Study of liquid spreading and particle size distribution during the preparation of aluminum alloy powder by rotary disc atomization

An experimental setup using high temperature rotating disc centrifugal atomization was developed to study the preparation technology of the aluminum alloy powder for additive manufacturing with high sphericity, high particle size concentration and no satellite powder. The flow spreading pattern of the aluminum liquid was investigated, and four typical regions were found to exist on the surface of the disc, which were named and analyzed. The microstructures of the 1060 and AlSi10Mg powder samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The powder particle size distribution curves for typical experiments were analyzed by fitting a single-peak Extreme model. A shift in the splitting mode caused by a decrease in the flow rate of the aluminum liquid was investigated, which was effective in increasing the fines rate and reducing the median diameter. The effects of three different disk configurations, plane, tapered and curved, on the median diameter were compared. The effect law of the rotational speed and disc diameter on the median diameter of 1060 aluminum powder was analyzed, and a new theoretical formula of the particle size was obtained by regression analysis.