Atomizing system having an imaging system operatively coupled with an in-flight heat treatment device

A method for operating an atomizing system having an in-flight heat treatment device operatively coupled with an imaging system to detect reactive metals, the method comprising:

• receiving, from an imaging device, an image of at least a portion of an atomization zone of the in-flight heat treatment device;
• segmenting, with a computing system, a region of interest (ROI) from the image;
• segmenting, with the computing system, each pixel within the ROI;
• determining, with the computing system, a characteristic of each pixel within the ROI;
• and
• determining, with the computing system, an atomization yield based on the characteristic of each pixel within the ROI.

An atomizing system comprising:

• an in-flight heat treatment device configured to form a reactive metal powder within a reaction zone that includes a jet of an atomization gas, an additive gas, and metal particles that transform a metal source into the reactive metal powder in an atomization zone downstream of the reaction zone;
• an imaging device configured to capture an image of at least a portion of the atomization zone of the in-flight heat treatment device;
• and
• a computing system operably coupled with the imaging device, the computing system including a processor and associated memory, the memory storing instructions that, when implemented by the processor, configure the computing system to:
• receive the image from the imaging device;
• determine a characteristic of each pixel within the image;
• and
• determine a particle size distribution of the reactive metal powder based on the characteristic of each pixel within the image.