Metals

Metal Powders

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Metal powders are composed of fine metallic particles and are known for their exceptional versatility and efficiency in various applications, making them crucial in advanced manufacturing processes.

Their characteristics can be tailored through meticulous control of composition and particle size, allowing the creation of specialized powders with enhanced attributes such as improved flowability, compressibility, and sinterability.

Constant innovation and rigorous analysis are necessary to refine these properties further:

Elemental Analysis: Determines the exact chemical composition of metal powders, ensuring the correct alloying elements are present to achieve desired characteristics like strength, hardness, and corrosion resistance.
Particle Analysis: Evaluates the microstructural features of the metal powders, detecting inclusions and defects that could affect performance, density, and mechanical properties.
Structural Analysis: Assesses the mechanical properties of the metal powders, including tensile strength, hardness, and toughness, which are crucial for ensuring the material's reliability and performance in various applications.
Surface Analysis: Examines the surface characteristics of metal powders, determining their ability to withstand environmental degradation and corrosion. This is particularly important for applications in harsh conditions where surface integrity is critical.

Resources

Metal powder application notes

Metal 3D printing is already used for creating prototypes in a wide range of fields, and it is now being studied for use in mass production. Stainless steel, Ti, Al, and Cu are commonly used as metal 3D printing materials, and customers have expressed a desire to be able to quickly manage the amounts of oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N) in those materials.

Metal nanoparticles (also known as colloidal metal) have been around for a very long time, with the original scientific references dating over one hundred and fifty years ago*. Both pure metal and metal oxide colloids are used in a wide variety of applications including catalysts, ferrofluids, biological markers, and many others.

Gold nanorods are rod-shaped gold nanoparticles. Fig. 1 shows that gold nanorods have two surface plasmon bands in the directions of the short and long axes derived from their anisotropic shapes.

In this note, we will briefly explore the history of powder metallurgy and then examine the importance of powder quality to the production of nanomaterials. Using a case study from the Vecchio lab at the University of California, San Diego, we will highlight the necessity of accurate particle sizing in the production of nanoparticles by spark erosion.

Powder metallurgy is the study of transforming metal into powder and the consolidation of powder into the desired final product through methods such as sintering, compaction, blending, injection molding, or extrusion. Powder metallurgy is the essence of 3D additive manufacturing and it covers a broad spectrum of traditional applications.

Nanoparticle gold (also known as colloidal gold) is a suspension of sub-micron gold particles typically dispersed in water. Gold nanoparticles are of great interest for researchers in many fields due to their unique physical and optical properties. These properties change with the particle size distribution, so size analysis is an important measurement requirement.

Virtually any metal can be made into a powder through processes including atomization, electrolysis, chemical reduction, and size comminution. The metal powder can then be used to fabricate parts from simple to complex shape. The technique and study of these processes is known as powder metallurgy, a field of study well acquainted with particle characterization. The size distribution and shape of the powder metal particles influences the physical properties of the parts created.

Nanoparticle Size of Colloidal Silver

A silver colloid is a suspension with a dispersed phase consisting of silver particles between 1 nm – 1 um evenly dispersed in a continuous phase. The sample can be considered to be on the nanoparticle scale if the size of the dispersed phase particles is between 1-100 nm.

Nanoparticle Size of Colloidal Copper

A copper colloid is a suspension with a dispersed phase consisting of copper particles between 1 nm – 1 um evenly dispersed in a continuous phase. The sample can be considered to be on the nanoparticle scale if the size of the dispersed phase particles is between 1-100 nm.

Nanoparticle Size of Colloidal Copper

A platinum colloid is a suspension with a dispersed phase consisting of platinum particles between 1 nm – 1 um evenly dispersed in a continuous phase, in this case water. The sample can be considered to be on the nanoparticle scale if the size of the dispersed phase particles is between 1-100 nm.

Nanoparticle Size of Colloidal Palladium

A palladium colloid is a suspension with a dispersed phase consisting of palladium particles between 1 nm – 1 um evenly dispersed in a continuous phase, in this case DMF. The sample can be considered to be on the nanoparticle scale if the size of the dispersed phase particles is between 1-100 nm.

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HORIBA Solutions

HORIBA provides advanced analytical instruments and solutions that significantly aid in the analysis of metal powders.

EMIA-Expert

Carbon/Sulfur Analyzer
(Flagship High-Accuracy Model)

EMGA-Expert

Oxygen/Nitrogen/Hydrogen Analyzer
(Flagship High-Accuracy Model)

GD-Profiler 2™

GD-Profiler 2™

Pulsed-RF Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer

XGT-9000

X-ray Analytical Microscope (Micro-XRF)

Partica LA-960V2

Partica LA-960V2

Laser Scattering Particle Size Distribution Analyzer

nanoPartica SZ-100V2 Series

nanoPartica SZ-100V2 Series

Nanoparticle Analyzer

LabRAM Soleil

Raman Spectroscope - Automated Imaging Microscope

SignatureSPM

Scanning Probe Microscope with Chemical Signature

SA-9600 Series

BET Flowing Gas Surface Area Analyzers

EMIA-Pro

Carbon/Sulfur Analyzer (Entry Model)

EMGA-Pro

Oxygen/Nitrogen Analyzer (Entry Model)

PSA300*

Static Image Analysis System Particle Size

ViewSizer 3000

Simultaneous Multi-Laser Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA)

MESA-50

X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer

XploRA™ PLUS

MicroRaman Spectrometer - Confocal Raman Microscope

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