Xiao-ping Liu, Kuai-she Wang, Ping Hu, Qiang Chen, and Alex A. Volinsky, Spheroidization of molybdenum powder by radio frequency thermal plasma, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 11, pp.1212-1218. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1187-7
Cite this article as:
Xiao-ping Liu, Kuai-she Wang, Ping Hu, Qiang Chen, and Alex A. Volinsky, Spheroidization of molybdenum powder by radio frequency thermal plasma, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 11, pp.1212-1218. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1187-7
Xiao-ping Liu, Kuai-she Wang, Ping Hu, Qiang Chen, and Alex A. Volinsky, Spheroidization of molybdenum powder by radio frequency thermal plasma, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 11, pp.1212-1218. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1187-7
Cite this article as:
Xiao-ping Liu, Kuai-she Wang, Ping Hu, Qiang Chen, and Alex A. Volinsky, Spheroidization of molybdenum powder by radio frequency thermal plasma, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 11, pp.1212-1218. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1187-7
School of Metallurgical Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture&Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
Metallurgical Engineering Research Center of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, 710055, China
State Technical Center, Jinduicheng Molybdenum Co. Ltd, Xi'an, 710068, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA
Funds:
This work was financially supported by the 2012 Western Materials Innovation Foundation of China (No. XBCL-1-06), the Science and Technology Coordinating Innovative Engineering Project of Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2014KTCQ01-35), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2014JM6226), and the Specialized Research Fund of Education Commission of Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2013JK0905).
Received:
17 September 2014;
Revised:
26 November 2014;
Accepted:
30 November 2014;
Available Online:
10 June 2021
To control the morphology and particle size of dense spherical molybdenum powder prepared by radio frequency (RF) plasma from irregular molybdenum powder as a precursor, plasma process parameters were optimized in this paper. The effects of the carrier gas flow rate and molybdenum powder feeding rate on the shape and size of the final products were studied. The molybdenum powder morphology was examined using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. The powder phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The tap density and apparent density of the molybdenum powder were investigated using a Hall flow meter and a Scott volumeter. The optimal process parameters for the spherical molybdenum powder preparation are 50 g/min powder feeding rate and 0.6 m3/h carrier gas rate. In addition, pure spherical molybdenum powder can be obtained from irregular powder, and the tap density is enhanced after plasma processing. The average size is reduced from 72 to 62 µm, and the tap density is increased from 2.7 to 6.2 g/cm3. Therefore, RF plasma is a promising method for the preparation of high-density and high-purity spherical powders.