Plasma furnace

The invention relates to devices for the plasma processing of powdered raw material which contains metal. A furnace comprises an arc melting chamber, a means for collecting the finished product, a hollow cylindrical cathode and anode mounted on the central axis of the furnace, a microwave energy feed means, an outer and an inner tube and a magnetic system around the melting chamber. The furnace is equipped with a conical nozzle, which is attached to the lower part of the outer tube and connects the cathode thereto, said nozzle, together with the tubes and the microwave energy feed means, forming a microwave discharge chamber situated along a common axis with the arc melting chamber. A first vortex generator is mounted on the wall of the arc melting chamber below the roof thereof and is connected to a reducing gas inlet pipe. A gas permeable dielectric insert is situated between the aforementioned tubes with a first inlet for a plasma forming gas being arranged above the insert and a second gas vortex generator with a second inlet for a plasma forming gas being arranged below the insert on the outer tube.