The overall objectives of INNOPOWDER SME Instrument Phase I were to study the feasibility for the market launch of high quality, low cost metal powder, optimized for the production of additively manufactured (AM) components for the transport industry. In this study, the market potential of this metal powder has been analyzed from a technical and economic point of view, considering different entry barriers like the state of the art, related technologies, competitors, pricing benchmark, market size and growth forecasts.
AM manufacturing is making considerable progress towards becoming a mainstream option for series production. It does not need tools (e.g. molds and dies) and can produce very complex shapes and geometric features. The production of final parts using AM facilitates small batch sizes, custom parts, lightweight structures, complex internal features, low cost decentralization of production and the consolidation of many previously separate parts into one. These properties present a clear advantage over traditional metal component manufacturing techniques for the transport sector (automobile, aerospace, …).
The supply chain for metal powders used in AM is currently experiencing exponential growth. Nonetheless, the current powder quality and price offered in the market are limitating the potential of the metal AM industry.
INNOPOWDER is a cost-effective and high quality powder for transport component manufacturers to produce parts using AM technologies. INNOPOWDER will allow manufacturers to increase their productivity by reducing scrap, increasing cycle speeds and component design flexibility, and reducing production costs.
The benchmark study done during Phase I demonstrates INNOPOWDER’s superiority in the main product quality aspects and the cost calculation shows a dramatic decrease versus current alternatives already present in the market. As a result of this feasibility study (FS) we are convinced that INNOPOWDER has a very attractive value proposition for the industry, mainly focusing on the transport and industrial tooling market segments, and it will provide a very attractive return on investment (ROI).
The society will benefit from a faster implementation of the metal AM industry. This industry will allow to reduce drastically the components’s weight and therefore the final weight of cars, planes and other vehicles. This weight savings will lead to a drastic reduction of emissions to the atmosphere with the resulting positive impact on the environment. AM technologies enable utilizing only the amount of material needed for the manufacture of the product and also have the potential to reduce the life cycle material mass and energy consumed relative to conventional subtractive techniques (eliminating scrap, eliminating the use of harmful ancillary processes, raw material and consumables usage). Certain AM techniques also have the capability to completely eliminate supply chain operations associated to the production of new tooling by their capability to enable repair and remanufacturing of obsolete or failed tooling, or by eliminating the necessary usage of industrial tooling to produce the component entirely.
To accelerate the implementation of these technologies, there are some barriers to overcome, one of the most important is enabling access to high quality metal powders optimized for different applications at an affordable cost than presently. INNOPOWDER offers a wide range of metal powders at a demonstrated higher quality than the current market players and at a price 5 to 6 times lower.
