Spray forming
method of casting near net shape metal components
Spray forming, also known as spray casting, spray deposition and in-situ compaction, is a method of casting near-net-shape metal components with homogeneous microstructures via the deposition of semi-solid sprayed droplets onto a shaped substrate. In spray forming, an alloy is melted, normally in an induction furnace, and the molten metal is slowly poured through a conical tundish into a small-bore ceramic nozzle. The molten metal exits the furnace as a thin, free-falling stream and is broken up into droplets by an annular array of gas jets, and these droplets then proceed downwards, accelerated by the gas jets to impact onto a substrate. The process is arranged such that the droplets strike the substrate whilst in the semi-solid condition; this provides sufficient liquid fraction to "stick" the solid fraction together. Deposition continues, gradually building up a spray-formed billet of metal on the substrate.
The gas atomised spray forming (GASF) process typically has a molten alloy flow rate of 1–20 kg/min, although twin-atomizer systems can achieve metal flow rates of up to 80 kg/min. Special steel billets of 1 tonne or more have been produced by spray forming on a commercial basis, together with nickel super-alloy ring blanks of up to 500 kg and aluminium alloy extrusion billets of up to 400 kg.
A Double Spray Forming process, developed recently, can deposite two types of alloys simultaneously under a protective high-purity argon atmosphere which allows production of in-situ layered composites. This method allows direct layer by layer deposition of different metallic materials (layer 1 as hard material and layer 2 as a soft one) from two opposite jets with good interlayer adhesion without formation of internal oxides .
History
Professor Singer at the Swansea University first developed the idea of gas-atomised spray forming in the 1970s in which a high-pressure gas jet impinges on a stable melt stream to cause atomisation.
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