Method for manufacturing metal nanopowder by wire-explosion and apparatus for manufacturing the same

Abstract

There are provided a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a metal nanopowder having a uniform particle size distribution by uniformly applying current to a center portion of the metal wire and a surface portion thereof. The method includes increasing a surface roughness of a metal wire; supplying the metal wire having the increased surface roughness to an electrode in a reaction chamber; and wire-exploding the metal wire by supplying electrical energy to the electrode.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing a metal nanopowder by wire-explosion, the method comprising:
 increasing a surface roughness of a metal wire;   supplying the metal wire having the increased surface roughness to an electrode in a reaction chamber; and   wire-exploding the metal wire by supplying electrical energy to the electrode.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the increasing of the surface roughness of the metal wire is performed to cause the surface roughness of the metal wire to be in a range of 0.2 μm to 6.3 μm. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the increasing of the surface roughness of the metal wire is performed by at least one selected from the group consisting of a honing process, a polishing process, a turning process, and a milling process. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metal wire includes at least one selected from the group consisting of copper, nickel, aluminum, iron, gold, and silver. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metal wire has a diameter of 0.01 mm to 10 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a pulse voltage of 1 kV to 100 kV is applied to the electrode for 1 μs to 10 μs. 
     
     
         7 . An apparatus for manufacturing a metal nanopowder by wire-explosion, the apparatus comprising:
 a high voltage electrode having high voltage electrical energy applied thereto to wire-explode a metal wire;   a feeding unit supplying the metal wire to the high voltage electrode; and   a surface roughness controlling unit mounted on at least one side of the feeding unit and increasing the surface roughness of the metal wire.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the surface roughness controlling unit performs at least one selected from the group consisting of a honing process, a polishing process, a turning process, and a milling process. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the surface roughness controlling unit includes a pair of compression rollers having protrusions formed on a surface thereof, and
 the metal wire is compressed by the pair of compression rollers, such that the surface roughness of the metal wire is increased.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the surface roughness controlling unit is included in the feeding unit.