Deep Report on the Metal Powder Industry: High end Materials, Billion Dollar Market

Metal powder is the foundation for achieving large-scale production of non-standard metallurgical products

Metal powder refers to a group of metal particles with a size less than 1mm, including single metal powder, alloy powder, and certain refractory compound powders with metallic properties. It is the main raw material for powder metallurgy. Powder metallurgy is a process of manufacturing metal materials, composite materials, and various types of products from metal powders (or mixtures of metal and non-metal powders) through forming and sintering processes. Therefore, metal powder has emerged with the development of powder metallurgy technology, and the expansion of its application fields cannot be separated from the continuous innovation of powder metallurgy technology. The important changes brought about by powder metallurgy technology are mainly reflected in two aspects: (1) the development of advanced technologies for new materials and key products. The powder metallurgy ductile tungsten wire developed in 1909 brought light to human society. The emergence of hard alloys in 1923 increased the efficiency of metal cutting by dozens or even hundreds of times, bringing revolutionary changes to cutting, mining, drilling, and other processing industries. Since the 1930s, refractory metals, electrical contact materials, and magnetic materials (including rare earth permanent magnet materials) developed based on powder metallurgy technology have provided key equipment and components for electrification systems and communication equipment. (2) Advanced forming technology for producing high-performance metal mechanical parts. Due to its ability to achieve near net shaping of materials, powder metallurgy technology has the advantages of high raw material utilization rate (about 95%), high production efficiency, energy conservation and environmental protection. It can directly produce high-performance powder metallurgy products with complex shapes and high precision. The powder metallurgy machinery parts industry is developing rapidly worldwide, establishing its important position as a component of modern manufacturing.
At present, emerging industries represented by new generation information technology, new energy, intelligent manufacturing, etc. are rapidly developing, which puts forward higher requirements for materials, such as ultra-high purity, ultra-high performance, ultra-low defects, high-speed iteration, multifunctionality, high durability, low cost, easy recycling, and excellent equipment, and puts forward higher requirements for the research and development of new materials. The new materials industry is developing towards green, low-carbon, refined, and economical directions. The rapid development of new generation information technology and Internet technology, such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the application of new sensing technology and automation technology, have accelerated the R&D process of new materials industry, bringing unprecedented development opportunities for metal powders. Metal powders are widely used in fields such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, machinery, and construction. In the context of industrial upgrading and green manufacturing, the demand for high-precision and lightweight components in various fields is rapidly increasing. The automotive and aerospace industries are at the forefront of increasing demand for lightweight components, providing consumers with energy-saving solutions. Traditional production methods cannot produce such lightweight and high-precision components, but advanced powder metallurgy processes such as metal powder injection molding (MIM) and metal powder additive manufacturing (3D printing) can efficiently produce such non-standard components at relatively low production costs.
The continuous improvement of powder metallurgy technology is driving the application of powder metallurgy products to expand into high-end markets. The rapid development of emerging fields such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, wind power, energy storage, aerospace, communications, and healthcare has led to a significant increase in demand for high-performance, low-cost, customized, and personalized new materials and components. The advancement of powder metallurgy technology can help upgrade the scale production of low-end homogeneous products to high-end customized products. The so-called large-scale production is not only the expansion of production capacity, but also the improvement of production efficiency, thereby saving energy and reducing costs. Metal powder is the foundation for achieving large-scale production of non-standard metallurgical products.