PURPOSE: To simply obtain a metal powder suitable for powder metallurgy, by a method wherein a liquid cooling medium is flowed on the surface of a rotor and a molten metal is atomized while being flowed onto the cooling medium to prevent the deposition of the metal to the surface of the rotor.

CONSTITUTION: The interior of a container is held under a non-oxidative atmosphere or a reductive atmosphere and a rotor 5 is rotated at a high speed. A liquid cooling medium 8 is flowed on the rotor 5 from a cooling medium supply pipe 7 and a slide nozzle 4 is opened to flow the molten metal 3 in a crucible on the cooling medium. This molten metal 3 is flowed on the rotor 5 along the liquid cooling medium while exerted by the centrifugal force by the rotor 5 and scattered and atomized by impact force to the rotor 5, the centrifugal force received from the rotor 5 and intumescent force of the cooling medium. At the same time, atomized particles are rapidly solidified from the surfaces thereof by the evaporation heat of the cooling medium 8 and solidified while an irregular shape during scattering remains to fall into a powder container 9.