Theoretical and experimental investigation of Ti alloy powder production using low-power plasma torches
(1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sivas University of Science and Technology, Sivas, Turkey;
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey)
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey)
Abstract: This study was carried out to investigate the possibility of titanium alloy metal powder production using low-power plasma torches. An argon DC non-transferred arc plasma torch was designed, and numerical analysis was conducted to determine the plasma jet properties and wire temperature. The highest velocities inside the nozzle attachment were between 838？ and 1178？m/s. The velocities of the jets at the apex were between 494 and 645？m/s for different gas flow rates. The studied plasma gas flow rates had no significant effect on the effective plasma jet length. It was shown that the plasma jet length can be estimated by numerical analysis using the temperature and velocity changes of the plasma jet over distance. It was observed that the powders produced were spherical without any satellites. As a result of this study, a plasma torch was developed and powder production was performed successfully by using relatively low torch power.
Key words: plasma atomization; particle size; powder production; thermal plasma torch; Ti alloy powder; computational fluid dynamics; microstructure