A few years ago, SLAM purchased a new plot of land and has built an office building and two factory buildings, some of which have been put into use. In the new factory building, rows of plasma rotating electrode atomization powder making (PREP) equipment are busy in production.

Unlike vacuum air atomization powder making equipment, plasma rotating electrode atomization powder making equipment is not large in size. Its powder making principle is that the plasma will arc and melt the end of the high-speed rotating electrode rod, and use the centrifugal force generated by the high-speed rotation of the electrode rod to throw the molten metal into atomization into fine droplets. The atomized metal droplets condense into spherical powder after heat exchange with the atmosphere.

At present, SLAM provides the industry with ultra-high speed plasma rotating electrode atomization powder making equipment, including the GSTPA-D desktop powder making equipment for scientific research and the GSTPA-N new generation industrial powder making equipment. Recently, the company’s desktop powder making equipment entered the overseas market for the first time, completed installation, training and trial production in an overseas company, and was successfully delivered to the customer.

Faced with cross-cultural communication and complex working environment, SLAM technicians successfully completed the project tasks with a high sense of responsibility and professional technical capabilities. The excellent and stable performance of the equipment and professional training services were highly praised by customers. The customer said: “SLAM’s plasma rotating electrode atomization powder making equipment has a small footprint, simple operation, low working noise, and produces metal powders with high sphericity, low impurity content, high fine powder yield, and stable performance, which provides us with great support in the development of new materials. In addition to powder making equipment, we are also willing to carry out all-round cooperation with SLAM in the fields of powder bed electron beam 3D printing in the future.”

The GSTPA-D desktop PREP powder making equipment delivered this time is suitable for the rapid development and small-batch production of high-quality spherical metal powders of multiple brands, and can produce a variety of brands of powders including high-temperature alloys, refractory metals and alloys, alloy steels, copper alloys, titanium alloys, etc. The ultra-high working speed (40000-50000rpm) makes the fine powder yield of high-temperature alloy below 53μm exceed 80%, breaking the conventional perception that the fine powder yield of plasma rotary electrode atomization powder is low. The powder making equipment and technology won the first prize of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Science and Technology in 2021.

As the earliest company in China to develop and industrialize PREP powder making equipment, SLAM has developed GSTPA-D and GSTPA-N50/75 series PREP powder making equipment for the demand for high-quality spherical metal powders in the fields of metal 3D printing, hot isostatic pressing, spraying, etc., and has successfully sold them to the fields of aerospace, molds, biomedicine and scientific research. In recent years, the domestic market share has exceeded 90%. The successful delivery of the equipment overseas this time marks a solid step in the development of SLAM powder making equipment in the overseas market. In the future, the company will continue to improve the quality of products and services to allow more Chinese “smart” manufacturing to go out of China and go to the world.

GSTPA-D desktop powder making equipment is suitable for the rapid research and development of small batches of multi-variety spherical metal powders in colleges and universities and scientific research institutes. The working speed of the electrode rod is ~50000rpm, which can realize the rapid research, development and small batch production of hundreds of new material grades of powders such as titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, high-temperature alloys, high-entropy alloys, refractory alloys, copper alloys, etc.

GSTPA-N industrial-grade powder making equipment is suitable for batch production of fine powders (15-53μm) such as nickel-based high-temperature alloys and high-strength steels. Combining the advantages of high speed and batch production, it can realize the continuous and stable production of electrode rods with diameters of 50mm and 75mm at a speed of 24000~30000rpm, and the fine powder recovery rate exceeds 70%. It has the characteristics of high energy density and high powder quality.