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未受污染的金属粉末现有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金属和含氧仿生金属粉末。EIGA工艺的主要特点是将惰性气体雾化与无熔炉熔化工艺相结合。要雾化的材料在现有的双室真空感应熔炼和铸造设备(VIM-12)中浇注，以形成棒状电极，或者，如果纯度特别高，则在电渣重熔设备(ESR)中生产。该电极被插入EIGA系统并旋转。旋转电极被感应线圈熔化在没有接触的表面上，因此熔体从电极直接滴入气体喷嘴系统，在该系统中金属被雾化。产生的粉末颗粒在系统下方的雾化室中固化，并被收集在粉末容器中。通过这种方法，可以获得不含杂质、含氧量非常低的非常纯净的粉末。此外，随着熔融金属与雾化气体的比例增加，冷却速度越快，组织越细小。

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.