PSI have recently announced the introduction of a melt spinner specifically developed to address the need for laboratory and research scale production of rapidly cooled metal foils and strips.
It is supplied as a stand alone unit with specifications designed to meet a wide range of requirements;
• 100g melt crucible capacity
• Different melt crucible material options for wide range of applications
• Adjustable nozzle position, as standard, to give control over height and angle of impingement
• A range of slit widths available
• Advanced wheel design with excellent thermal diffusivity and low wear characteristics
• High precision bearing assembly and dynamic balancing designed to minimise wheel run out thus maintaining nozzle to wheel gap
• Adjustable stripping mechanism to release product at different positions
• Optional pumping mechanisms to offer higher vacuum capabilities
For detailed information please contact PSI at info@psiltd.co.uk

The Russian Federation’s Central Research Institute of Structural Materials - CRISM “Promety” (www.crism-promety.ruu) has selected PSI Ltd to supply an advanced design HERMIGA Gas Atomiser for the production of high grade Titanium metal powders.

During its 70 year history, CRISM “Promety” has risen to national eminence as the centre of excellence for advanced materials research in Russia, employing over 1,500 scientific personnel on a range of metallurgical projects spanning the oil exploration, transportation, medical and aerospace industries.

PSI’s HERMIGA design innovation, capacity flexibility, powder quality and economy of operation clearly established PSI Ltd as the leading systems design from a global analysis of suppliers, re-affirming the international reputation of PSI’s HERMIGA range of Metal Powder Atomisers.

PSI Ltd as been selected as the partner for the supply and maintenance of a HERMIGA 75 Gas Atomiser to the German Aerospace Centre - Duetsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt: DLR (www.dlr.de).

The HERMIGA 75 gas Atomisers will be used for the research and production of advanced composition alloy materials for use in a wide spectrum of space exploration, new generation aerospace design, and environmental protection projects.

DLR’s research portfolio ranges from fundamental research to innovative development of the applications and products of tomorrow and PSI is delighted to have exceeded all partner and technology standards in the selection of a Gas Atomiser system for such a prestigious organisation.

The University of Sheffield UK has accepted delivery of PSI Ltd’s latest design in Arc Melting Systems, integrating PSI’s latest ceramic-free clean melting water cooled copper crucibles and multi-angle casting rapid solidification technologies.

This advanced, PSI designed and manufactured, system is to be used for the preparation of novel composition Refractory Alloys and Bulk Metallic Glasses derived from highly reactive and/or high melting point metals (e.g. Titanium, Zirconium, Niobium), which are becoming increasing critical to the new material demands from global automotive and aerospace sectors.

The advanced PSI Ltd Arc Melting design allows both processional and vertical movement of an electric arc across metals situated in a ceramic free copper crucible. Once the desired melt temperature has been achieved, the metal / alloy can be solidified in several different ways giving outstanding flexibility to casting options.

With the increasingly urgent global focus on bringing affordable solar electricity to the mass market, PSI has developed a new method for the production of photovoltaic materials in ultra-fine powder forms – (CIGS), that are critical in the research and production modelling techniques of new solar thin-film technologies.

In the drive to develop the market leading photovoltaic cell technology, the use of different amalgams of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide – or CIGS – to increase the proportion of the solar energy spectrum captured by a solar cell has become a key factor in driving up the efficiency of solar energy systems.

A direct development from PSI’s ground breaking work in a related renewable energy sector – the mass production of low cost, premium grade Titanium powder - PSI are now able to provide the solar energy sector with the means to rapidly produce - in both research and production volumes - CIGS powders from their own ‘in-house’ facility, allowing CIGS composition experimentation, rapid prototype trailing and mass production scaling models in the commercial security of their own laboratories.

Phoenix Scientific Industries Ltd – (PSI) celebrates the start of its 2009 expansion programme with the award of a major contract to supply a hot gas atomiser and positive pressure powder classifier to one of Russia’s leading transportation research and development organisations.

Advances in materials for the next generation of fuel efficient transportation designs requires a radically new approach that incorporates lightweight metals and alloys with fibre composite materials, using metal components produced using Powder Injection Moulding (PIM) techniques.

PSI Ltd is delighted to announce that it has been selected to provide one of its market leading HERMIGA© Gas Atomisers to a leading Russian Federation Research Institute to facilitate the development of new transportation designs and consequent production techniques.

The PSI Atomiser hot gas technology preheats the gas used to atomise molten metal causing a dramatic reduction in median size. The associated gas exit velocities, in the latest HERMIGA close-coupled supersonic gas nozzle, increase substantially as the temperature in the atomisation die increases translating into higher kinetic energies available to disrupt the melt more effectively into a finer distribution of droplets - resulting in finer powder.

The advanced design of the HERMIGA nozzle enables the delivery of a high temperature/pressure gas precisely and reproducibly to the melt stream whilst safely withstanding the rapid, cyclic temperature rises during and between atomisation runs.

PSI has been awarded a £1 million grant from the U.K’s Technology Strategy (TSB) Board to develop ground breaking technology for the mass production of spherical, low oxygen, ceramic-free titanium powder at a fraction of current costs.

The grant provides match funding for a 3 year, £2 million programme undertaken in partnership with the University of Greenwich and Cambridge Quality Technology Ltd. As part of the UK Government’s drive to lower weight in transportation applications and cut exhaust emissions (see www.technologyprogramme.org.uk), the Lightweight Materials and Structures Competition encouraged applicants who could demonstrate a significant advance in the relevant technology.

In this case, the ultimate objective is to remove cost and quality barriers, promoting the wider use of titanium in powder metallurgy (PM) components and extend its use, not just in the traditional aerospace and medical sectors, but to mass production applications in automotive and general engineering. Driven by the contrasting demands of a rapid expansion in aircraft construction and the parallel need to reduce global emissions, the demand for lightweight and strong structures, such as are provided by titanium, has never been higher.

The global market is responding by significantly increasing capacity in primary titanium extraction and simultaneously developing new methods to replace the outdated, expensive Kroll method, with lower cost processes e.g. MER-Dupont, Armstrong and Fray. This, coupled with the further lowering of cost to convert primary titanium to spherical powder by the new PSI process, will enable the titanium PM sector to rapidly expand.

The potential for this sector has been identified for many years, research is complete, and prototypes have been successfully tested (photograph available) e.g. the engine thrust link for the new Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ supplied by GKN Aerospace. All that is required to release many new engineering applications is for titanium powder costs to fall. Powder Metallurgy, as the most rapidly growing metal forming technology, is expected to feature heavily in the expanded usage.

Over twenty years, PSI has progressively developed gas atomisation as a means of producing fine, pure and spherical, metal powders. More recently it has concentrated on improving yields and lowering costs of the valuable fine fractions of atomised powders. To this end it has introduced “hot gas” atomisation to the market, constructed atomisers for continuous rather than batch production and fitted gas recycling, all with the objective of lowering unit production cost.

Titanium poses a special challenge in that during the melting and feeding stage, as part of the atomising process, the liquid metal must not contact ceramic refractory at any stage; otherwise it will be contaminated by oxygen and ceramic inclusions rendering it unusable for many advanced aerospace applications.

“Cold Wall” melting and feeding techniques must be used throughout and this approach will be adopted in the programme enabling high quality, low cost aerospace grade powders to be made. To achieve low cost, production will be continuous and at a high throughput rate for similar reasons to those which led continuous casting to replace ingot casting in steel production. PSI’s developments in cold wall melting techniques now make this possible for titanium.

Although the inspiration for the programme was low-cost CP and Ti 6/4 grades, the technology will apply equally to more complex titanium alloys and the clean melting techniques will be of interest to users of superalloy powders, nickel-titanium shape memory alloys and indeed any metal powders that are required to be ceramic inclusion-free.

To ensure rapid integration of the new technology into industrial production, the TSB require competition winners to identify exploitation routes at the outset. PSI therefore welcomes approaches by parties looking to acquire an early interest in the new technology.