Powder manufacturing route in which very fine particles, such as tungsten carbide and cobalt, are mixed into a slurry with binder, spray dried into round agglomerates and sintered so they hold together. The spherical, somewhat porous particles flow well and heat evenly, which suits HVOF carbide powders. Under-sintered agglomerates can break apart in the feeder or gun, adding fines.
Use the agglomerated and sintered WC-Co for the HVOF, the crushed stuff won't flow through that feeder.
Also heard as
- A&S
- agglomerated-sintered
- spray dried and sintered
Do not mix it up with
- Fused and crushed: Agglomerated and sintered powder is round and slightly porous, while fused and crushed powder is dense and angular.
Related terms
Fused and crushed
Describes powder made by melting material into an ingot, then crushing and screening it to size.
Feedstock
The raw coating material fed into a thermal spray gun, as powder, wire, rod, cord or liquid suspension.
WC-Co
Tungsten carbide in a cobalt binder, the most common wear-resistant thermal spray coating.
Fines
Powder particles smaller than the specified size range, which cause buildup, spitting and poor flow.