One of the current major barriers to the industrialization of metal additive manufacturing (AM) is the cost-effective production of a high-quality metal powder, usually in the range of 1-150 μm, making investigations of the atomization process essential. Numerical investigations usually reach their limits due to the massive multiscale problem, whereas experimental investigations are either performed on a laboratory scale with limited transferability or on industrial equipment with limited accessibility for measurement techniques. To face this challenge a new atomization test bench (ATB) is developed which was tailored for detailed experimental investigation on the fundamentals of atomization in an industrial scale set-up. All input parameters can be set individually and are measured continuously and precisely. At the same time, the good optical accessibility allows a temporally and spatially highly resolved visualization of the gas flow as well as a detailed investigation of the mechanisms of decomposition during primary and secondary atomization.     «

One of the current major barriers to the industrialization of metal additive manufacturing (AM) is the cost-effective production of a high-quality metal powder, usually in the range of 1-150 μm, making investigations of the atomization process essential. Numerical investigations usually reach their limits due to the massive multiscale problem, whereas experimental investigations are either performed on a laboratory scale with limited transferability or on industrial equipment with limited access...     »