Atomising Systems celebrates 30 years and plans £1.75m expansion

April 19, 2023

The newly installed classification system at Atomising Systems (Courtesy Atomising Systems)
The newly installed classification system at Atomising Systems (Courtesy Atomising Systems)

Atomising Systems Ltd. (ASL), Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK, is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, and investing some £1.75 million to further boost its machine development and powder production facilities.

Having begun operations with just three staff members in a small office in January 1993, the company grew to around fifteen staff and moved to a 900 m2 factory in 2001. This was outgrown and in 2011 the company relocated to its present 3000 m2 facility, where eighty-five are now employed.

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Although the company was started as a manufacturer of atomisation production systems, it moved in metal powder production as demand increased. Today, production capacity for steels, Ni & Cu alloys, using gas atomisation, water atomisation, and ultra-high-pressure water atomisation (for MIM grades) now exceeds 4,000 t/year.

In its 30th year of operation, £1.75 million is being invested in a number of expansion and quality improvement projects to remove bottlenecks. These include a third QC laboratory with ICP analytical facilities, a 5 t blender, and a major re-location and expansion of sieving and classifying equipment for special powders, largely for the Additive Manufacturing industry.

ASL’s new sieving platform (Courtesy Atomising Systems)
ASL’s new sieving platform (Courtesy Atomising Systems)

Plans for 2023 call for a fifth melting furnace to be installed to boost gas atomising capacity and an upgrade to the packing equipment. ASL is also applying a number of innovative in-house developments to its process plant, with the objective of reducing scope 2 CO2 emissions by over 100 t/year.

John Dunkley, the founder of the company, has now worked on atomising for fifty years and is semi-retired. He is still involved in strategic planning and technical investigations, assisting a eight-strong R&D team. Record turnover in the year ended September 30, 2022, was in excess of £13 million, boosted by rapidly increasing sales to the Additive Manufacturing industry, for both Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) techniques and Binder Jetting (BJT). Stainless steels, especially 316L, are the major focus of activity, but many different alloys are available.

www.atomising.co.uk

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Extensive Powder Metallurgy industry news coverage, and the following exclusive deep-dive articles and reports:

  • From powder modification to rejuvenation: Fluidised Bed Reactors in metal powder production and Additive Manufacturing
  • Retech: Enabling the atomisation of reactive and refractory alloys at substantially higher levels of productivity and lower cost
  • Sustainability in Powder Metallurgy: Highlights from the 41st Hagen Symposium
  • Innovations from Japan’s Powder Metallurgy industry: award winners highlight novel automotive and healthcare applications

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