Claims
- 1. Metal powder as produced by mixing particles of a metal salt selected from the group consisting of tantalum and columbium with a molten reducing agent and stirring the salt and reducing agent to produce homogeneous admixture, the salt and reducing agent being selected as constituents of an exothermic reaction initiable at 100.degree.-500.degree. C, raising the temperature of the mixture to said reaction initiating temperature and stirring, continuing said stirring while the exothermic reaction proceeds, and thereafter maintaining melting temperature of all reaction products excepting the metal freed by addition of heat thereto for a period of at least 15 minutes, and continuing the stirring during the reaction period and for at least an initial portion of the whole period to cause large scale order of the reaction products to be essentially continually broken down and to produce homogeneous admixture of unconsumed reactives and products, then cooling the reaction products and freeing metal powder from the reaction products, having a spectrum of powder size distribution from 3 micron to 10 mesh (U.S. Standard) with bulk density and specific surface area of various fractions in this said spectrum being essentially constant.
- 2. Metal powder as produced by mixing particles of a metal salt selected from the group consisting of tantalum and columbium with a molten reducing agent and stirring the salt and reducing agent to produce homogeneous admixture, the salt and reducing agent being selected as constituents of an exothermic reaction initiable at 100.degree.-500.degree. C, raising the temperature of the mixture to said reaction initiating temperature and stirring, continuing said stirring while the exothermic reaction proceeds, and thereafter maintaining melting temperature of all reaction products excepting the metal freed by addition of heat thereto for a period of at least 15 minutes, and continuing the stirring during the reaction period and for at least an initial portion of the whole period to cause large scale order of the reaction products to be essentially continually broken down and to produce homogeneous admixture of unconsumed reactives and products, then cooling the reaction products and freeing metal powder from the reaction products, having a spectrum of powder size distribution from 3 micron to 10 mesh (U.S. Standard) with specific capacitance of various fractions in this said spectrum being essentially constant.
- 3. Primary metal powder selected from the group consisting of tantalum and columbium and having a spectrum of powder size distribution from 3 micron to 10 Mesh (U.S. Standard) with bulk density and specific surface area of various fractions in this said spectrum being essentially constant.
- 4. Primary metal powder selected from the group consisting of tantalum and columbium and having a spectrum of powder size distribution from 325 Mesh to 10 Mesh (U.S. Standard) with specific capacitance of various fractions in said spectrum being essentially constant.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a division of my copending application Ser. No. 484,780, filed July 1, 1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,192, granted Nov. 16, 1976.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
484780 |
Jul 1976 |
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