Yunlu Co., Ltd. Receives Utility Model Patent for 'Continuous Casting Gas Atomization Powder Production Equipment'
Yunlu Co., Ltd. (688190) was granted a utility model patent on July 24, 2026, for equipment titled 'A Continuous Casting Gas Atomization Powder Production Device,' with patent application number CN202521701726.8. The device comprises core components such as an atomization tower, first and second medium-frequency furnaces, a tundish, powder delivery piping, a cyclone separator, a small material tank, a cooling unit, a mobile material tank, a dust collector, and a fan. Its core technical principle is that while the first medium-frequency furnace is casting, the second furnace concurrently charges and melts steel; once the first furnace completes casting, the second is ready to pour, enabling a cyclic multi-furnace continuous casting process. This patent addresses the technical challenge of continuous casting in conventional gas atomization powder production equipment, ensuring production efficiency. Yunlu Co., Ltd., a national-level specialized and new 'Little Giant' enterprise under AECC, primarily produces advanced magnetic metal materials such as amorphous alloy ribbons, nanocrystalline alloys, and atomized powders. This year, the company has received 15 new patent grants, a 275% increase year-over-year, with R&D investment of 119 million RMB in 2025. This patent represents a core technological breakthrough in gas atomization powder production equipment, further enhancing the efficiency and continuity of powder production.
2026-07-23
APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting Held in Chengdu; Chengdu Statement Elevates 'Open Source' to Ministerial-Level Cooperation for the First Time
On July 23, the 2026 APEC Digital and Artificial Intelligence Ministerial Meeting was held in Chengdu. The meeting chair, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng, announced the successful adoption of the Chengdu Statement, formally titled the '2026 APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Statement,' which establishes an action framework for deepening APEC cooperation in digital and AI fields in the coming period. The meeting focused on the theme 'Digital and AI Technologies Empowering the Asia-Pacific Community,' with discussions centered on three topics: strengthening the enabling role of digital and AI technologies in development, promoting universal and meaningful digital connectivity, and supporting digital inclusion and digital skills upgrading. Key outcomes include five highlights: building consensus on innovation driven by digital and AI empowerment, deepening understanding of risk prevention for security and controllability, and establishing goals of inclusive and shared benefits. Notably, this ministerial meeting elevated 'open source' to the APEC ministerial-level cooperation for the first time, encouraging economies to support open-source practices and actively participate in international AI open-source community collaboration. For the metal 3D printing industry, this consensus on open-source cooperation helps lower the barrier to advanced manufacturing technologies, fostering the integrated innovation of additive manufacturing processes and AI.
2026-07-23
City University of Hong Kong Unlocks Strength-Ductility Bottleneck in BCC High-Entropy Alloys Using LPBF to Stabilize CMRO Structures
A research team led by Professor Jian Lu of City University of Hong Kong, in collaboration with the China Academy of Engineering Physics and Dalian University of Technology, has used laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing to in-situ construct chemical medium-range order (CMRO) structures in a BCC-structured multi-principal element alloy (Al₂Ti₇Zr₂Nb₅). The ultra-fast cooling rate of LPBF (10³–10⁸ K/s) “freezes” the high-temperature chemical fluctuation state, resulting in a uniform distribution of B2-type CMRO clusters with an average size of ~1.6 nm, a volume fraction of ~20%, and full coherency with the matrix. Compared to as-cast alloys without CMRO (elongation of only ~1%), the LPBF-processed alloy achieves an excellent synergy of yield strength 1023 MPa, uniform elongation ~20%, and total elongation ~32%. Even at 873 K, its yield strength remains as high as 700 MPa. The conditional fracture toughness (KJQ) reaches 158 MPa·m^1/2, far exceeding typical BCC refractory high-entropy alloys. This study is the first to systematically reveal that LPBF can “lock in” thermodynamically metastable CMRO structures via rapid cooling, providing a new pathway for achieving high strength and toughness in BCC alloys at room temperature.
2026-07-23
