Metal additive manufacturing has been making some big waves lately, but a limited selection of metal powders can be a bottleneck to taking products beyond prototyping.

In the video above, we look at how companies like Sandvik Osprey are upping their game in the metal powders business.

“Sandvik Osprey has been manufacturing metal powders for over 40 years, manufacturing about 10 million pounds a year and we have the capability to manufacture over 3,000 different alloys,” explained Mary Kate Johnson, business development manager at Sandvik Osprey.

The company manufactures alloys for the aerospace, defense and medical industries, with grades ranging from high nickel to stainless steels to cobalt and copper alloys.

“We have metallurgists on staff with over 20 years of experience in the atomizing industry,” Johnson added. “All of our powders are manufactured through gas atomization.”

Sandvik Osprey is also partnering with Desktop Metal, supplying metal powders for several of the company's additive manufacturing cartridges.

“Just imagine you're printing in 316L, a high nickel alloy, and you'd like to switch. It's as easy as swapping cartridges from the machine and you're printing a new grade of material in 60 seconds,” Johnson explained.

For more information on Sandvik Osprey and its additive manufacturing capabilities, visit the Sandvik website.