Xi’an Advanced Metals Corporation has commenced operations at China’s first large-scale titanium powder production facility dedicated to additive manufacturing applications. The plant has an annual capacity of 500 tons and aims to reduce China’s dependence on imported metal powders.

Currently, approximately 60% of titanium powder used in Chinese AM operations is imported from suppliers in the United States, Germany, and Japan. The new facility will produce Ti-6Al-4V powder, the most commonly used titanium alloy in aerospace and medical applications, with particle size distributions optimized for both powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition processes.

“Powder quality has been a bottleneck for Chinese AM adoption,” said plant manager Wang Chen. “Our powder meets ASTM standards for oxygen content, particle morphology, and flowability. We’ve already secured supply agreements with several major aerospace manufacturers.”

The Xi’an facility uses gas atomization technology licensed from a European equipment supplier but incorporates proprietary powder classification and quality control systems developed in-house. Each batch undergoes extensive testing including particle size analysis, chemical composition verification, and powder bed density measurements.

Industry experts view the development as strategically significant. Metal powder represents up to 30% of the cost of AM parts, and domestic production could make Chinese manufacturers more price-competitive globally. The plant is also expected to enable faster iteration cycles for R&D projects that previously faced long lead times for imported materials.

The Chinese government provided 80 million RMB in subsidies for the project as part of its advanced materials development program. Xi’an Advanced Metals plans to expand capacity to 1,000 tons by 2028 and is developing powders for other alloys including Inconel 718 and aluminum AlSi10Mg.