Effect of vibration amplitude and temperature on the shape and size of aluminum powder produced by ultrasonic atomizer process

Ultrasonic waves have been used in research and industrial fields for many years, and the use of these waves in some of these fields is very old. And it seems that its scope of application is increasing day by day. One of the fields in which this technology is used is the production of metal powders. In the process of producing metal powder from their melt, the melt must be turned into very fine droplets under the influence of an energetic flow, which will turn into metal powder particles after cooling. In the ultrasonic atomization method, the energy intended to create melt droplets is supplied by ultrasonic waves and transferred to the desired metal melt. In this article, the effect of the vibration range on the shape and size of the aluminum powder produced by the ultrasonic atomization process with a vibration frequency of kilohertz has been investigated. The effect of factors such as melt temperature and ultrasonic wave amplitude on particle size and particle shape was investigated. It was also investigated at what level each of the factors affect the expected characteristics of the research. By examining the obtained results, it was observed that with the increase of the temperature of the melt, the viscosity of the melt decreases, and as a result, the atomization of the melt becomes easier, and also the surface tension force is reduced, and it becomes easier to separate the melt drop from the melt film created on the atomizer. And it was also observed that with the increase in the size of the vibration range, the produced metal powder has a smaller average size in terms of size and a narrower size distribution range. The average particle diameter of the powder produced by this method in this experiment was 82.43µm, the maximum particle diameter was 92.16µm and the minimum particle diameter was 71.33µm.