Effect Of DC Plasma Spheroidization Process On Composition Of Ti Based Alloy Powder

Ti-Al-V and Ti-Al-Nb materials are of great interest for dynamically growing AM market. Among many different, plasma methods seem to yield spherical powders of best morphology. However during the plasma spheroidization process powder particles are exposed to very high temperature which can lead to evaporation of constituents and, as consequence, change of the overall composition of the powder.

Recently several studies concerning RF plasma influence on powder composition were published. The present work reports examination of spherical powders manufactured with application of DC plasma torch. The scope of the investigations includes: microanalysis of individual powder particles - distribution of chemical composition in the cross-section, XRD phase analysis, chemical analysis of impurities like oxygen. The analysis are performed for powder particles of different sizes.