Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.
Electrospark dispersion (ESD) is one of the production methods of fine-grained powders (FGP) of metals and alloys [1-2]. This method has a series of physical and technological advantages. It is simple enough as installation, ecologically clean, has no waste products, has low energy intensity and high efficiency. More over, high temperatures (>4000K) in zone of powders synthesis, super high rates of cooling (>109 K/s), high degree dispersion of obtained product (10 ÷ 1000 nm) are characteristic for this method. Under spark discharge duration in zone of plasma channel and surrounding liquid the electric and magnetic fields of complex shapes arise, which evidently influence on dispersion process. In this connection, investigation of external persistent magnetic field influence on phase composition and dispersion of fine-grained Fe powders was the main objective of the work.
