Sintering of powder particles into granules

摘要

A process of sintering powder particles (3) into granules, comprising: (a) providing a laser (7) to emit a beam (9) of electromagnetic radiation to heat the powder particles; (b) providing a supply of powder particles (3) to be sintered; and (c) causing relative movement between the powder particles and the laser beam such that each particle is subjected to heating by the laser beam for a predetermined duration and the heated particles are thereby sintered to form a plurality of granules.