DEVICE AND METHOD FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY PREPARATION OF SPHERICAL METAL POWDER FOR 3D PRINTING EMPLOYING SEPARATION INTO FIBERS

摘要

Disclosed are a device and a method for high-efficiency preparation of a spherical metal powder (10) for 3D printing employing separation into fibers. The device comprises a housing (16), a crucible (1) and a powder collecting region disposed in the housing (16), and a rotating disc (7) having an embedded structure and disposed in the powder collecting region. A material having a poor thermal conductivity is selected to form a main portion of the rotating disc (7), and a metal material having a wetting angle of less than 90º with respect to a liquid drop (6) is selected and embedded into the main portion to serve as an atomizing surface (22) of the rotating disc (7), with a vent hole (23) being disposed in the rotating disc (7). The method for preparing a spherical metal powder (10) for 3D printing combines a technique of preparing microparticles by breaking the flow of a capillary jet (14) by means of an electromagnetic force with a technique of centrifugal atomization, which represents a breakthrough with regard to a traditional mode of metal splitting, such that molten metal is separated in a fibrous manner. Thus, the method allows the preparation of spherical metal powder (10) for 3D printing having a narrow particle size distribution, high sphericity, good fluidity, excellent spreadability, a uniform and controllable size, and no satellite drops, and being suitable for industrial production.