Metal powders and methods for producing the same

1. A method for producing a metal powder product, comprising:

providing a supply of a precursor metal powder;

combining said precursor metal powder with a liquid comprising water and a binder to form a slurry and heating the liquid and the binder before combining the precursor metal powder with the liquid and the binder;

feeding said slurry into a pulsating stream of hot gas; and

recovering the metal powder product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the liquid and the binder comprises heating the liquid and the binder to a temperature of about 71° C.

3. A method for producing a metal powder product, comprising:

combining a binder with a liquid;

heating the combined binder and liquid;

adding a precursor metal powder to the combined binder and liquid to form a slurry;

providing a pulsating stream of hot gas in a direction;

introducing the slurry into the pulsating stream of hot gas toward the same direction; and

recovering the metal powder product.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising

attaining a desired temperature of the pulsating stream of hot gas by blending quench air with the pulsating stream of hot gas.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising

at least partially driving off a liquid component of the recovered metal powder product.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein

the at least partially driving off a liquid component includes heating the recovered metal powder product at a temperature below the melting point of the recovered metal powder product.