Process for the synthesis, separation and purification of powder materials
First Claim
1. A process for the purification of a material comprising:
- providing powder particles of the material including impurities;
plasma heating and melting of said powder particles of the material and release of said impurities in vapour phase through a plasma stream, yielding molten particle droplets of the material mixed in said plasma stream and vaporized impurities;
cooling of said molten particle droplets of the material mixed in said plasma stream with said vaporized impurities, yielding a mixture of purified powder particles of the material and soot;
exposing said mixture of purified powder particles of the material and soot material to ultrasound vibrations in a sonification medium, yielding separated purified powder particles of the material and soot in said sonification medium; and
recovering said purified powder particles of the material from said sonification medium and said soot.
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Abstract
The invention concerns a process for the spheroidisation, densification and purification of powders through the combined action of plasma processing, and ultra-sound treatment of the plasma-processed powder. The ultra-sound treatment allows for the separation of the nanosized condensed powder, referred to as ‘soot’, from the plasma melted and partially vaporized powder. The process can also be used for the synthesis of nanopowders through the partial vaporization of the feed material, followed by the rapid condensation of the formed vapour cloud giving rise to the formation of a fine aerosol of nanopowder. In the latter case, the ultra-sound treatment step serves for the separation of the formed nanopowder form the partially vaporized feed material.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A process for the purification of a material comprising:
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providing powder particles of the material including impurities;
plasma heating and melting of said powder particles of the material and release of said impurities in vapour phase through a plasma stream, yielding molten particle droplets of the material mixed in said plasma stream and vaporized impurities;
cooling of said molten particle droplets of the material mixed in said plasma stream with said vaporized impurities, yielding a mixture of purified powder particles of the material and soot;
exposing said mixture of purified powder particles of the material and soot material to ultrasound vibrations in a sonification medium, yielding separated purified powder particles of the material and soot in said sonification medium; and
recovering said purified powder particles of the material from said sonification medium and said soot. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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- 17. A process for the separation of nanopowder mixed with a coarse powder by exposing the nanopowder mixed with the coarse powder to ultrasound vibrations in a sonification medium.
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20. A process for the synthesis of a material nanopowder comprising:
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i) providing the material in powder form;
ii) plasma heating, melting and vaporization of said powder of the material through a plasma stream, yielding the material in vapour form mixed with partially vaporized particles in said plasma stream;
iii) running the material in vapour form mixed partially vaporized particles in said plasma stream through a quench stream, yielding a mixture of formed material nanopowder and residual coarse material powder; and
iv) exposing said mixture of formed material nanopowder and residual coarse material powder to ultrasound vibrations in a sonification medium, yielding separated nanopowder particles of said material and coarse powder of said material. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification