New Approach in Spherical Powder Production with Laser

Chivel Y

Published on: 2025-11-01

Abstract

A process of laser gas atomization has been developed to obtain a spherical metal powder with a particle size of 30-100 μm using laser beams of conical geometry.

A process is presented for obtaining a spherical powder in a wide size range of 50 nm - 100 μm, in which a continuous near-surface optical discharge with a temperature of 20 kK is formed using conical laser beams in an inert gas flow, into which the material is introduced in the form of a wire or a powder flow. Particle condensation is strongly and rapidly quenched by the inert gas flow, resulting in high super saturation. The efficiency of the proposed laser method for producing powders is up to 0.5 kg/kWh at an electric power of 16 kW, while the existing, most efficient methods of plasma and gas spraying provide an efficiency of no better than 0.1-0.25 kg/h kW. The method can be used to obtain powders from various materials - metals, ceramics, plastics, and suspensions.

The process of formation of nanoparticles by means of inert gaseous condensation of metal vapors obtained by laser evaporation of a micro powder flow of 40–60 μm with a particle concentration of 104–106 cm^–3 has been studied. The resulting nanoparticles with a size of 20-50 nm are collected in the form of conglomerates up to 100 nm in size. The productivity of the process reaches 0.2 kg/kWh.