AN INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF GAS ATOMISATION PARAMETERS ON TIN POWDER PRODUCTION

In this study, the effects of production parameters on gas atomised tin powder properties have been investigated experimentally. the experiments have been done in the new gazi gas atomisation unit by using close-coupled mannesmann type of nozzle. air has been used as the atomisation gas and tin heated up to 400°c has been atomised between 2 and 8 mm of protrusion lengths and 5 and 30 bar of pressures. the smallest powders have been produced under the pressure of 10 bars by using the melt delivery tube with 3 mm iner diameter and 8 mm protrusion length and mean powder size has been measured as 68,50 μm. the produced powders have generally irregular shapes. the powders smaller than 10 μm in size have more spherical shape and smooth surface. however the powders coarser than 100 μm have ligamental shape and cellular surface structure.