Metalpine
Metal powder specialist METALPINE has opened a new production site in Graz, Austria which is aiming to develop and deliver highly spherical metal powders for additive manufacturing.
The company’s capacity at this new site will increase gradually to 400 tonnes per year, with the ambition to see its output contribute to new and improved additive manufacturing applications. With METALPINE’s proprietary process, the company says it can produce any alloy, with copper, tool steels, stainless steels, titanium, tungsten, molybdenum and nickel-based alloys all of interest.
METALPINE says it is deploying a flexible, environmentally friendly inert gas process in a cleanroom environment, which has been designed to develop powders for highly demanding applications. These powders will boast a number of advantages, per METALPINE, including reproducible quality, a narrow particle size distribution, good flowability and spherical, pore-free particles. With these characteristics, METALPINE is confident parts manufactured with its powders will be predictable and reliable.
Supplementing METALPINE’s production infrastructure is the company’s close ties to academic organisations and their additive manufacturing development activities. Working with the University of Leoben and Technical University Graz, METALPINE is supporting research on manufacturing processes, materials and additive manufacturing applications. METALPINE also got a chance to connect with many users of additive manufacturing at Formnext, where the company made its launch.
The inauguration of the company's powder production site in Graz took place earlier this year, prior to restrictions being put in place as a result of the spread of COVID-19 through Austria, and welcomed a host of representatives from industry, research and politics.
