Nano-Intermetallic Powders Produced by Induction Plasma Synthesis

Alloys and intermetallic materials can be easily synthesized by thermal plasma in the nanophase.  The proposed research aims at studying Aluminum and Magnesium alloyed with different heavier elements from Copper to Tungsten.  When comparing the melting and vaporization temperatures of the selected materials, in some cases such as Al and W the boiling temperature of Al is smaller then the melting point of tungsten.  The alloyed materials are used as a variable in this study and as the boiling and melting temperatures stop overlapping, it is expected to find different reaction paths for the high temperatures reactions.  The induction plasma technology has been selected because of the axial injection as well as the possibility to get a very clean plasma.  Different injections configurations have been tested to take into account the degree of difficulty of melting and vaporization of the injected materials.  Modelling of the induction plasma torch has been used in order to test the different reaction paths.