ABSTRACT
As gas atomisation has been the main method for producing high-performance spherical powders in the past decades, its application in the production of metallic powders has become one of the main research subjects in this field. Since it is challenging to directly observe the atomising gas and to investigate melt flow states by experiments, numerical simulation is attracting increasing interest in studying the gas atomisation process. In this work, various computational fluid dynamics models were implemented to simulate the gas atomisation process. With the models, the droplet breakup, cooling, and solidification within the coupled process were investigated. The final mean particle size was predicted through numerical simulations and compared with the statistics extracted from the gas atomisation process, which shows that a reasonable mass median diameter of the particle can be predicted numerically. The results also show a clear relationship between the breakup trajectory and the resulting particle size.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Gezhou Wang
Gezhou Wang graduated from RWTH Aachen University in 2022 with a Master's degree in Automotive Engineering and Transportation. He studied the gas atomization process with numerical methods at the Institute of Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 and then worked on this topic as a student assistant for a few months before entering the industry.
Yuanbin Deng
Yuanbin Deng currently leads the research in the process simulation field of the powder metallurgy and ceramics at the Institute for Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University. His research interests focus on the development of the digital twin of the powder metallurgical processes from powder to component, for instance sinter-based additive manufacturing and near-net-shape manufacturing by hot isostatic pressing.
Frank Adjei-Kyeremeh
Frank Adjei-Kyeremeh is a research assistant in the additive manufacturing group at the Foundry Institute of the RWTH Aachen University.
Jiali Zhang
Jiali Zhang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University.
Iris Raffeis
Iris Raffeis is the head of the additive manufacturing group at the Foundry Institute of RWTH Aachen University.
Andreas Bührig-Polaczek
Andreas Bührig-Polaczek is the professor of the Foundry Institute at RWTH Aachen University.
Anke Kaletsch
Anke Kaletsch is the head of the division powder metallurgy and ceramics at the Institute for Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University. She is also the deputy head of the Institute of Applied Powder Metallurgy and Ceramics (IAPK), which is an associated institute of RWTH Aachen University.
Christoph Broeckmann
Christoph Broeckmann is the professor of the Institute for Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University.