Patent ID: 6251158
Filing Date: 2001-06-26
Classification: B22F,C21C,C22C,Y10T

Abstract:
A process of producing granules of a material comprising metal, comprising:providing a source of material comprising molten metal having a solidus temperature;forming discrete droplets of said material comprising molten metal from said source;fluidizing a bed of particles by means of a gas, and maintaining said bed at a temperature substantially below the solidus temperature of the molten metal;immersing said droplets while still comprising substantially molten metal in said fluidized bed of particles to freeze said droplets as discrete product granules of material comprising metal in said bed;said particles being of a size that is substantially smaller than the size of said product granules and of a size that makes said particles readily fluidizable by said gas; andremoving said product granules from said fluidized bed.