Materials producer IperionX will be working with bike brand Canyon Bicycles GmbH to explore the production of bicycle components using IperionX’s 100% recycled and low-carbon titanium.
If you’re a regular reader of 3D ADEPT Media, you probably know that we love IperionX and their mission to revitalize a low cost, low carbon U.S. titanium industry.
Since our conversation with the founder and CEO Taso Arima, the company has been partnering with a wide range of companies across vertical industries adopting AM technologies; each partnership aiming to explore the use of Titanium and AM to produce parts for products these companies sell. So far, IperionX is partnering with manufacturer of high-performance centrifugal pumps Carver Pump and luxury watchmaker Panerai.
This partnership with Canyon comes to no surprise when we know that the bike industry is at the forefront of efforts to foster the adoption of AM. As a matter of fact, Canyon Bicycles GmbH created a lightweight and sustainable 3D-printed prototype for BIKE Magazin’s ‘Ride Green’ campaign. At the time, the company contacted Materialise to produce the parts and used 3D printing (3DP) to achieve the frame’s unique shape.
Surfing this wave, the company’s product development and ESG teams will be working closely with IperionX to produce bicycle components using IperionX’s low-carbon, recycled titanium metal powders via additive manufacturing methods.
“Connecting IperionX to our product development and ESG teams is allowing us to identify bicycle components that can be produced using their low-cost, low-carbon, fully recycled titanium powders”, Alison Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Canyon said.
The parties have agreed upon an initial project to prototype Canyon bicycle parts, including for bicycle frames, using IperionX’s 100% recycled titanium produced by IperionX via additive manufacturing methods. The term of this initial agreement is until June 30, 2025. Upon successful completion of the initial prototyping, Canyon and IperionX intend to negotiate an agreement for larger scale production, a press release explains.
Titanium as a frame material has a premium and desirable position for bicycle consumers, being both very strong and lightweight, including around half the weight of steel, as well as being extremely corrosion resistant, removing the requirement for paint as a corrosion inhibitor. However, until now, its utilization in bike components has been limited by its high cost compared to materials such as carbon frames, as well as the high-carbon footprint of the current titanium supply chain, which is based on the energy-intensive Kroll process.
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