Custom Alloy Powder Development
Solid State Metal produces small development lots of custom alloy powder for aerospace, defense, universities, national laboratories, and industrial R&D.
- Development quantities beginning around 500 g*
- Customer-defined chemistry and tailored particle-size distributions
- Customer-supplied feedstock and optional characterization
Before accepting a project, we evaluate melting behavior, volatility, reactivity, contamination risk, and atomization compatibility.
Built for alloy exploration.
Develop and evaluate new alloy compositions without committing to a large conventional atomization campaign.
New Alloy Development
Rapidly screen novel compositions and create powder for initial material evaluation.
Printability Studies
Assess spreading, melting behavior, defect mechanisms, density, and microstructure evolution.
Parameter Development
Generate consistent powder lots for process-window and print-parameter development.
Material Qualification
Produce controlled lots supporting coupon testing, process repeatability, and qualification planning.
Feedstock Trials
Convert customer-provided wire, rod, solid charge, or approved feedstock into powder for evaluation.
What we can support.
The production route and data package are defined around the engineering decision your program needs to make.
Custom alloy charge preparation
Melting and atomization-ready feedstock planning and preparation.
Small-batch atomization
Development-lot production using a process selected for alloy and scale.
Sieving and classification
Targeted PSD cuts with oversize and undersize fraction accounting.
Chemistry
ICP-OES or other agreed elemental analysis through qualified testing partners.
O / N / H testing
Interstitial measurement by inert-gas fusion when required by the program.
SEM morphology
Particle shape, surface condition, satellites, and representative image analysis.
Hall or Carney flow
Flowability characterization using the method appropriate to the powder.
Apparent and tap density
Bulk-density measurements to support powder handling and print evaluation.
CoA and lot traceability
Lot identification and an agreed certificate-of-analysis data package.
Print evaluation coordination
Support for external print trials, coupon planning, and data interpretation.
Our process.
A collaborative, iterative workflow from material concept to documented powder.
Define
Share target chemistry, requirements, end process, quantity, and success criteria.
Prepare
Confirm feasibility, route, charge plan, test matrix, schedule, and acceptance criteria.
Produce
Atomize and classify the material toward the agreed quantity and PSD objectives.
Characterize
Generate the agreed chemistry, interstitial, PSD, morphology, flow, and density data.
Deliver
Ship identified powder with the agreed data package and recommended next steps.
Technical data you can use.
The test package is agreed before production and structured around the next engineering decision: screen the alloy, tune a process window, or begin qualification.
- Reference example
- Ti-6Al-4V Grade 5 technical data sheet
- PSD options
- 0–25, 0–45, 15–45, and 45–105 µm
- Morphology
- Representative powder micrographs and sphericity data
- Lot reporting
- Actual chemistry and PSD reported on the lot Certificate of Analysis
| Fe | O | C | N | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.22 | 0.12–0.20 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.015 |
| Ti | Al | V |
|---|---|---|
| BAL | 5.50–6.75 | 3.5–4.5 |
Reference values shown from the current Ti-6Al-4V Grade 5 technical data sheet. Custom-alloy results vary by composition, feedstock, atomization route, and lot. Actual results are reported in the applicable CoA.
Who it is for.
Organizations pushing the boundaries of advanced materials and additive manufacturing.
Aerospace and Defense
Develop and evaluate next-generation alloys, domestic materials, and process-specific powders.
Universities and National Laboratories
Advance alloy discovery and AM research with small, documented powder lots.
Machine OEMs
Evaluate new materials on a platform and expand the validated material portfolio.
Alloy Developers
Bring compositions to powder form with a feedback-rich development cycle.
AM Process Development
Optimize processes using controlled powder inputs and a defined data package.
Need a small lot of custom powder that conventional suppliers will not support?
Send the alloy composition, feedstock form, quantity, target PSD, end process, and requested test methods. We will complete an initial feasibility review before preparing a proposal.