Al-Li Powder Metallurgy Patent Snapshot 2026
Al-Li powder metallurgy is a concentrated, technically specialized field in a Growth lifecycle stage, with Alcoa holding the largest position among a small set of established aerospace and materials incumbents alongside newer Chinese entrants. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2022 peak, and China has overtaken Western offices as the leading filing jurisdiction.
Alcoa leads a concentrated field with emerging Chinese challengers
Alcoa holds the top-ranked position, followed by Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy, Honeywell International, Reynolds Metals, and Martin Marietta. These five filers together account for 52% of the combined patent records of the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating meaningful but not absolute concentration.
A clear tier gap separates Alcoa from the rest of the field. The second-ranked applicant, Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy, is a new entrant by momentum, signaling that Chinese specialty-materials firms are actively building positions previously dominated by Western aerospace and aluminium majors.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alcoa Inc | 13 | |
| 2 | Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy | 11 | |
| 3 | Honeywell International Inc | 8 | |
| 4 | Reynolds Metals Company | 5 | |
| 5 | Martin Marietta Corporation | 4 | |
| 6 | Pechiney Rolled Products LLC | 4 | |
| 7 | McCook Metals LLC | 3 | |
| 8 | UNIV OF SCI & TECH BEIJING | 2 | |
| 9 | Lockheed Martin Corporation | 2 | |
| 10 | Lin Jen C | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Newman John M | 2 | |
| 12 | Sumitomo Light Metal Industries, Inc. | 2 | |
| 13 | Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute | 2 | |
| 14 | Sawtell Ralph R | 2 | |
| 15 | Kamat Rajeev G | 2 | |
| 16 | Changsha Advanced Materials Industrial Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 17 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | 1 | |
| 18 | Pechiney SA | 1 | |
| 19 | Tangshan Weihao Magnesium Powder | 1 | |
| 20 | MITSUI E&S SHIPBUILDING CO LTD | 1 |
Alcoa’s sustained lead, spanning alloy composition, casting, and even solar-collector applications, reflects deep cross-disciplinary coverage rather than narrow process focus. This breadth makes direct head-on challenge difficult without significant portfolio investment in the core C22C and B22F branches.
The most recent 18–24 months of filing data are subject to publication lag and will undercount actual activity; trends for 2024–2026 should be read as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth driven by alloy and process filings; 2022 was the peak year
The annual filing trend and the IPC technology composition together show a field that expanded materially from 2019 to 2022 and whose technology base is dominated by alloy and non-ferrous-treatment classes, with process-specific and additive-manufacturing branches remaining thin.
Annual filing trend
Activity was near zero in 2017–2018, rose through 2019–2020, peaked at six records in 2022, then eased to three in 2023 and two in 2024. The 2025–2026 values are heavily understated by publication lag and should not be read as a further decline. On a recent-versus-prior three-year comparison, the field shows 83% growth, confirming that the multi-year expansion remains intact despite the post-2022 annual moderation.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Alloy composition (C22C) is the visible class, followed by non-ferrous metal treatment (C22F) and powder metallurgy process (B22F). Metal casting (B22D) occupies a secondary position. All other branches — including additive manufacturing (B33Y), pipes and fittings (F16L), and pressure vessels (F17C) — carry very low counts, confirming that the corpus is anchored in upstream alloy design and traditional consolidation processes rather than downstream applications.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Toughness enhancement of Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloys pro…
An Al-Li alloy consists essentially of the formula AlbalLiaCubMgcZrd wherein "a" ranges from about 1.9 to 3.4 wt %, "b" ranges from about 0.5 to 2.0 wt %, "c" ranges from 0.2 to 2.0 wt % and "d" ranges from about 0.3 to 1.2 wt %, the balance being aluminum. The alloy is solidified at a cooling rate of about 103 DEG -104 DEG C./sec by spray forming, and is… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Low density high strength Al-Li alloy | 109 |
| 2 | Aluminum-lithium alloy | 48 |
| 3 | Low density, high strength Al-Li alloy having high… | 45 |
| 4 | Strength enhancement of rapidly solidified aluminu… | 25 |
| 5 | Mechanically alloyed dispersion strengthened alumi… | 21 |
| 6 | Low density, high strength al-li alloy having high… | 19 |
| 7 | 一种铝锂合金的喷射成形方法 | 17 |
| 8 | 一种利用喷射成形制备三维大规格铝锂合金圆锭的方法 | 16 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Alcoa Inc
Alcoa holds 13 patent records, the largest position in the corpus, with technology emphasis spanning alloy composition (C22C), metal casting (B22D), and — notably — solar heat collector applications (F24S), indicating an unusually broad application scope. The company co-files with individual inventors Sawtell and Newman, suggesting sustained inventor-level depth. No recent-window momentum data is available for Alcoa in the evidence, so trajectory relative to the 2022 peak is not quantifiable from this corpus alone.
13 patent recordsJiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy
Jiangsu Haoran holds 11 patent records and is flagged as a new entrant by momentum, with 4 recent-window records confirming active portfolio building. Its technical focus is concentrated in powder metallurgy process (B22F) and alloy composition (C22C), making it the leading process-specialist challenger to the incumbent Western alloy majors. Two of the most-cited works in the corpus — a spray-forming method and a large-ingot preparation method — are Chinese-language filings consistent with this applicant’s profile.
11 patent recordsFrequently asked questions
The corpus covers 18 patent families in scope. This is a small, specialized field, meaning even a modest filing program can meaningfully shift relative portfolio position.
Alcoa Inc holds the top position with 13 patent records, well ahead of the second-ranked applicant, Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy, at 11 patent records. The top five filers together represent 52% of the combined patent records of the ranked applicants visible in this query.
The field is classified as Growth. The recent three-year filing window is 83% above the prior three-year window on a multi-year basis. Annual records peaked in 2022 and have eased since, though recent years are understated by publication lag.
China is the top filing jurisdiction by patent records, followed by Europe (EPO), the United States, and WIPO (PCT). Australia, Japan, Canada, Singapore, and Russia also appear in the coverage map.
Alloy composition (C22C) is the visible class, followed by non-ferrous metal treatment (C22F) and powder metallurgy process (B22F). Metal casting (B22D) is secondary. Additive manufacturing (B33Y), pipes and fittings (F16L), and pressure vessels (F17C) carry very low counts and represent adjacent, under-served branches.
Yes. Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy and Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute are both flagged as new entrants by filing momentum, with Jiangsu Haoran contributing 4 recent-window patent records concentrated in B22F powder metallurgy process routes.
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Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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