Facilities

MPP establishes a new Production facility for so called “SMART” gas atomised powders.

Situated in modern industrial premises and maintaining an ultraclean environment in contrast to “foundry-like” habitats which house so many of the world’s powder production facilities.

The location is in Polegate, East Sussex, England.

The investment is a result of an obvious need in the market for tailored powders to be developed that will add value to downstream processes and applications; termed smart powders.

We are able to carry out small trials (Penny) using our in-house R&D atomiser (5-15kg).  We work closely with our customers to understand their requirements and play an active role in defining the scope of initial trials.  Upon evaluation of the powders produced we can then optimise the chemistry and metallurgy ready for scale up (Bertha).

We have invested in capital equipment to support the needs of a successful powder company.  This is ongoing and will continue.

Our Business Development Manager commented that “The demand for tailored powders suited to any particular downstream process has never been higher.  The level of impact observed will be very much dependant on understanding the interplay between 3 activities.  Powder characteristics, downstream processing and finished part performance”.

MPP has key people in the company that have many years of developing and optimising materials to different processes.  The demand for advanced materials is predicted by many industrial experts to increase rapidly over the coming years.  Additive manufacturing (AM), hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and metal injection moulding (MIM) are just some of the downstream processes that are witnessing this growth now.

The site is equipped with state of the art VIGA technology which combines vacuum induction melting with inert gas atomisation.  VIGA is one of the most versatile methods for processing a variety of different alloy types into powders.  The technology offers high process efficiency with high output yields.  PSI designed die technology used in conjunction with an understanding of how key processes effect particle size profiles allows MPP to optimise different yield fractions for different downstream processes.

Many aerospace components are made from powder routes where oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and trace elementals must be controlled.  Other processes for example air melting or melting under an inert gas cover are not able to produce powders to the required specification.  VIGA is the preferred process technology in many cases.