THE EFFECTS OF SOLIDIFICATION AND ATOMIZATION ON RARE-EARTH ALLOYS - OVERVIEW

This article discusses the results of experiments involving the applic ation of atomization techniques to the production of three selected ra re-earth intermetallic (REI) materials. High-pressure gas atomization and centrifugal atomization into a rotating quench bath have been used to process the alloys. Rapid-solidification processing by atomization techniques is of great benefit since optimum performance of these REI materials demands chemical and structural homogeneity. The results de monstrate that such careful solidification microstructure control is r equired if the benefits of REI-alloy properties are to be realized wit h maximum processing efficiency.