Techniques for producing fine metal powder
AssigneeNuclear Metals, Inc.
InventorsPeter R. Roberts, James E. Blout
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Techniques for producing fine metal powder are described, including producing droplets of molten metal to be formed into a powder, providing an environment including a substance specifically introduced for combining with the droplets, and submitting the droplets to the environment for combining the introduced substance with the droplet metal to form at least a partial coating on the powder including the introduced substance.
Claims23
A method of producing fine metal powder particles, comprising:
- producing droplets of molten metal to be formed into a powder;
- providing an environment including a substance specifically introduced for combining with said droplets;
- and
- submitting said droplets to said environment for combining said introduced substance with the droplet metal to form at least a partial coating including at least part of said introduced substance on said powder particles.
A method for producing fine metal powder, comprising:
- rotating at a high rate of speed an at least partly consumable cylinder including the metal to be powdered;
- surrounding the distal end of said cylinder with a gaseous atmosphere including a reactive substance;
- and
- heating said distal end of said rotating cylinder to melt the metal and fling from said cylinder into the atmosphere molten metal droplets to simultaneously cool and alter the composition of the droplets.
A method for producing fine reacted metal powder, comprising:
- providing a gaseous atmosphere including a reactive substance;
- forming at a location within the atmosphere molten metal droplets;
- and
- urging said droplets away from the location into said atmosphere to at least partly react and cool said droplets for forming the reacted powder.
A method for producing coated fine metal powder particles, comprising:
- producing droplets of a molten metal to be formed into a powder;
- providing a liquid medium including a substance specifically introduced for reacting with said metal;
- and
- submitting said droplets to said liquid medium to harden said droplets and form at least a partial coating including said substance on said powder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.