Accademia La Maison de la Danse Srld Italy

Metal powder is the base materials for the production

of metallic component through the conventional powder metallurgy route or the emerging field of additive

manufacturing. In any of these process routes, the properties of the finished product depends on the character of the base

powder from which it is produced which is equally dependent on the process of production of the base powder. Therefore, there

are different methods for producing metal powders with each method offering different particle morphology and

purity. These methods include crushing (for brittle material), machining, mechanical pulverization, slotting,

electrolysis, atomization of liquid metal using water, nitrogen, argon, or a combination of these, and

reduction of metal oxides in hydrogen or using carbon. These metal oxides could be materials such as iron

ore or iron oxide generated from pickling plants, in steel strip mills. Other methods include reduction of

metal oxide with higher carbon containing, metal powder, chemical decomposition of metal carbonyls, and

electrolytic processing of cathodic deposition from molten metal salts; and in some instances, recycling (Sharma, 2011). Each

of these methods provides different particle morphology and characteristics. An illustration of typical powder shapes

produced from some of these processes is shown in Figures 1 and 2.