SPRAY FORMING - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Spray forming involves sequential gas atomization of a melt into a spray of fine droplets and their deposition on a substrate to build up a high-density preform. The rapid solidification inherent in spray deposition generates refined, equiaxed and low segregation microstructures. A number of promising features of this near-net shape manufacturing process are highlighted and compared, wherever possible, with the conventional casting and PM techniques. Some commercial nozzles used to create spray and mechanisms associated with spray generation are described. The consolidation of the droplets and the development of the microstructure in the deposit are primarily governed by the nature of the spray and the thermal state of droplets on the deposition surface. Several microstructural characteristics of the deposit are presented and their origin in spray deposition is discussed.