In a groundbreaking collaboration that will move the needle on the future of powder production for the advanced manufacturing industry, Solvus Global and Metal Powder Works are announcing a strategic alliance in the development of new materials. A pivotal aspect of this collaboration is Solvus Global's acquisition of a MPW’s DirectPowder™ system, the first unit to be placed outside MPW's Pittsburgh production facility.

John Barnes has been involved in additive manufacturing for about 30 years, and he now wears several hats that place him in the center of Pittsburgh’s additive manufacturing ecosystem, from consulting to actually making things. One solution is Neighborhood 91, the airport-based hub for additive manufacturing in the Pittsburgh region, where Barnes’ Metal Powder Works is located.

Neighborhood 91, the additive manufacturing campus adjacent to the Pittsburgh airport, celebrated the opening of two new tenants on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Solutions provider HAMR Industries and materials manufacturer Metal Powder Works each welcomed visitors for ribbon cuttings and tours of their facilities, located side-by-side in the first building of the campus.

The manufacturing landscape of tomorrow needs to address global challenges in environmental sustainability, supply chain resilience, and cost-efficiency. Metal additive manufacturing processes play a significant role in addressing these challenges holistically, from raw materials to the final part.

There remain only 16 release AMS specifications for metal powder. As additive manufacturing’s influence permeates wider industrial circles and more companies consider the benefits it may bring, providing them with the knowledge and tools to push further innovation will be imperative. John Barnes discusses how his two businesses are driving integral change in the field.

Additive Manufacturing continues to make progress as a manufacturing technology, mostly with the help of more awareness and more productive machines. As Additive Manufacturing technologies race to become faster and more affordable while achieving high quality, it becomes easier to make a business case to convert parts away from legacy processes. Most of the focus is on the manufacturing step, because it can be the single largest cost in the processing of an AM part – but should that be the sole focus?

Metal Powders Works has announced it is the newest resident of Neighborhood 91, the additive manufacturing production campus located at Pittsburgh International Airport. The 10,000-square-foot space will function as MPW’s main production facility, improving production capacity by a factor of 8X. This move signals a significant shift to an operations focus for MPW as the company winds down fundamental development.

A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of the Metal Powder Works (MPW) DirectPowder™ Process in comparison to traditional atomization techniques used to produce metal powders for additive manufacturing applications. Publicly available literature was used as data sources for benchmarking water and gas atomization processes as well as the impact of using renewable energy sources.