Method and apparatus for producing fine particles, and fine particles

Abstract

A method and apparatus are invented for producing fine particles, which can readily realize the formation of fine particles of sub-μm order to 100 micron order as well as fine particles of several micrometer which cannot be realized by a conventional method and apparatus available for producing fine particles, and a large quantity of fine particles having the desired particle diameter can be obtained with a high yield. A molten material (1), which is a molten raw material to be fragmented into fine particles, is supplied into a liquid coolant (4), boiling due to spontaneous-bubble nucleation is generated, and the molten material (1) is cooled and solidified while forming fine particles thereof by utilizing a pressure wave generated by this boiling. This production method is realized by apparatus comprising: material supplying means (3); a cooling section (2) which brings in the coolant (4) whose quantity is small and sufficient for cooling and solidifying the supplied molten material (1), and cools and solidifies the molten material (1) while forming fine particles thereof by utilizing a pressure wave generated by boiling due to spontaneous-bubble nucleation; and recovery means (5) for recovering fine particles from the coolant (4).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.