Patent ID: 7354472

Claim:
A method of producing a refractory metal powder comprising: (A) blending (i) an oxide particle component which contains a refractory metal and said refractory metal is tantalum or niobium and (ii) a solid reducing agent; (B) forming a substantially uniform mixture of (i) and (ii); (C) continuously feeding the mixture into a furnace; (D) igniting the mixture at a reaction zone and staffing a reaction that is form a high temperature exothermic to form a high temperature flash; (E) starting a reaction that is sufficiently exothermic to form a high temperature self-sustaining flash; and (F) producing a free-flowing reduced oxide powder and wherein the furnace has a cross-sectional area and the mixture formed in (B) is fed in to the furnace in (C) by a dispersing means excluding a rotor/stator disperser, such that it is uniformly distributed across the cross-sectional area of the furnace and the residence time of the mixture in the reaction zone is from 0.1 second to 10 seconds.