Research progress on preparation of spherical metal powders by induction plasma spheroidization

Abstract:

The quality of raw powder materials have become key factors that restrict the development of metal 3D printing. The metal powders prepared by induction plasma spheroidization have many advantages, such as high spheroidization ratio、high sphericity、low impurity content and controllable particle size, which makes induction plasma spheroidization the most promising technology for large-scale industrial production of high properties spherical metal powders for 3D printing. In this paper, the development history, working principle and technical characteristics of plasma spheroidization were described. The research status of fabrication of spherical tungsten、molybdenum and titanium powders by this technology was emphatically introduced. The difficult problems to be solved and the development trend of induction plasma spheroidization were discussed as well.

Key words:spherical powders; induction plasma spheroidization; tungsten powder; titanium powder; 3D printing