METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING HIGH PURITY SPHERICAL METALLIC POWDERS AT HIGH PRODUCTION RATES FROM ONE OR TWO WIRES
20210229170 · 2021-07-29
Inventors
- François Proulx (Montreal, CA)
- Christopher Alex Dorval Dion (Montreal, CA)
- Pierre CARABIN (Montreal, CA)
Cpc classification
H05H1/30
ELECTRICITY
B22F2009/0824
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B22F2009/0824
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B22F2999/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B22F2999/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B22F2009/0848
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
B22F1/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B22F9/08
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
H05H1/46
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
The present application relates to a plasma atomization process and apparatus for producing metallic powders from at least one wire/rod feedstock. In the process, an electric arc is applied to the at least one wire/rod feedstock to melt the same. A plasma torch is employed to generate a supersonic plasma stream at an apex at which the electric arc is transferred to the at least one wire/rod feedstock to atomize the molten wire/rod feedstock into particles. A downstream cooling chamber solidifies the particles into the metallic powders. An anti-satellite diffuser is employed to prevent recirculation of the powders in order to avoid satellite formation. In an apparatus where two wires are fed, one wire serves as an anode, and the other as a cathode.
Claims
1. A plasma atomization process comprising: a thermal plasma torch; one or two wires to be atomized fed continuously; an electrical arc transferred to the wire or wires to be atomized; and a cooling process adapted to solidify the particles into spherical powders.
2. The process of claim 1, wherein the plasma torch is equipped with a supersonic nozzle.
3. The process of claim 1, wherein an electrical arc is transferred to the wires at an apex within the supersonic stream of the plasma torch.
4. The process of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein atomized metal droplets pass through an anti-satellite diffuser adapted to prevent the recirculation of fine powders and thus satellite formation.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein two power supplies or more are used in parallel to control the arc between the two wires or between the single wire and one electrode of the torch.
6. The process of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein at least one power supply for the wire arc is voltage-controlled.
7. The process of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein at least one power supply for the wire are is current-controlled.
8. The process of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the parallel power supplies are used in a combination of voltage control and current control modes concurrently.
9. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and a wire adapted to be fed in the plasma torch, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein an arc is adapted to be formed between the wire, which acts as a cathode, and an electrode.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the wire is centrally fed into the plasma torch.
11. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 and 10, wherein a supersonic nozzle is provided, and wherein the electrical arc is generated within the supersonic nozzle.
12. An apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the wire feedstock is replaced by a rod or a billet having a diameter between 0.25 and 2.5 inches.
13. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein a cooling chamber is provided downstream of the plasma torch for solidifying the particles into spherical powders.
14. A plasma atomization process comprising: providing a thermal plasma torch; feeding continuously one or two wires to be atomized; an electrical arc being adapted to be transferred to the wire or wires to produce particles; and providing cooling for solidifying the particles into spherical powders.
15. The process of claim 14, wherein the plasma torch is provided with a supersonic nozzle.
16. The process of claim 14, wherein an electrical arc is adapted to be transferred to the wires at an apex within the supersonic stream of the plasma torch.
17. The process of any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein atomized metal droplets pass through an anti-satellite diffuser adapted to prevent the recirculation of fine powders and thus satellite formation.
18. The process of claim 14, wherein at least two power supplies are used in parallel to control the arc between the two wires or between the single wire and one electrode of the plasma torch.
19. The process of any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein at least one power supply for the wire arc is voltage-controlled.
20. The process of any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein at least one power supply for the wire arc is current-controlled.
21. The process of any one of claims 14 to 20, wherein the parallel power supplies are used in a combination of voltage control and current control modes concurrently.
22. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and a wire adapted to be fed in the plasma torch, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein an arc is adapted to be formed between the wire, which acts as a cathode, and an electrode.
23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the wire is centrally fed into the plasma torch.
24. The apparatus of any one of claims 22 and 23, wherein a supersonic nozzle is provided, and wherein the electrical arc is generated within the supersonic nozzle.
25. An apparatus of any one of claims 22 to 24, wherein the wire feedstock takes the form of a rod or a billet having a diameter between 0.25 and 2.5 inches.
26. The apparatus of any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein a cooling chamber is provided downstream of the plasma torch for solidifying the particles into spherical powders.
27. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and at least one wire adapted to be fed in the apparatus, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, and a cooling chamber adapted to solidify the particles into powders, and wherein the wire is adapted to serve as a cathode in the plasma torch.
28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein a plasma stream delivered by the plasma torch is adapted to be accelerated to supersonic velocity into a supersonic jet.
29. The apparatus of any one of claims 27 to 28, wherein a supersonic nozzle is provided, and wherein the wire is adapted to be fed into the supersonic nozzle, either before or after a throat of the supersonic nozzle.
30. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and at least a pair of wires adapted to be fed in the apparatus, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wires into particles, wherein one of the wires is adapted to serve as an anode, whereas the other wire is adapted to serve as a cathode.
31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein a cooling chamber is provided downstream of the plasma torch for solidifying the particles into powders,
32. The apparatus of any one of claims 30 to 31, wherein a plasma stream delivered by the plasma torch is adapted to be accelerated to supersonic velocity into a supersonic jet.
33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein .a supersonic nozzle is provided, and wherein the wires are adapted to be fed into the supersonic nozzle, either before or after a throat of the supersonic nozzle.
34. The apparatus of any one of claims 30 to 33, wherein a power supply is provided and is adapted to force current to pass through the wires, with an electrical arc being generated between the two wires.
35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein a power supply is provided and is adapted to force current to pass through the wires, with an electrical arc being generated between the two wires and within the supersonic nozzle.
36. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and a wire adapted to be fed in the plasma torch, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein an arc is adapted to be formed between the wire, which acts as a cathode, and an electrode.
37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the wire is centrally fed into the plasma torch.
38. The apparatus of any one of claims 36 to 37, wherein a wire guide is provided for the wire, whereby by inserting the wire through the wire guide, the wire can be melted efficiently via the transferred arc.
39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the wire guide is adapted to double as an ignition cathode.
40. The apparatus of any one of claims 36 to 39, wherein a supersonic nozzle is provided, and wherein the electrical arc is generated within the supersonic nozzle.
41. The apparatus of any one of claims 36 to 40, wherein a cooling chamber is provided downstream of the plasma torch for solidifying the particles into powders,
42. An apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and at least one wire adapted to be fed in the plasma torch, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein the apparatus is adapted to be cooled by a gas thereby heating up the gas, with the so heated gas being adapted to be used as the plasma gas.
43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the gas includes an inert gas, such as argon.
44. The apparatus of any one of claims 42 to 43, wherein a gas channel is provided for feeding the gas to the plasma torch.
45. The apparatus of any one of claims 42 to 44, wherein a supersonic nozzle is provided, the gas being adapted to be accelerated through the supersonic nozzle and to shred the particles.
46. The apparatus of any one of claims 42 to 45, wherein a cooling chamber is provided downstream of the plasma torch for solidifying the particles into powders.
47. The apparatus of any one of claims 42 to 43, wherein a gas channel is provided, wherein the gas is adapted to be heated before it contacts an electrical arc provided at a leading end of the wire.
48. The apparatus of any one of claims 27, 31, 41 and 46, wherein the cooling chamber contains an inert gas, such as argon.
49. A plasma atomization process comprising: providing a thermal plasma torch; feeding continuously one or two wires to be atomized, thereby producing atomized metal droplets therefrom; and passing the droplets through an anti-satellite diffuser that is adapted to prevent the recirculation of fine powders and thus satellite formation.
50. A plasma atomization process comprising: providing a thermal plasma torch; providing one or two wires to be atomized; and providing at least two power supplies in parallel for controlling an arc between the two wires or between the single wire and one electrode of the plasma torch, thereby producing particles.
51. The process of claim 50, wherein at least two power supplies are used in parallel to control the arc between the two wires or between the single wire and one electrode of the plasma torch.
52. The process of any one of claims 50 to 51, wherein at least one power supply for the wire arc is voltage-controlled.
53. The process of any one of claims 50 to 52, wherein at least one power supply for the wire arc is current-controlled.
54. The process of any one of claims 50 to 53, wherein the parallel power supplies are used in a combination of voltage control and current control modes concurrently.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] For a better understanding of the embodiments described herein and to show more clearly how they may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, which show at least one exemplary embodiment and in which:
[0034]
[0035]
[0036]
[0037]
[0038]
[0039]
[0040]
[0041]
[0042]
DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS
[0043] The present approach disclosed herein provides methods and apparatuses for producing metallic powders, by combining features of the above-described plasma atomization and wire arc spray technologies, including by using some of the concepts of the wire arc spray technology and adapting it to make it suitable for the production of high purity spherical powders. More specifically, the gas jet is replaced by a source of plasma and the molten wire is atomized into a cooling chamber as seen in atomization processes.
[0044] One key consideration is powder quality. Wire arc was not developed for high quality powder production and must therefore be adapted and tuned towards powder quality. The current disclosure includes a control strategy that improves stability of the melting process, which will be described in more details further below.
[0045] A source of plasma (such as one or multiple plasma torches or an electrical arc), delivers a plasma stream that can be accelerated to supersonic velocity prior or after hitting the molten stream with high momentum.
[0046] In the current embodiments, the supersonic plasma jet source is produced via an arc plasma torch because it is widely available. However, many other ways could be used for achieving the same supersonic plasma jet. For example, any thermal plasma sources, such as inductively-coupled and microwave plasma sources, could be used as well.
EXAMPLE 1
Dual Wire Arc Plasma Atomization (Main Embodiment)
[0047] The details of the main embodiment will now be described.
[0048] The benefits of using this embodiment over known technology (Ref. 2) are presented in Table 1. It shows a clear advantage in favor of using the current subject matter as opposed to the technology of Ref. 2.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Key Indicators (for Ti64) Prior Art (Ref 2) This invention Production rate 5 28 (kg/h) Gas to metal ratio 26 5.5 Stop to start time 2 0.5 (h) Specific Power 31.2 4 (kWh/kg) for Ti64 Thermal 1.11 8.75 Efficiency (%)
[0049] The recommended operating conditions of the main embodiment are disclosed in Table 2 for two materials, namely Ti64 grade 23 and Zirconium.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Material Ti—6Al—4V Gr 23 Zirconium Run # TA-015 ZH-006 Production Rate (kg/h) 28 23.7 Torch Power (kW) 90 94 Plasma gas flow (slpm) 890 937 Torch Sheath gas flow (slpm) 260 200 Main Sheath gas flow (slpm) 400 400 Wire size (mm) 3.175 3.175 Wire arc total current (A) 740 515 Wire arc voltage setting (V) 30 26 Wire arc melting efficiency (%) 44 37
[0050] The performance of two products generated via the main embodiment are disclosed in Table 3, the two products being TA-015-EK-01 and ZH-006-FQ-01, which correspond to T164 20-63 μm and Zr 20-120 μm, respectively.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Product Name TA-015-EK-01 ZH-006-FQ-01 Material & Size Cut Ti64 20-63 μm Zr 20-120 μm Yield (%) 32 64 Apparent Density (g/cm{circumflex over ( )}3) 2.42 3.98 Tap Density (g/cm{circumflex over ( )}3) 2.7 Not measured Hail Flow rate (s/50 g) 25.91 15.42 Aluminum (%) 6.4 Not applicable Vanadium (%) 4 Not applicable Oxygen (ppm) 1000 1500
[0051]
[0052] A ceramic tip 510 provides the electrical insulation of a water-cooled contactor 514 from the body of the reactor through a gas sheath nozzle 513 and of the torch's supersonic nozzle 505. The intense heat emitted by the plasma torch 501 and the transferred arc requires the contactors to be water cooled while the contact tip itself is a replaceable consumable, As such, water enters at 503 the contactor's manifold 515 at the rear and is directed towards the tip where it is returned upwards again and out through exit 504. Electrical power is provided to the transferred arc system via the manifolds through a lug mount 511.
[0053]
[0054]
[0055] In the current embodiments, the wires 502 (
[0056] To ensure stability of the wire arc system for atomization, the system needs to control 2 out of 3 parameters, namely voltage, current and feed speed. These three parameters need to reach a steady state in equilibrium to be considered in continuous operation. In steady state, the distance between the wire, the length of the arc and the power become constant. To reach this steady state, several configurations can be employed, such as:
[0057] Fixed wire speed, one power supply in voltage-controlled mode, one power supply in current controlled mode (main embodiment);
[0058] Fixed wire speed, one or multiple voltage-controlled power supplies. This configuration is functional but current is highly unstable, which has a negative impact on particle size distribution and product consistency. Furthermore, it is highly demanding on both power supplies;
[0059] Current-controlled power supplies, variable wire speed. This configuration has yet to be tested, but would work in theory.
[0060] Fixed wire speed, current/voltage-controlled hybrid power supply was found to be most suitable for the present application.
[0061] Using a Servo motor, it is possible to have very precise and constant feed speeds.
[0062] Using two power supplies in parallel, one in voltage-controlled mode and another one in current-controlled mode, is the key to achieve a stable configuration. Since the two power supplies are in parallel, the voltage-controlled one will force the same voltage to both power supplies to be fixed. This removes another variable. To add another layer of stability, the other power supply is set to current control mode, with a relatively high current setting (around ⅔ of the total current required), which helps to create a current baseline.
[0063] The only variable in the process is a portion of the total current, which needs to fluctuate to allow the other parameters to remain constant (degree of freedom). Therefore, the voltage-controlled power supply provides an additional current that is variable to complement what is missing to the current already provided by the current-controlled power supply to melt the proper amount of metal, so the system remains in steady state.
[0064] For example, assuming 20 kW are required to melt a certain metal at a certain feed speed, and assuming that this feed speed remains constant, if the voltage was fixed at 30 V by the voltage-controlled power supply, a total of 667 Å must be supplied by the power supplies. If the current-controlled power supply is set at 400 Å, the voltage-controlled one would fluctuate around 267 Å with little ripples. This remaining fluctuation is required to keep the system in steady state by compensating against all other sources of variability of the process, such as wire diameter variation, argon flow rate fluctuation, arc length variability, arc restrike pattern, mechanical vibration of the wire, wire feed speed micro-fluctuations, etc.
[0065]
[0066] Such stable operation, as shown in
[0067]
[0068] Although the current control herein presented is mentioned and tested specifically for the main embodiment, the same control strategy would apply to other embodiments presented as well.
EXAMPLE 2
Single-Wire Arc Plasma Atomization
[0069] In the second example shown in
EXAMPLE 3
Centrally-Fed Single Wire Arc Plasma Atomization
[0070] In the third example shown in
[0071] The embodiments described herein provide in one aspect an apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and one or two wires adapted to be fed in the apparatus, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, and a cooling chamber adapted to solidify the particles into powders, and wherein the wire is adapted to serve as a cathode in the plasma torch.
[0072] Also, the embodiment described herein provide in another aspect an apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and a pair of wires adapted to be fed in the apparatus, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wires into particles, wherein one of the wires is adapted to serve as an anode, whereas the other wire is adapted to serve as a cathode.
[0073] Moreover, an embodiment includes an electrical control strategy that allows for the smooth and stable operation of the said embodiment.
[0074] Furthermore, the embodiments described herein provide in another aspect an apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and a wire adapted to be fed into the apparatus, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein an arc is adapted to be formed between the wire, which acts as a cathode, and an electrode of the torch.
[0075] Finally, the embodiments described herein provide in another aspect an apparatus for producing metallic powders from wire feedstock, comprising a plasma torch and at least one wire adapted to be centrally fed inside the plasma torch, the plasma torch being adapted to atomize the molten wire into particles, wherein an arc is adapted to be formed between the wire, which acts as a cathode, and an electrode within the torch.
[0076] While the above description provides examples of the embodiments, it will be appreciated that some features and/or functions of the described embodiments are susceptible to modification without departing from the spirit and principles of operation of the described embodiments. Accordingly, what has been described above has been intended to be illustrative of the embodiments and non-limiting, and it will be understood by persons skilled in the art that other variants and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments as defined in the claims appended hereto.
REFERENCES
[0077] [1] Peter G. Tsantrizos, Francois Allaire and Majid Entezarian, “Method of Production of Metal and Ceramic Powders by Plasma Atomization”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,419, Jan. 13, 1998.
[0078] [2] Christopher Alex Dorval Dion, William Kreklewetz and Pierre Carabin, “Plasma Apparatus for the Production of High-Quality Spherical Powders at High Capacity”, PCT Publication No. WO 2016/191854 A1, Dec. 8, 2016.
[0079] [3] Michel Drouet, “Methods and Apparatuses for Preparing Spheroidal Powders”, PCT Publication No. WO 2011/054113 A1, May 12, 2011.
[0080] [4] Maher 1. Boulos, Jerzy W. Jurewicz and Alexandre Auger, “Process and Apparatus for Producing Powder Particles by Atomization of a Feed Material in the Form of an Elongated Member”, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0326649 A1, Nov. 16, 2017.
[0081] [5] Pierre Fauchais, Joachim Heberlein, and Maher Boulos, “Thermal Spray Fundamentals—From Powder to Part”, pp 577-605, Springer, N.Y., 2014.