Making Metal Powders from Off-the-Shelf Bar stock

Stephanie Hendrixson of Additive Manufacturing Media visited the facility earlier this year and captured this succinct description of the DirectPowder™ process.

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Making the metal powders used by many 3D printing processes usually involves melting the material first — but this requires large amounts of energy; generates excess, out-of-size powders; and may not be cost-effective for materials needed in smaller quantities. Powder production that does not require melting can be more economical and more sustainable alternative especially for new or unusual alloys. Metal Powder Works' DirectPowder process is one method for manufacturing metal powder through mechanical milling. Among the benefits listed above, MPW also has a vision for deploying powder production to AM users wherever they may be with this technology to alleviate material handling challenges and deliver powder on demand.