Metal droplet sizes

As described above, a number of empirical and analytical correlations for droplet sizes have been established for normal liquids. These correlations are applicable mainly to atomizer designs, and operation conditions under which they were derived, and hold for fairly narrow variations of geometry and process parameters. In contrast, correlations for droplet sizes of liquid metals/alloys available in published literature 318]f323ff328]- 3311 [485]-[487] are relatively limited, and most of these correlations fail to provide quantitative information on mechanisms of droplet formation. Many of the empirical correlations for metal droplet sizes have been derived from off-line measurements of solidified particles (powders), mainly sieve analysis. In addition, the validity of the published correlations needs to be examined for a wide range of process conditions in different applications. Reviews of mathematical models and correlations for... 

Table 4.16. Analytical and Experimental Correlations for Metal Droplet Sizes in Gas Atomization via Film or Sheet Breakup...

A limited number of empirical correlations have been developed for metal droplet sizes generated by water atomization, as listed in Table 4.18. In these correlations p is a system-specific constant, is the atomizing angle, i.e., angle between water nozzle axis and metal delivery nozzle axis, A is a proportional constant specific to atomizer type, melt type and melt temperature, n is a parameter depending on atomizer type, APw is the water pressure, Uw is the water velocity, and mw is the mass flow rate of water. 

The frozen-drop technique was naturally adopted in measuring molten metal droplet size before any other methods became available. Similarly to the methods for normal liquids, the freeze-up and collection of molten metal droplets may be carried out in many different ways. For example, metal droplets can solidify during flight in gaseous or liquid medium in a spray chamber. 13H51 The solidified particles are subsequently sieved to obtain the size distribution. 

Whistle Atomization 50 (10kHz, <75 l/min) 7 (>20 kHz, 0.125kg/min 0.33 MPa) Atomization of liquid metals for powder production Fine droplets, High gas efficiency Broad droplet size distribution... 

Method Droplet Size ( im) Metal/AUoy Cooling Rate (°C/s) Throughput (kg/mm) Capacity (Metric Tons) Advantage Limitation... 

A variety of atomizer designs have been developed in an effort to control the droplet size distribution and to increase the yield of fine powders. Gas atomizers used for the atomization of melts may be loosely classified into two primary categories in terms of the interaction mode between a liquid metal and an atomization gas during atomization, i.e., (1) internal mixing and (2) external mixing. 

Many droplet size distributions in natural droplet formation and liquid metal atomization processes conform to lognormal distribution ... 

Table 4.15. Empirical Correlations for Droplet Sizes of Liquid Metals in Gas Atomization Jet Breakup...

Some quantitative studies1498115011 on droplet size distribution in water atomization of melts showed that the mean droplet size increases with metal flow rate and reduces with water flow rate, water velocity, or water pressure. From detailed experimental studies on the water atomization of steel, Grandzol and Tallmadge15011 observed that water velocity is a fundamental variable influencing the mean droplet size, and further, it is the velocity component normal to the molten metal stream Uw sin , rather than parallel to the metal stream, that governs the mean droplet size. This may be attributed to the hypothesis that water atomization is an impact and shattering process, while gas atomization is predominantly an aerodynamic shear process. 

Most water-atomized metal particles (powders) have been observed to follow the log-normal size distribution pattern. Relatively narrow size distributions of both fine and coarse particles may be generated by water atomization. A review of published data for droplet size distributions generated by gas and water atomization of a variety of liquid metals and alloys has been made by Lawley,[4] along with presentations of micrographs of surface morphology and internal microstructure of solidified particles. 

Table 4.19. Correlations for Mean Droplet Sizes of Liquid Metals in Centrifugal Atomization...

This approximate relationship is similar to those for centrifugal atomization of normal liquids in both Direct Droplet and Ligament regimes. However, it is uncertain how accurately the model for K developed for normal liquid atomization could be applied to the estimation of droplet sizes of liquid metals Tombergl486 derived a semi-empirical correlation for rotating disk atomization or REP of liquid metals with the proportionality between the mean droplet size, rotational speed, and electrode or disk diameter similar to the above equation. Tornberg also presented the values of the constants in the correlation for some given operation conditions and material properties. 

The solution of the gas flow and temperature fields in the nearnozzle region (as described in the previous subsection), along with process parameters, thermophysical properties, and atomizer geometry parameters, were used as inputs for this liquid metal breakup model to calculate the liquid film and sheet characteristics, primary and secondary breakup, as well as droplet dynamics and cooling. The trajectories and temperatures of droplets were calculated until the onset of secondary breakup, the onset of solidification, or the attainment of the computational domain boundary. This procedure was repeated for all droplet size classes. Finally, the droplets were numerically sieved and the droplet size distribution was determined. 

Droplet collision is a phenomenon inherent in the dense region of a spray. Droplet collisions may lead to local agglomeration that affects the droplet size distribution. There have been considerable efforts in modeling droplet-droplet collisions and coalescence,12291 but the models are still not generally applicable. 1576] Moreover, the calculations in the dense region of a metal spray is much more complicated than in a diesel spray because the physical phenomena and mechanisms in the dense region are not well understood. 

For agiven system of metal/alloy and atomization gas, the 2-D velocity distributions of the gas and droplets in the spray can be then calculated using the above-described models, once the initial droplet sizes and velocities are known from the modeling of the atomization stage, as described in the previous subsection. With the uncoupled solution of the gas velocity field in the spray, the simplified Thomas 2-D nonlinear differential equations for droplet trajectories may be solved simultaneously using a 4th-orderRunge-Kutta algorithm, as detailed in Refs. 154 and 156. 

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