Aluminum-Lithium Alloy Powder Metallurgy Patent Landscape 2026
- Small, concentrated field. 21 families total, with filings never exceeding 4 in any single year — this is a niche, not a boom.
- China dominates the front door. 13 of the tracked filings entered through the Chinese receiving office, versus 3 in the US and single digits elsewhere.
- Spray forming still anchors the citation graph. The two most-cited Chinese filings and a 1990s US patent all center on spray-cast/atomized Al-Li processing, not on newer alloy chemistries.
A narrow, process-defined field
Aluminum-lithium alloy powder metallurgy sits at the intersection of two IPC subclasses that between them cover almost the entire dataset: B22F (powder metallurgy) and C22C (alloys), each present in 17 of the 21 records. That overlap is the field — this is not a broad materials category with powder metallurgy as one branch among many, it is a tight process-plus-composition niche where atomization, spray forming and consolidation routes are claimed alongside the Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr chemistry itself. Secondary classes such as C22F (heat treatment), F16L/F17C (pipes and pressure vessels) and C06B (propellants) appear only once or twice, marking where the alloy has been claimed for specific end uses rather than as a standalone material.
With only 21 families across more than a decade of coverage, the space rewards precision over volume: a handful of well-cited spray-forming patents still frame how later filings are drafted, and the recent filing count is too thin to call a trend without waiting for the next 18 months of publication lag to catch up.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 21-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year on year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filings by year
Activity rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 4 filings in 2022, then eased back — 2026 is a partial year at 1 filing and should not yet be read as a decline given the ~18-month publication lag.
IPC subclass distribution
B22F and C22C each cover 17 of 21 records, confirming the field is defined jointly by powder-processing method and alloy composition; the remaining subclasses (C22F, F16L, F17C, B01D, B22D, C06B) each appear in only one or two filings, marking application-specific outliers rather than a second cluster.
Shares are the percentage of the 21 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Aluminum-Lithium Alloy Powder Metallurgy with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about aluminum-lithium alloy powder metallurgy and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe filings the rest of the field cites
EP0579740A1 — Spray-cast Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy (AlliedSignal)
An Al-Li alloy consists essentially of the formula Al(bal)Li(a)Cu(b)Mg(c)Zr(d) 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 rate of about 10^3-10^4 °C/sec by spray forming, and is characterized by a substantial absence of prior particle boundaries.Filed by AlliedSignal Inc., published 1994-01-26 — one of the earliest compositional anchors in the dataset.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4532106A | Mechanically alloyed dispersion strengthened aluminum-lithium alloy | 21 |
| 2 | CN106702237A | 一种铝锂合金的喷射成形方法 | 17 |
| 3 | US5520754A | Spray cast Al-Li alloy composition and method of processing | 17 |
| 4 | CN105345004A | 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 |
| 5 | CN111020322A | 一种高强高韧航天用铝锂合金板材及制造方法 | 10 |
| 6 | US4575450A | Process for obtaining extruded semifinished products from high resistance aluminum alloy powder | 8 |
| 7 | JP1987017144A | Manufacture of al-li alloy | 7 |
| 8 | CN111304503A | 一种航空机轮用低密度耐损伤铝锂合金及其制备方法 | 6 |
| 9 | CN112453403A | 一种低成本粉末冶金铝锂合金的制备方法 | 3 |
| 10 | CN112626365A | 一种轻质高强粉末冶金铝锂合金的制备方法 | 2 |
Citation counts are cumulative and favour older filings — read them as a map of influence on subsequent drafting, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers tell a filing strategist
Four read-outs from the trend, geography and citation data that matter more than the headline family count.
Growth is flat, not rising
The midpoint year already matches the peak, so the back half of the window shows no net acceleration. A field this small can swing on one or two applicants' internal roadmaps rather than a broad industry shift.
China is the primary filing venue
The Chinese receiving office accounts for well over half of tracked filings, versus 3 in the US and single digits across Singapore, Europe, Japan and the PCT route combined. Freedom-to-operate work should start with Chinese full-text search, not US or EP.
A 1980s patent still frames the art
The most-cited record in the set is a mechanically-alloyed dispersion-strengthened Al-Li patent from the 1980s, ahead of two 2010s Chinese spray-forming filings cited 17 times each. Old art still sets the vocabulary examiners search against.
Process and composition are claimed together
Nearly every record in the dataset sits in both the powder-metallurgy and alloy IPC classes, confirming that isolated composition claims without a processing route are rare in this corpus.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aluminum-lithium alloy powder metallurgy, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is actively filing, and who has gone quiet
Recent-year momentum separates the assignees still filing from those whose activity has already tapered off — useful before assuming any name on the ranking is still a live competitor.
Nanjing Tech University is the only active filer
Of the tracked assignees, only Nanjing Tech University shows a filing in the most recent year. Every other named assignee in the momentum data — including Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy Co., Ltd., Honeywell International Inc. (Honeywell International), Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute Co., Ltd., University of Science and Technology Beijing and Incoloy International Alloys Inc. — recorded zero.
A specialist spray-forming filer has stopped
Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy Co., Ltd., a spray-forming specialist name in the citation and assignee data, shows a full year-on-year drop to zero filings — worth checking directly rather than assuming continued activity from its earlier record.
Most named assignees are now dormant by this metric
Honeywell International Inc., Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute Co., Ltd., University of Science and Technology Beijing and Incoloy International Alloys Inc. all show zero filings in the latest tracked year. Their historical filings still count toward the family ranking and citation graph, but current momentum has moved elsewhere or stopped.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Nanjing Tech University | 1 | — |
| Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0 | — |
| Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| University of Science and Technology Beijing | 0 | — |
| Incoloy International Alloys Inc. | 0 | — |
| Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a small number of concrete next steps for anyone drafting or clearing claims in this space.
Map the spray-forming citation cluster in full
US4532106A, US5520754A and the two leading Chinese spray-forming filings share citation lines; tracing their full forward-citation trees before drafting avoids re-treading blocked composition ranges.
Explore citation trees in Eureka →Watch Nanjing Tech University's filing direction
As the only assignee with a filing in the latest tracked year, its claim scope is the freshest signal of where active R&D in this niche is currently pointed.
Track assignee activity in Eureka →Test claims against the Chinese receiving-office corpus first
With 13 of 21 filings entering via China, any freedom-to-operate or whitespace analysis that starts in English-language patent offices alone will miss most of the active claim space.
Run a China-first search in Eureka →Frequently asked questions
It combines lithium-bearing aluminum alloys, valued for their low density and high stiffness, with powder-based processing routes such as gas atomization and spray forming that avoid the segregation problems of conventional ingot casting. The dataset shows secondary claims extending into pressure vessels, pipe fittings and propellant applications, which points to aerospace and defence structural components as the main downstream use. Most filings pair a specific alloy composition (typically Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr type) with a defined consolidation process rather than claiming either alone.
Filing activity peaked at 4 filings in 2022 and the years since have not exceeded that, so on the face of the data the field looks flat to declining. That reading needs a caveat: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any such dataset will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be. With only 21 total families, single-digit swings in either direction can also just reflect one or two applicants' internal timing rather than an industry-wide shift.
China is the dominant receiving office in this dataset, accounting for 13 of 21 tracked filings, well ahead of the United States at 3 and single-digit counts across Singapore, Europe, Japan and the PCT route. Any clearance search that only covers US and EP filings will miss the majority of the documented claim activity in this niche. A practical search order is Chinese full-text patent databases first, then US, then the remaining jurisdictions.
EP0579740A1, filed by AlliedSignal Inc. and published in 1994, claims a spray-cast Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy defined by specific weight-percent ranges for lithium, copper, magnesium and zirconium, solidified at a stated rate of roughly 10^3 to 10^4 °C per second by spray forming. Its distinguishing feature is a substantial absence of prior particle boundaries in the consolidated microstructure, which is what separates spray-formed Al-Li from conventionally cast or powder-pressed equivalents. Anyone drafting a similar composition-plus-process claim should check their weight-percent ranges and solidification rate against this filing specifically, since it sits early in the citation graph for this dataset.
The recent-year momentum data shows Nanjing Tech University as the only assignee with a filing in the latest tracked year; named assignees including Jiangsu Haoran Spray Forming Alloy Co., Ltd., Honeywell International Inc. (Honeywell International), Jiangsu XCMG Construction Machinery Research Institute Co., Ltd., University of Science and Technology Beijing and Incoloy International Alloys Inc. all show zero filings in that year. This does not mean those organisations have exited the field permanently — it means their documented activity in this specific dataset has paused or slowed. Anyone assessing competitive risk should verify current filing status directly rather than relying solely on historical family counts.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
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.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.