Electrode Induction Melting and Inert Gas Atomization Equipement (EIGA)

将VIGA升级为VIGA-EIGA系统，用于无坩埚生产高纯度无污染金属粉末现有VIGA系统的升级包括实施电极感应熔化气体雾化（EIGA）作为额外的雾化单元。EIGA工艺将特别用于生产活性和氧亲和金属粉末。EIGA工艺的主要特点是将惰性气体雾化与无坩埚熔化工艺相结合。待雾化的材料在现有的双室真空感应熔炼和铸造设备（Vim-12）中铸造以形成棒电极，或者为了特别高的纯度，在IEST也可提供的电渣重熔设备（ESR）中生产。将该电极插入EIGA系统并旋转。旋转的电极在表面上被感应线圈熔化而不接触，使得熔体从电极直接滴入气体喷嘴系统中，金属在该气体喷嘴系统中雾化。生成的粉末颗粒在系统下方的雾化室中固化并收集在粉末容器中。以这种方式，获得非常纯的粉末，其不含杂质并且具有非常低的氧含量。此外，随着熔融金属与雾化气体的特定比率增加，较高的冷却速率导致更精细的显微组织。

Upgrade of a VIGA to a VIGA-EIGA system for crucible-free production of high-purity uncontaminated metal powderThe upgrade of the existing VIGA system includes the implementation of Electrode Inductionmelting Gas Atomization (EIGA) as an additional atomization unit. The EIGA process will be used especially for the production of powders of reactive and oxygen affine metals. The main feature of the EIGA process is the combination of an inert gas atomization with a crucible-less melting process. The material to be atomized is cast in an existing two-chamber vacuum induction melting and casting plant (VIM-12) to form a rod electrode or, for particularly high degrees of purity, is produced in an electroslag remelting plant (ESR) also available at IEST. This electrode is inserted into the EIGA system and rotated. The rotating electrode is melted on the surface without contact by an induction coil, so that the melt drops from the electrode directly into the gas nozzle system in which the metal is atomized. The generated powder particles solidify in the atomization chamber below the system and are collected in a powder container. In this way, very pure powders are obtained which are free of impurities and have a very low oxygen content. In addition, higher cooling rates result in a finer microstructure, as the specific ratio of molten metal to atomizing gas increases.