Device for atomizing a melt stream by means of a gas

A device for atomizing one of a group comprising a metallic, intermetallic and ceramic melt stream by means of an atomizing gas to form a spherical powder, the device comprising:

• a melt chamber;
• a powder chamber;
• an induction coil in the melt chamber;
• a melt material in the induction coil;
• and
• an atomizer nozzle interconnecting the melt chamber and the powder chamber and being arranged in a nozzle plate for the melt stream melted off from the melt material by the induction coil, wherein
• the atomizer nozzle consists of an exclusively convergent nozzle profile having nozzle flanks which have a circular-arc-shaped cross-section, and therefore both the atomizing gas and the melt stream, both of which are conducted through the exclusively convergent nozzle profile, and droplets generated therefrom reach a velocity which is at most equal to the acoustic velocity of the atomizing gas,
• wherein a tangent at the nozzle outlet has an angle of <90° with respect to the nozzle outlet side.