9416544 The award is for research to develop a novel manufacturing process for producing spherical metal particles of uniform diameter, composition, and microstructure. Available techniques of producing metal particles either do not produce particles of uniform size or, if they do, offer a narrow range of particles size for a given apparatus. A time-invariant axial magnetic field of moderate intensity will be used to stabilize a liquid metal jet issuing from a nozzle. To destabilize this jet, a time-varying intense magnetic field will be applied transverse to the jet axis, pinching the droplets at uniform time intervals. The droplets will be allowed to spheroidize and solidify resulting in particles of uniform shape, composition, and microstructure. A benchtop-type experimental verification of the process is proposed, along with development of a simple model of the process. the ability to produce uniform metal particles would benefit a variety of applications that require uniformity of properties at the micro-scale. These includes rolling elements for miniature instrument ball bearings, thin uniform corrosion and oxidation prevention coatings, and microsievers, filters, and porous bearings of well-controlled porosity.
