Motion and Solidification Behavior Analysis of Fe-Based Alloy Droplets During Gas Atomization

Gas atomization uses a high-speed gas flow to impact alloy melt and crush it into small droplets. During this process, the kinetic energy of the high-speed gas flow is transformed into the surface energy of small droplets, and the droplets are dragged and cooled by the gas. In this study, a FeNiCrBSiC alloy was used to investigate the motion and solidification behavior of alloy droplets during gas atomization. A mathematical model of the cooling and solidification process of droplets is modified and used. The initial velocity of the droplets attributed to the breakup by the high-speed gas flow is considered a factor. The results suggest that the velocity difference between the droplet and the gas is appearing to be smaller, indicating that droplets are more likely to collide with each other; as the velocity difference between the droplet and the gas becomes smaller, the heat transfer coefficient decreases. Thus, the solidification process of the droplet needs a longer flight distance; the relation between the cooling rate and the particle size was determined from measured data and empirical formula and model validation was performed.