Production of Airbus’ High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Powder Scalmalloy in China: CNPC Power Receives Authorization

PanDen 2024-11-17 12:10 Events

Panda3dp.com Guide: A noteworthy milestone for the industry—foreign companies’ proprietary metal 3D printing powder material is now authorized for production and sale by a Chinese 3D printing materi ...

On November 6, 2024, Panda3dp.com reported that CNPC Power（中体新材）, leveraging its advanced and innovative manufacturing technologies, has officially become the first Chinese powder manufacturer authorized by Airbus to produce and market the high-strength aluminum alloy 3D printing material, Scalmalloy®. Additionally, with its self-developed AMP production line, CNPC Power has achieved high-quality, high-yield, and low-cost mass production. This collaboration with Airbus not only affirms CNPC Power’s leading position in the 3D printing metal materials industry but also breathes new life into the domestic sector.

APWORKS Patent Protection and Scope

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus Group, APWORKS has long been at the forefront of additive manufacturing and advanced material development. The Scalmalloy® material, composed of aluminum, magnesium, and scandium, is a specially designed high-performance aluminum alloy powder for additive manufacturing, featuring exceptional mechanical and corrosion-resistant properties, along with impressive strength and toughness. Since its commercialization in 2014, Scalmalloy® has shown immense potential across sectors such as aerospace and automotive manufacturing.

Airbus Group has implemented rigorous patent protections across Europe, the United States, and China to safeguard its technological uniqueness and market advantage. As an officially certified manufacturer, CNPC Power ensures the lawful use and protection of Scalmalloy®’s patented technology in China, meeting the market’s urgent need for this high-performance aluminum alloy material while providing strong support for industrial upgrades in fields like aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and high-end electronics.

“We consider this agreement to be highly significant for the entire industry. CNPC Power has demonstrated exceptional production capabilities and quality control, with their powder products yielding outstanding results. We look forward to partnering with CNPC Power to further enhance the economic and functional accessibility of Scalmalloy® powder, benefitting the whole industry.”
—Jon Meyer, CEO of APWORKS

The Extraordinary Material Properties of Scalmalloy®

During production, CNPC Power strictly adheres to Airbus Group’s technical standards and quality control requirements, ensuring that each batch of Scalmalloy® maintains consistent quality and exceptional properties, including high tensile strength, high yield strength, and favorable elongation. These performance indicators surpass those of conventional 7000-series aluminum alloys, with a tightly controlled ratio of hollow and satellite powder particles, ensuring superior quality in printed products.

Pioneering Lightweighting

With its lower density, Scalmalloy® is well-suited for applications requiring weight reduction, enhancing energy efficiency and significantly reducing transport and operational costs. Scalmalloy®’s density of just 2.67 g/cm³ makes it approximately 60% lighter than titanium alloy, which allows for substantial structural weight savings. Airbus has successfully used Scalmalloy® to produce a lightweight motorcycle weighing only 35kg—the world’s first 3D-printed motorbike.

△APWorks使用铝合金打印的空客 Light Rider3D打印摩托

Strength and Toughness

Scalmalloy® combines high tensile strength with superior fracture toughness. With a tensile strength reaching 520 MPa and a yield strength up to 480 MPa, Scalmalloy® maintains good ductility even under high-stress conditions, with an elongation at break exceeding 10%, ensuring structural safety and reliability under complex stress scenarios. CNPC Power conducted rigorous testing across various conditions to thoroughly evaluate Scalmalloy®'s tensile properties. The results demonstrated that, both with and without heat treatment, Scalmalloy® exhibits a balanced profile of strength and toughness, forming a solid foundation for applications in aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and high-end electronic devices.

Tensile Properties without Heat Treatment

Tensile Properties after Heat Treatment

Its excellent mechanical properties enable it to perform outstandingly in high-stress environments, ensuring the safety and durability of the structure. The following figure shows the stress-strain curve of Scalmalloy® measured by CNPC Power.

Cost Advantages with AMP Production Line: Fostering Technological Innovation and Accessibility

In addition to stringent quality control, CNPC Power holds technical and cost advantages in Scalmalloy® production. Through its self-developed AMP production line, the company has innovatively upgraded traditional single-batch production into a continuous, uninterrupted process, achieving high-quality, high-output mass production while significantly reducing delivery time and enhancing production efficiency. This optimized production process has led to a marked reduction in Scalmalloy® costs, accelerating the material’s widespread adoption and popularization within the metal 3D printing industry.

Lightweighting has become a key factor in enhancing product performance and reducing energy consumption across emerging intelligent manufacturing sectors such as aerospace, automotive, robotics, and low-altitude economic applications. Scalmalloy® material, with its outstanding properties, will add value to a variety of products, driving industry innovation and showcasing strong market potential and application prospects.

Dedicated to technological innovation and cost optimization, CNPC Power plans to continue investing heavily in research and development to enhance its technical expertise and production capacity, promoting large-scale production in the additive manufacturing industry.

Panda3dp.com notes that CNPC Power will join hundreds of other Chinese 3D printing exhibitors at the 2024 Formnext in Frankfurt, Germany.

Official Launch of TOP.E Digital Solid-State Battery 3D Printing Engineering Technology Center The Immense Potential of the Concrete 3D Printing Market: China Communications First Highway Institute Combines "Soft and Hard" Strategies, from Equipment Development to System Integration