Equispheres gets $3.5M for commercialization initiatives
by CM Staff
The company’s aluminum powders are produced by an atomization process that creates uniform, spherical particles which should aid the additive manufacturing process
OTTAWA — Equispheres Inc. will receive 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.
The company also stated that Equispheres is bringing online additional high-speed commercial reactors to manufacture its patent-pending aluminum powders.
“Equispheres metal powders have unique properties that enable faster production of stronger, lighter and more reliable 3D printed parts,” said Kevin Nicholds, CEO in a statement.
“This contribution will allow us to scale up our production process and take advantage of an exponentially growing opportunity in the 3D printing space.”
According to Equispheres, automotive and aerospace parts in particular can benefit from the powder as it addresses the need for lighter weight parts while maintaining precision, repeatability and mass production speeds.
“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 Nicholds in a statement.
Equispheres also stated that equipment manufacturer Aconity3D tested the company’s feedstock. According to Equispheres, results showed that their feedstock could print three times faster than traditional powders. The company stated that it expects the materials they produce will help Canadians and global manufacturers adopt additive manufacturing methods that are sustainable and cost-efficient.
The company also announced that Thomas Bloor joined Equispheres to lead global business development. Rob Wildeboer, Executive chairman of Tier One automotive supplier Martinrea International, has taken a seat on the board of directors.
Calvin Osborne joined Equispheres in December as Chief Operating Officer to guide the company’s scale-up and commercialization efforts. Three new reactors are expected to come online in 2022.
“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 in a statement.
“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.”
The company’s aluminum powders are produced by an atomization process that creates uniform, spherical particles which should aid the additive manufacturing process, according to Equispheres.
