Atomization processes of metal powders for 3D printing

Additive manufacturing also known as 3D printing becomes popular over the past decades. The process of additive manufacturing uses layer by layer deposition of material and produces products directly from 3Dmodel. The considered technology has capability for manufacturing product with complexity and with high precision in short time. Therefore, additive manufacturing is widely used in industries and biomedicine. In case of metal 3D printing, metal powders are used as main material to produce the product. There are several methods for metal powder production and one of the popular methods is atomization method. The main aim of this study was to review existing processes of atomization method, compare the costs and application purposes. The four main processes known as 'gas atomization", 'water atomization", 'centrifugal atomization" and 'plasma atomization" were taken into consideration. The comparison of atomization processes has demonstrated that plasma atomization provides highly spherical shape powders however it is considered expensive process, while the gas atomization produces spherical powders with optimal cost and appropriate shape. In addition, powders obtained from plasma atomization is the best for biomedical application.