Study of the spherical HoCu powders prepared by supreme-speed plasma rotating electrode process

The spherical HoCu powders as the ductile intermetallic compounds were prepared by the supreme-speed plasma rotating electrode process (SS-PREP) with the particle sizes of 15~106 μm without sieving. The particle size distribution, apparent density, tap density, and Hall flowability of the SS-PREP HoCu powders were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy disperse spectroscope (EDS), and optical microscope (OM). The particle size distribution characterized by the different test methods were compared and analyzed. The results show that, all of the SS-PREP HoCu powders consist of B2 phase in RM style with CsCl structure; the chemical compositions of HoCu powders in different particle sizes remain nearly constant; with the increase of powder sizes, the proportion of non-spherical HoCu particles decrease.