In terms of market volume, the powder market is important in terms of tonnage, but most of the powder consumed by P&S mainly uses standard powder or commercial powder. Approximately 5% of the entire powder market can be regarded as a special powder market, requiring more advanced powders for special P&S, coatings, HIP, MIM and AM. To

In recent years, compared with other compaction technologies, AM has grown rapidly, although they have also shown steady growth, acceptance and development in the market. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2016 to 2022 is 5.5% for coatings, 6% for HIP, 11.6% for MIM, and> 30% for AM. Although there is a certain overcapacity in the supply of special powders, this depends largely on the development of the market and the acceptance of different industries in order to turn this surplus into a deficit within a few years. According to the development of the market, this deficit may appear as early as 2020, of course, it also depends on the different circumstances of the supply side.

Now most of the installed HIP units are used for the densification of die castings and MIM parts, as well as the post-processing of AM parts. The most important use of PM and HIP processes is the production of high-speed steel and tool steel. Here, the powder is fed into a metal container (capsule/can) with a billet shape, and then transformed into a rod, block or wire through conventional forging, rolling and drawing processes. Making HIPs for NNS (Near Net Shape) and NS (Net Shape) parts has also become interesting. These products can be found in the oil and gas, energy processing and aerospace industries.

Compared with other powder metallurgy processes, when producing parts of larger size (over 5 tons), the advantages of HIP are obvious, and there are almost no restrictions on complex shapes and geometric features. HIP is suitable for materials that are difficult to compact and expensive, such as super alloys, titanium, tool steel, stainless steel, etc. For HIPing, most of the installed capacity can be obtained through service providers such as Bodycote, but in recent years, more and more companies have invested in their own HIP capabilities.

The methods mentioned mainly require special powders that have key characteristics such as particle size, particle shape, fluidity, and correct particle size distribution PSD (depending on the application).

Most of these special powders are produced by gas atomization, which is the selection process of a large number of high-quality powders. However, depending on the powder grade and particle size, other production technologies are being used or have been developed.