Fabrication of spherical Ti-6Al-4V powder by RF plasma spheroidization combined with mechanical alloying and spray granulation

Spherical Ti-6Al-4V powder was produced by RF plasma spheroidization combined with mechanical alloying and spray granulation. Particle size distribution, morphology, specific surface area, apparent density, flowability, element distribution and content of alloy powders after each stage during the process were investigated. Results show that the obtained spheroidized Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder has dense structure, good sphericity and high spheroidization ratio (98%), moderate particle size (37.8 μm) with narrow distribution. It also has excellent flowability (33.2 s· (50 g)-1) and apparent density (2.53 g·cm−3). In addition, elements distribution in the spherical Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder is uniform and most of elements content of it is within the standard of Ti-6Al-4V alloy.