Equispheres Inc. has been granted a $3.5 million repayable contribution to accelerate production of its metal powder materials for additive manufacturing from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FEDDEV), Ontario Business Scale-up and Productivity Program. Equispheres is bringing online additional high-speed commercial reactors to manufacture its patent-pending aluminum powders.
The Honourable Helena Jaczek, Minister Responsible for FEDDEV and local Kanata-Carleton Member of Parliament Jenna Sudds, formally announced this investment as part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to innovation and climate change.
For automotive and aerospace parts in particular, Equispheres’ powder addresses the need for lighter weight parts while maintaining high precision, repeatability and mass production speeds. The company’s aluminum powders are produced by a unique atomization process that creates highly uniform, spherical particles with characteristics well suited to the additive manufacturing process.
“Equispheres aims to enable industrial 3D printing to compete with traditional manufacturing. Our metal powder technology dramatically reduces the cost of 3D part production such that it is economically viable in volume manufacturing applications such as automotive,” said Kevin Nicholds, CEO of the company.
Recent testing by equipment manufacturer Aconity3D demonstrated Equispheres’ high-performance feedstock can print three times faster than traditional powders and achieve part cost reductions of 50%. Equispheres’ materials can help Canadian and global manufacturers adopt additive manufacturing methods that are efficient, sustainable and cost-competitive.
Three new reactors are expected to come online in 2022, adding production capacity to meet surging market demand and creating new jobs in the Ottawa region.
“We are grateful for the Government of Canada’s strong leadership on climate action and programs that support this kind of cleantech innovation,” said Nicholds. “This significant investment by FEDDEV will support the next steps in our growth: working with partners in the automotive, aerospace and defense sectors to qualify our materials for industrial applications.”
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