Drying Features of Water-Atomized Aluminum Alloy Powders

Abstract

The kinetics of dehydration and heat drying of water-atomized aluminum powders is examined. It is shown that conductive vacuum drying ovens used for chemically active substances are inefficient. There is no device for the disintegration of particle aggregates in dryers of this type, which results in the risk of oxidation and thermal self-ignition of powders. The particle aggregates disintegrate and the powder is continuously mixed and uniformly distributed on the heat supply surface in a conduction–convection dryer. The results are used to optimize drying parameters of aluminum alloys powders and determine the maximum allowable drying temperatures depending on the moisture content of the powders.