal feed stock has a single phase structure and the spheroidized particles have a multiphase structure.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.