Weekly Report #2645 | Titanium Alloy 3D Printing Nears Volume Production in Consumer Electronics; Copper-Based Green Laser Becomes New Battleground
📰 News Source
This article was translated from a Chinese source.
Source URL not available
This article was translated from a Chinese source.
Source URL not available
Metal powder grades mentioned in this article — specs, live prices & verified suppliers
On November 5 at the UP.Summit conference (followed up by Ars Technica and other media on November 6), Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp unveiled Northstar, a new engine for the first stage of the New Glenn rocket. It follows the liquid oxygen/LNG oxygen-rich staged combustion and single-shaft turbopump architecture, and went from project approval to ignition testing in only 11 months. Key metrics: thrust of 715,000 pounds-force (versus 640,000 for BE-4), 30% lower mass, 50% fewer parts, manufacturing cost of about one-quarter of BE-4, and assembly of a single unit in under one day. More than 65% of components are produced through the company's in-house large-scale additive manufacturing, with part count halved by consolidating components through printing. The "printability rate" of commercial space engines has reached another level. The value of metal additive manufacturing is spreading from core components such as thrust chambers and injectors to full-engine structures at scale, and the logic for powder consumption and metal printing equipment demand in large engines is expanding in tandem, creating sustained pull for titanium alloy, superalloy, and copper alloy powders. Value for buyers: Volume production of Northstar will amplify orders for aerospace-grade titanium alloy and superalloy powders and large metal AM equipment. Watch Blue Origin's supplier system and spillover demand for printing services for similar engines.
2026-11-06As of November 6, the national standard project "Preparation Requirements for Material Data Sheets for Metal Additive Manufacturing Powder Bed Fusion" has entered the public comment period (ending December 6, on the National Public Service Platform for Standards Information), under the jurisdiction of the National Technical Committee 562 on Additive Manufacturing Standardization (TC562), drafted by Beihang University, China Machinery Research Institute of Standard Technology, and others, and adopting ISO/ASTM 52929:2025 with modifications. The standard systematically specifies the preparation content of powder bed fusion material data sheets, material property reporting requirements, boundary conditions for property measurement, and test data processing: a data sheet consists of "basic information" (boundary conditions such as equipment, feedstock, process parameters, shielding gas, powder spreading device, and post-processing) and a "numerical section" (mandatory reporting items such as chemical composition, hardness, yield strength, tensile strength, elongation after fracture, and relative density); tensile properties must be reported based on at least vertically oriented specimens, each property data point is coded in the format "A_B_C" (number of machines_number of build jobs_number of specimens), and the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, test method, and validity range must be reported. Material property data provided by powder suppliers to customers is moving from "company-chosen formats" toward a unified, comparable national standard framework, substantially raising requirements for the standardization and auditability of batch data; powder companies' capabilities in data sheet preparation and test reporting will become a new competitive threshold. Value for buyers: once the national standard is unified, comparability of powder property data improves, and purchasers' efficiency and reliability in comparing data across suppliers' grades increase; powder companies need to strengthen their capabilities in data sheet preparation and test reporting.
2026-11-06Formnext 2026, the world's largest additive manufacturing trade fair, will be held in Frankfurt from November 17 to 20. The shortlist for the Formnext Awards 2026 was announced on October 23, and the winners will be revealed on November 19 at 16:10 on the Industry & Application Stage. Shortlisted entries in the metal AM, powder and advanced ceramics categories include Leroy Gardner of Imperial College London (metal AM in construction), Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (titanium implants), Agnikul Cosmos (single-piece Inconel rocket engine), FlexCycle Solutions (copper powder recovered from e-waste) and Spaceform (vacuum atomization levitation printing). AIDIMME of Spain will present green-laser copper LPBF, titanium EB-PBF and a new laboratory atomizer. In parallel, the US MPIF Powder Metallurgy Sintering Seminar will take place on November 17-18 in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The global technology direction for metal powders and additive manufacturing will thus be concentrated in mid-to-late November. Value for buyers: Formnext and its parallel events will showcase frontier routes such as green-laser copper LPBF, titanium EB-PBF and recycled copper powder, making this a key window for tracking new equipment and powder products and for connecting with overseas suppliers.
2026-11-06Follow us for metal powder pricing, news, and supplier insights — delivered daily.
Ready to source metal powders?
Tell us your requirements. We match you with verified suppliers within 24h.