Hydrometallurgical process for producing spherical maraging steel powders with readily oxidizable alloying elements
First Claim
1. A process comprising:
- (a) forming an aqueous solution containing the metal values of iron, cobalt, nickel and molybdenum, said metals being present in a predetermined ration to form a maraging steel alloy,(b) forming from said solution a reducible solid material selected from the group consisting of salts of said metals, oxides of said metals, hydroxides of said metals and mixtures thereof,(c) heating said solid in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature above the reduction temperature but below the melting point of the metals in the solids thereby reducing said solid material to form metallic powder particles,(d) entraining at least a portion of said powder particles in a carrier gas,(e) feeding said entrained particles and said carrier gas into a high temperature zones and maintaining said particles in said zone for a sufficient time to melt at least about 50% by weight of said particles, and to form droplets therefrom, and(f) cooling said droplets to form essentially spherical shaped alloy particles and(g) combining said spherical shaped particles with a predetermined amount of at least one readily oxidizable metal selected from the group consisting of aluminium, titanium and vanadium to form a relatively uniform blend of the spherical shaped particles and the readily oxidizable metal, said metals in said blend being a suitable ratio for producing a maraging steel alloy containing a readily oxidizable metal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process for producing a blend of maraging steel alloys and an oxidizable metal comprises forming an aqueous solution or iron, cobalt, nickel and molybdenum in a predetermined ratio. Thereafter, a reducible solid material containing the metals is produced from the solution. The solid material is reduced to metallic powder particles which are entrained in a carrier gas and fed into a high temperature zone to form droplets which are cooled to form essentially spherical shaped metal alloy particles. These particles are combined with a predetermined amount of at least one easily oxidizable metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, titanium and vanadium to form a relative uniform blend of the spherical shaped particles and the readily oxidizable metal.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A process comprising:
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(a) forming an aqueous solution containing the metal values of iron, cobalt, nickel and molybdenum, said metals being present in a predetermined ration to form a maraging steel alloy, (b) forming from said solution a reducible solid material selected from the group consisting of salts of said metals, oxides of said metals, hydroxides of said metals and mixtures thereof, (c) heating said solid in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature above the reduction temperature but below the melting point of the metals in the solids thereby reducing said solid material to form metallic powder particles, (d) entraining at least a portion of said powder particles in a carrier gas, (e) feeding said entrained particles and said carrier gas into a high temperature zones and maintaining said particles in said zone for a sufficient time to melt at least about 50% by weight of said particles, and to form droplets therefrom, and (f) cooling said droplets to form essentially spherical shaped alloy particles and (g) combining said spherical shaped particles with a predetermined amount of at least one readily oxidizable metal selected from the group consisting of aluminium, titanium and vanadium to form a relatively uniform blend of the spherical shaped particles and the readily oxidizable metal, said metals in said blend being a suitable ratio for producing a maraging steel alloy containing a readily oxidizable metal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification