Tekna, a Canadian producer of metal powders for additive manufacturing, has increased its production capabilities with the expansion of new manufacturing infrastructure, in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
The additional facility, created through a $5.5M investment, will be used to relocate administrative staff, as well as research, develop, and deploy new metal powder production units.
“This expansion, which is part of our five-year growth plan, will increase our annual metal powder production capacity to over 1000 tonnes,” explained Luc Dionne, CEO of Tekna.
“Our world-class manufacturing infrastructure and our accreditations in terms of the strictest quality standards make Tekna a reliable partner that our clients can count on to ensure their current and future success.”
Inductively Coupled Plasma for additive powders
Founded in 1990 in Southern Quebec, Tekna develops and produces high-purity metal powders for 3D printing, metal injection molding, and microelectronics, in addition to optimized induction plasma systems for industrial research and production.
With over 100 employees, Tekna operates manufacturing centers within Canada and France, as well as sales and distribution offices in China, India, and South Korea. Moreover, Tekna is one of three companies using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) processes to create spherical highly pure nanopowders, including PyroGenesis and GE Additive owned AP&C.
ICP is used as a type of energy source supplied by electric currents within powder densification, spheroidization, and nanopowder synthesis processes. Through a plasma torch, crushed, atomized and sponged powders are converted into dense spherical powders.
Advancing industrial metal powders
With this investment, wider adoption of additive manufacturing is encouraged. This is due to the availability of industrial 3D printing materials needed within thriving industries such as automotive, aerospace and the medical and dental sector. Recently, additive experts have attributed the lack of appropriate alloys for additive manufacturing limitation of further industrialization.
Rémy Pontone, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Tekna stated, “This investment will enable us to follow and support the growth of our clients through our existing products and to launch new innovative products on the industrial market.”
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Featured image shows Tenka’s production plant. Photo via Tekna.
