One aspect relates to a process for producing a sintered workpiece, which includes sintering of a ceramic material at a temperature of at least 1000° C. and in an atmosphere, in the case of which the partial pressure of atmospheric air is reduced to less than 10.sup.−6-times, based on the ambient air at the same temperature under equilibrium conditions.

An apparatus efficiently preparing ultrafine spherical metal powder includes a housing, a crucible and a powder collection area arranged in the housing. The turnplate arranged in the powder collection area is an inlaid structure. The part inlaid into the body part acts as an atomization plane of the turnplate. The atomization plane is provided with a concentric circular groove, and the turnplate is provided with an air hole. The apparatus is used for preparing ultrafine spherical metal powder by on-by-one droplets centrifugal atomization method, mainly combining the uniform droplet jet method and the centrifugal atomization method, which breaks through the traditional metal splitting model, makes the molten metal in a fibrous splitting, so as to efficiently prepare ultrafine spherical metal powder with narrow particle size distribution interval, high sphericity, good flowability, excellent spreadability, uniform and controllable size, no satellite droplets and suitable for industrial production.

An apparatus efficiently preparing ultrafine spherical metal powder includes a housing, a crucible and a powder collection area arranged in the housing. The turnplate arranged in the powder collection area is an inlaid structure. The part inlaid into the body part acts as an atomization plane of the turnplate. The atomization plane is provided with a concentric circular groove, and the turnplate is provided with an air hole. The apparatus is used for preparing ultrafine spherical metal powder by on-by-one droplets centrifugal atomization method, mainly combining the uniform droplet jet method and the centrifugal atomization method, which breaks through the traditional metal splitting model, makes the molten metal in a fibrous splitting, so as to efficiently prepare ultrafine spherical metal powder with narrow particle size distribution interval, high sphericity, good flowability, excellent spreadability, uniform and controllable size, no satellite droplets and suitable for industrial production.

The present disclosure discloses a shoulder joint prosthesis containing zirconium-niobium alloy on oxidation layer and a preparation method thereof, the preparation method comprises: using zirconium-niobium alloy powder as a raw material, conducting a 3D printing for one-piece molding to obtain an intermediate products of the humeral handle with articular surface and the scapular glenoid plate, and performing Sinter-HIP, cryogenic cooling and surface oxidation to obtain humeral handle with articular surface and scapular glenoid plate. The prosthesis comprises a humeral handle, an articular surface, a humeral head and a scapular glenoid plate, a bone trabeculae is arranged on the outer surface of the upper part of the humeral handle, the upper surface of the scapular glenoid plate and the outer surface of the circular pipe with internal thread.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of mechanically alloyed powder feedstock and methods for spheroidizing them using microwave plasma processing. The spheroidized powder can be used in metal injection molding processes, hot isostatic processing, and additive manufacturing. In some embodiments, mechanical milling, such as ball milling, can be used to prepare high entropy alloys for microwave plasma processing.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of mechanically alloyed powder feedstock and methods for spheroidizing them using microwave plasma processing. The spheroidized powder can be used in metal injection molding processes, hot isostatic processing, and additive manufacturing. In some embodiments, mechanical milling, such as ball milling, can be used to prepare high entropy alloys for microwave plasma processing.

A powder cleaning system can include a fluidized bed reactor configured to retain powder and fluidize the powder to remove adsorbate and/or other contaminants from the powder, and one or more gas sources configured to be in selective fluid communication with the fluidized bed reactor via at least one inlet line to selectively provide an inlet flow having one or more gases to the fluidized bed reactor to fluidize the powder with the one or more gases within the fluidized bed reactor. The system can include at least one outlet line in fluid communication with the fluidized bed reactor and configured to allow removal of outlet flow which comprises the adsorbate and/or other contaminants from the fluidized bed reactor.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of mechanically alloyed powder feedstock and methods for spheroidizing them using microwave plasma processing. The spheroidized powder can be used in metal injection molding processes, hot isostatic processing, and additive manufacturing. In some embodiments, mechanical milling, such as ball milling, can be used to prepare high entropy alloys for microwave plasma processing.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of mechanically alloyed powder feedstock and methods for spheroidizing them using microwave plasma processing. The spheroidized powder can be used in metal injection molding processes, hot isostatic processing, and additive manufacturing. In some embodiments, mechanical milling, such as ball milling, can be used to prepare high entropy alloys for microwave plasma processing.

A metal powder-based manufacturing system is provided and comprises: a sealed vessel defining a manufacturing chamber; a metal transformation/conversion unit contained in the manufacturing chamber and configured to heat a metal-based feedstock for transformation/conversion; an inert gas source in gas communication with the manufacturing chamber to supply inert gas therein, the inert gas source being operatively connected to the manufacturing chamber through an inert gas line; and at least one gas purifying unit in gas communication with the manufacturing chamber to purify the inert gas to obtain a purified inert gas having an oxygen partial pressure below about 100 ppb. A process for transforming/converting metal in a purified inert gas atmosphere.