Production methods and applications of low impurity metal nanopowders

The use of powders with a mean particle size <1 <mu>m is still considered t o be advanced technology in many PM applications. Compared with ceramic pro cessing, metal nanopowders are much more difficult to process and handle th an powders in the micrometre size range. Nevertheless, wide ranging applica tions require metallic nanopowders and different production processes to se rve this need. This feature provides an introduction to the processes comme rcially used to produce metal nanopowders, with specific emphasis on gas ph ase techniques for production of powders with low impurity levels. Examples are given of state of the art commercial applications of metal nanopowders .