Minnesota-based Niron Magnetics has opened a commercial pilot plant to develop “Clean Earth Magnets” that are developed from iron and nitrogen. The company says the magnets have the potential to be used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, audio products, and defense applications. 

GKN Powder Metallurgy has developed a new generation of Porous Transport Layers (PTL) for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis. The solution is designed to revolutionize hydrogen production by increasing efficiency while reducing overall environmental impact.

As the demand for large-scale metal parts continues to rise across sectors such as clean energy, aerospace, and defense, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is spearheading research, supported by the Metal Powder Industries Federation and the Electric Power Research Institute, to re-establish U.S. manufacturing dominance in this area. Through advancements in powder metallurgy-hot isostatic pressing (PM-HIP), paired with additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, ORNL is offering what it considers a high-precision alternative to traditional casting and forging methods.

The 2024 Excellence in Metallography Award has been selected, and this year's winning paper is "Impact Resistance of a Free Sintering Low Alloy Steel Produced by Powder Bed Fusion Using a Laser Beam”, by Thomas F. Murphy, FAPMI, Christopher T. Schade, FAPMI, & Kerri M. Horvay, Hoeganaes Corporation. The paper was selected from among the highly qualified manuscripts that were presented at the PowderMet2024/AMPM2024 conference in Pittsburgh and critically evaluated for the prestigious award. The paper is available for download on the APMI website. It is also included in Advances in Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy—2024 and published in the fall issue of the International Journal of Powder Metallurgy. The authors will be officially recognized during PowderMet2025 in Phoenix, Arizona, June 15–18, 2025.

Proceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials and 10^th annual conference on Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy, June 16-19, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have been released. The fully searchable PDF format preserves the technical papers’ original color in all figures.

The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), a government agency responsible for export control and treaty compliance, has announced a new ruling regarding the export of advanced manufacturing technologies, specifically focusing on metal additive manufacturing equipment and software.

The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) is looking to form a working group under the Cylindrical Gear Rating Committee to create bending load capacity and pitting resistance information for powder metallurgy (PM) gears. If you are interested in joining this AGMA working group, please email the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) at tech@agma.org or call  (703) 838-0057 for further details. 

Recipients of the 2023 Distinguished Service to Powder Metallurgy Award

The Metal Powder Industries Federation is seeking nominations for the MPIF Distinguished Service to Powder Metallurgy Award. This award recognizes those who devoted the major part of their working careers to one or more segments of PM, and whose long-term contributions and achievements deserve special recognition for outstanding and distinguished service.

The Annual West Penn Chapter Seafood Picnic was another successful networking event that attracted over 450 attendees. In an attempt to capture new APMI members, a promotional $50 introductory membership was offered.

Eighty years ago on September 9, 1944, shortly after the first formal meeting of the Metal Powder Association, predecessor of the Metal Powder Industries Federation, the Saturday Evening Post ran an advertisement from General Motors describing how powder metallurgy was helping to win World War II.

Airbus and its partners launched a technology demonstrator to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year. In August, the printer successfully produced the first  metal additive manufactured component in space. The four samples from the experiment, will return to Earth for analysis: two will go to the European Space Agency (ESA) technical center in the Netherlands, one to the astronaut training center in Cologne, and one to the Technical University of Denmark.