Patent ID: 7666247
Filing Date: 2010-02-23
Classification: B22F,C22C,H01G

Abstract:
1. A method for spherically granulating and agglomerating metal particles comprising: (a) comminuting the metal particles to form fine particles having D50 less than about 50 μm; (b) combining the comminuted metal particles with a volatile liquid; (c) granulating the comminuted metal particles combined with the volatile liquid in a granulator to form wet particles; (d) still drying the wet particles and removing the volatile liquid to form flowable pre-agglomerated particles with increased bulk density, wherein said flowable pre-agglomerated particles have a size of less than about 1000 μm and a flow rate of not less than 2.0 g/sec; (e) heat treating the pre-agglomerated particles; and (f) screening the heat treated particles to obtain flowable agglomerated particles, wherein said flowable agglomerated particles are of spherical morphology.