TOPCAST produces a family of gas-atomizers in a closed-coupled nozzle configuration designed to produce metal powders in spherical and regular shape. They find applications in many fields like industrial, chemical, electronics and Additive Manufacturing with SLM (Selective Laser Melting) or EBM (Electron Beam Melting) technics.
A gas-atomizer equipment complexity and related cost are very sensitive to the target alloy compositions.
The basic and simplest gas-atomizer configuration is the one used in the model TMA20g and TMA40g
In front of a limited investment budget, they present some limitations on the list of alloys they can produce, namely Au, Ag, Cu, Bi and Sn alloys.
In case there is interest in producing Aluminium powders, an increase of complexity is needed, and the plant has to be built compliant with ATEX regulations.
This implies that the vacuum performance, leak-back rate, valves, filters and many other parts of the plant must be improved to meet demanding safety regulations.
These plant modifications generate the atomizer model T- VIGA with higher features and higher price respect to the model TMAg.
Thanks to these improved features, T-VIGA configuration allows also to produce stainless steel, Ni-based or MoCrCo powders, just to mention few examples.
On the other hand, if Refractory or Reactive metal powder, like Titanium, needs to be produced, we have to leave the T-VIGA configuration because of the ceramic and oxygen pick-up from the crucible and introducing the T-EIGA system.
T-EIGA uses a rod as a feed-stock with calibrated diameter and length, that is gradually fed into an induction coil at a controlled speed for metal melting and liquid dropping into the atomization chamber where the stream will impact the high-pressure gas coming from the close-coupled nozzle.
This way, there won’t be contact zone between Titanium and any crucible, and the purity of the powder will meet the best standards. Also in this case, the T-EIGA atomizer for Titanium alloys must be conceived compliant with ATEX regulations.
It is finally possible to build a wide alloys range gas-atomizer, by assembling the T-VIGA and T-EIGA in a twin configuration, in which both share the same atomization tower, pipes, cyclone, heat-exchanger, filters and suction unit.
This complete configuration gives access to all the main alloys we can imagine for industrial, medical, automotive and aerospace applications.