Process and plant for producing atomized metal powder, metal powder and the use of the metal powder

A process for producing metal powder in an atomization plant comprised of a reactor vessel including a gas chamber, a casting box, a powder container and sedimentation equipment, the process comprising:

• introducing a stream of molten metal into the gas chamber of the reactor vessel;
• introducing an atomizing medium into the gas chamber through at least one primary nozzle to interact with the stream of molten metal for forming a stream of atomized metal particles, the resulting particles being in first and second groups, with the particles in the first group being larger than the particles in the second group;
• supplying coolant into the upper part of the reactor vessel via at least one secondary supply means at a pressure sufficiently low to avoid deformation of the particles;
• passing the coolant down through the gas chamber of the reactor vessel;
• conducting substantially all of the formed powder particles in the first group to pass out of the reactor vessel into the powder container;
• applying suction between the sedimentation equipment and the lower end of the reactor vessel to which the sedimentation equipment is connected, the suction being sufficient to transport the coolant together with substantially all of the powder particles in the second group but substantially none of the particles in the first group into the sedimentation equipment;
• and
• separating the coolant from the accompanying powder particles in the sedimentation equipment.