Equispheres announces $8 million from SDTC

Equispheres has been awarded $8 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), an arms-length foundation created to fund clean technologies. The support is intended to facilitate scaling the company’s metal powder production capacity over the next two years.

The company’s metal powders are designed specifically for additive manufacturing (AM) and optimized for the automotive and aerospace industries. AM isn’t new to those industries, but it wasn’t previously feasible on a mass production scale.

Equisphere’s proprietary technology allows it to create highly uniform aluminum alloy powder grains that not only flow efficiently in AM machines but also create parts with superior mechanical properties. According to test performed at McGill University, the company’s powder has also been validated for use with binder jet technology, which is considerably faster than traditional laser sintering.

According to the SDTC, the speed and superior performance facilitated by Equisphere’s powers, combined with the design flexibility and light-weighting enabled by AM, will have a significant impact on the transportation sector’s carbon footprint.

“Equispheres has developed a metal powder that acts as ink for 3D printing and enables automotive and aerospace manufacturers to reduce the weight of their products,” said Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of SDTC. “With Equispheres’ powder set to remove 100 – 200 kg of mass from an automobile, this would be the equivalent to removing 75 million cars off the road!”
www.equispheres.com
www.sdtc.ca