On October 9, 2020, 5N Plus, a chemical and engineering materials company, announced its entry into the 3D printing market, launching new metal powder products.
The Canadian company first started researching engineered powders in 2014, initially focusing on microelectronics and semiconductor applications. In the past few years, 5N Plus has accumulated experience in these markets and has invested in broadening its product range. It is now expanding into the field of additive manufacturing to expand its customer base.
According to 5N Plus, their goal is to become a leading engineered powder supplier in the 3D printing industry.
5N Plus's engineering powder background
5N Plus is a global manufacturer of engineered materials and specialty chemicals, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with R&D, manufacturing and business centers in Europe, America and Asia. The company's materials are widely used in advanced electronics, pharmaceuticals, optoelectronics, renewable energy, health, and other industrial applications.
Since its establishment, 5N Plus has accumulated experience and learned lessons from the small and technically challenging market it initially entered, and then decided to expand its production capacity. In the past three years, the company has secured several projects in the handheld electronic device platform due to its investment in high-performance spherical powder products. These spherical powders have low oxygen content and uniform size distribution, and are suitable for electronic device applications.
Now, they think they are ready to expand into 3D printing, focusing on metal additive manufacturing applications. According to data from 5N Plus, the global powder market for metal 3D printing applications is expected to reach US$1.2 billion by 2025. The aerospace, medical, dental and automotive industries are expected to benefit the most from metal additive manufacturing technology.
5N Plus provides new metal powder products for additive manufacturing
For the additive manufacturing market, 5N Plus has developed a new combination of engineered powders based on copper and copper-based alloys. These materials adopt optimized structure, have controllable oxygen content and ultra-high purity, and have uniform surface oxide thickness and controllable particle size distribution.
5N Plus will also obtain more engineering powders from external sources. Through the acquisition of these products, 5N Plus’s product line will cover 24 different metal alloy compositions with a melting point range of 60-2600°C, which is one of the most extensive products on the market. One.
Advances in metal additive manufacturing
Earlier this year, digital prototyping expert Protolabs introduced a new type of cobalt-chromium superalloy for the metal laser sintering process. This heat-resistant, wear-resistant, and corrosion-resistant material can disrupt industries such as oil and gas, where customized cobalt-chromium parts were previously impossible. Soon after, metal additive manufacturing expert Amaero announced that their high-performance 3D printed aluminum alloy Amaero HOT Al has entered the final stage of international patent approval. The newly developed alloy has a high content of scandium, and can be heat treated and age hardened after 3D printing to improve strength and durability.
At the same time, Elementum 3D, a developer of additive manufacturing materials based in Colorado, USA, has received investment from Sumitomo Americas (SCOA) to expand the market and sales of proprietary metal powders. Their powders are combined with ceramics to make additive materials. Manufacturing performance is improved.
Recently, EOS, the leader of the LB-PBF system, released 8 new metal powders and processes for M 290, M 300-4 and M 400-4 3D printing systems, including 1 PREMIUM and 7 CORE products. These powders are characterized by their technical readiness (TRLs), which is the technology maturity classification system launched by EOS in 2019.