Binder Jetting Process Automation Patent Landscape 2026
- Only three published families match this search, so any claim here should be read as an early signal, not a settled market.
- Filing peaked in 2021 at three records and has gone flat since, with nothing new registering through the 2022 midpoint.
- Every matched record sits under B33Y and B24D, pointing to abrasive-article manufacture rather than general metal-part production lines.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (0) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
A narrow, early-stage filing record
Binder jetting process automation, defined here as automated powder handling, depowdering automation, production-line integration and general process automation layered onto binder jet systems, returns a small set of published families under this search. The record is dominated by one applicant and one technology combination: additive manufacturing (B33Y) crossed with grinding tools and abrasives (B24D). That pairing signals the automation claims on file so far are built around abrasive-article production rather than automating metal or ceramic part lines more broadly.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so any apparent slowdown in the most recent years is partly a reporting artefact rather than a real drop in activity. Treat the flat post-2021 trend as inconclusive until later filings clear examination and publish.
Filing trend and IPC composition
The dataset covers 2015-01-01 to 2026-07-31 and returns three published records total, all classified under the same two IPC subclasses.
Filing trend: a single peak, no rebound
Filings sat at zero from 2017 through the years before 2021, rose to a peak of three in 2021, and returned to zero by the 2022 midpoint with no recovery through the most recent partial year. With a total of three records, this is a shape to note, not a trend to extrapolate.
IPC composition: two subclasses only
All three records classify under both B33Y (additive manufacturing / 3D printing) and B24D (grinding tools and abrasives). There is no spread into general metal powder-handling IPC codes in this result set, which is itself informative about how narrowly automation claims have been drafted so far.
Shares are the percentage of the 3 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Binder Jetting Process Automation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about binder jetting process automation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe record that anchors this landscape
Bonded abrasive articles and methods of manufacture
A system for forming an abrasive article is presented. The system includes a workspace and an abrasive material dispenser that deposits a layer of abrasive material onto the workspace. The system also includes a leveler that levels a surface of abrasive material on the workspace. The system also includes a binder jet printer that dispenses a liquid binder onto the layer of abrasive material. The workspace is on a moving surface that moves the workspace between a dispensing position under the dispenser, a leveling position under the leveler, and a printing position, under the printer.Filed by 3M Innovative Properties Company, published 2021-09-02 as WO2021171141A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2021171141A1 | Bonded abrasive articles and methods of manufacture | 1 |
Citation counts inside a small, recent corpus favour whichever record has had the most time to be cited; with one citation logged here, this is a signal of early influence, not a settled ranking.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (1 of 1 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers actually support
With only three published families, statistical confidence is low; the value here is in what the shape of the data rules out, not in what it proves.
A short, single-year spike
Filings went from zero to three in 2021 and back to zero by 2022. That is consistent with one applicant's filing programme rather than a broad industry move into automation claims.
Abrasive articles, not general metal parts
Every record pairs additive manufacturing classification with grinding-tools-and-abrasives classification. Automation claims for other binder jetting end uses, such as structural metal parts, are not represented in this result set.
European and PCT filing only
The three records were filed through the EPO or as PCT applications, with no direct filings at other major offices captured here. That filing pattern points to an applicant protecting European and international rights first.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to binder jetting process automation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Three families sit in the assignee ranking. One name, 3M Innovative Properties Company, accounts for the representative filing and the most-cited record; the ranking has no long tail to describe beyond it.
3M Innovative Properties Company
3M holds the representative filing in this dataset, WO2021171141A1, covering a binder jet system for bonded abrasive articles with an integrated dispense-level-print workspace. Its recent-year filing count in this search is zero, consistent with the broader flat trend since 2021.
A one-applicant result set
All three families in the ranking trace to the same technology pairing of additive manufacturing and abrasives classification, with no second or third assignee entering the picture in this search.
Europe-first, PCT-backed filing strategy
Filing activity routes through the EPO and PCT rather than direct national filings elsewhere in this dataset, suggesting protection was sought in Europe with international rights preserved via PCT.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| 3M Innovative Properties Company (USA) | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This dataset is small enough that the next steps matter more than the numbers already shown.
Watch for the 2022–2024 publication catch-up
Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, filings made after 2021 may still be clearing examination. Re-run this search in a future cut to see whether the flat trend holds or was a reporting gap.
Re-run this landscape in Patsnap Eureka →Broaden beyond the abrasives pairing
Because every matched record classifies under B24D, a search built specifically around metal or ceramic binder jetting automation, without the abrasives constraint, would likely surface a different and larger set of prior art.
Build a broader query in Patsnap Eureka →Check the white-space chips against live filings
The under-claimed sub-areas flagged here are drawn from the gap in this search, not from a freedom-to-operate opinion. Validate each one against current filings before committing R&D spend.
Validate white space in Patsnap Eureka →Common questions on this landscape
This search returns three published records and three patent families covering the period 2015 to 2026. That is a small result set, driven by a narrow search string combining binder jetting terms with automation terms and a specific IPC filter. A broader query without the abrasives-linked IPC codes would likely return more prior art, so this number should be treated as a floor, not a ceiling.
3M Innovative Properties Company holds the representative and most-cited record in this dataset, WO2021171141A1, which covers a binder jet system for bonded abrasive articles with an automated dispense-level-print workspace. No other assignee appears with a competing filing in this particular search. That concentration is a feature of this narrow query rather than proof that 3M dominates the wider binder jetting automation field.
The trend rises from zero to a peak of three records in 2021 and falls back to zero by 2022, with no recovery through the most recent partial year. Part of that drop is a publication-lag artefact: patent applications typically publish about 18 months after filing, so recent years are always undercounted at the time of any search. The 2021 peak itself, however, is a real cluster and likely reflects one applicant's filing programme rather than an industry-wide wave.
Every record in this dataset classifies under both B33Y (additive manufacturing) and B24D (grinding tools and abrasives), meaning the automation claims on file are specifically about producing bonded abrasive articles via binder jetting. General metal-part production-line automation, depowdering robotics for structural parts, and powder-reclaim systems are not represented in this particular result set, marking them as open filing territory rather than crowded ground.
Based on the IPC composition here, claim space around in-line depowdering sensing, closed-loop powder reclaim, multi-station conveyance between print and sinter stages, automated green-part handling, and real-time binder saturation control has no matching published claim in this dataset. These are technically distinct from the abrasive-article automation that the existing filings cover. Anyone drafting in these areas should still run a dedicated freedom-to-operate search, since this landscape's narrow IPC filter means adjacent prior art may exist outside the search terms used here.
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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.