Abstract: A device for the manufacture of spherical metallic powder comprising a vertical cylinder-conical vessel having in an upper part, means for introduction of a stream of liquid metal and for atomizing said stream using jets of gas and, in a lower part, gas inlet means for producing upwardly inclined tangential jets of gas for generating vortices along an ascending spiral centered on the axis of the vessel. The device also comprises a gas outlet connected to a cyclone dust remover whereby metal powder carried by the gas is separated from the gas, the gas outlet of the cyclone dust remover being connected to the gas inlet means and the dust outlet of the cyclone dust remover being connected to a duct opening into the vessel in the immediate vicinity of the jets produced by the gas inlet means.

Abstract: In the manufacture of metal and alloy powders in the form of small diameter spheres whose shape and diameter must be maintained within narrow limits, a substantially cylindrical solid electrode of the material from which the powder is to be made is rotated at high speed about its longitudinal axis and one end of the electrode is heated to fusion point, the molten material being sprayed therefrom under centrifugal forces in the form of small diameter spheres, wherein fusion of the one end of the electrode is obtained by means which produce a local fusion zone on the end surface of the electrode and means for causing the local fusion zone to move along a spiral path on the end surface of the electrode as the electrode rotates.

Abstract: In the production of metallic powder by atomization, using jets of inert gas, of a stream of molten metal entering a receiver, the atomized stream of molten metal is subject to the action of vortices produced within the receiver by a tangential flow of inert gas in the lower part of the receiver in order to increase the number of impacts between the atomized metal and the receiver walls to increase the rate of cooling of the atomized metal.