Metal Powder Bed Fusion Patent Landscape 2026
The metal powder bed fusion space comprises 338 patent families with filing activity plateaued near its 2021 peak, signaling a maturing but still active field. Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC holds the largest single portfolio among ranked applicants, while RTX Corp has emerged as a fast-rising challenger, and China leads all jurisdictions in filing volume.
Lawrence Livermore leads a moderately concentrated field, with challengers closing fast
Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC ranks first among all applicants with 24 patent families, followed closely by RTX Corp with 21. The top five filers collectively account for 25% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers, indicating moderate — not extreme — concentration.
The gap between the first and second tiers is narrow: Lawrence Livermore’s lead over RTX Corp is only three patent families, and several industrial players including Renishaw PLC, General Electric Co, and General Electric Technology GmbH cluster tightly in the eight-to-eleven family range. Below this tier the ranking drops sharply to single-digit portfolios, suggesting a broad field of smaller players.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC | 24 | |
| 2 | RTX Corp | 21 | |
| 3 | Renishaw PLC | 11 | |
| 4 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | 9 | |
| 5 | General Electric Technology GmbH | 8 | |
| 6 | General Electric Co | 8 | |
| 7 | Xi’an Space Engine Co. Ltd | 8 | |
| 8 | BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc | 7 | |
| 9 | South China University of Technology | 7 | |
| 10 | UNIV OF SCI & TECH BEIJING | 6 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Siemens AG | 6 | |
| 12 | HUAZHONG UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 6 | |
| 13 | The Boeing Company | 6 | |
| 14 | Nikon SLM Solutions AG | 5 | |
| 15 | VOESTALPINE BOEHLER EDELSTAHL GMBH & CO KG | 5 | |
| 16 | National University of Singapore | 5 | |
| 17 | Seurat Technologies Inc | 5 | |
| 18 | Central South University | 4 | |
| 19 | AECC Youmei (Zhenjiang) Additive Manufacturing Co. Ltd | 4 | |
| 20 | Beihang University | 4 |
The presence of both US national laboratories and defense primes (RTX Corp, Boeing, BWXT Nuclear Energy) alongside European precision-tooling specialists (Renishaw, Nikon SLM Solutions, voestalpine Boehler Edelstahl) and multiple Chinese universities signals that competitive pressure spans government-funded research, industrial aerospace, and academic institutions simultaneously.
Filing data for the most recent 18–24 months is subject to publication lag and likely understates actual activity; 2025 and 2026 counts 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.
Activity plateaued after a 2021 surge; core PBF and alloy classes dominate the technology mix
Annual filing volume and the IPC class distribution together show a field that grew rapidly through 2021 and has since settled into a sustained but non-accelerating pace, while the technology mix remains tightly anchored to powder metallurgy and additive manufacturing codes with selective adjacent branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings rose sharply from 13 in 2017 to a peak of 63 in 2021, then stabilized in the 38–53 range through 2023–2024. The 2025 and 2026 counts (34 and 3 respectively) are incomplete due to publication lag and do not indicate a real decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B22F (powder metallurgy) and B33Y (additive manufacturing) are near-universal co-classifications, reflecting the core process. C22C (alloys) and B23K (welding and brazing) form a secondary tier, pointing to material composition and energy-source process work. Lower-frequency branches — including B29C, C22F, G06T, and F01D — mark application-specific and process-control activity.
↗ 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.
Simulating melt pool characteristics for selective…
Systems and methods for simulating a melt pool characteristic for selective laser melting additive manufacturing. The system includes a selective laser melting apparatus and an electronic controller configured to obtain a surface geometry of a previous layer of a component being manufactured using the selective laser melting apparatus, simulate an addition… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method and system for powder bed fusion additive m… | 43 |
| 2 | 一种提升3D打印高强铝合金粉末成形性的方法 | 39 |
| 3 | Method for preparation of a superalloy having a cr… | 30 |
| 4 | 一种增材制造NiTi形状记忆合金及其制备方法 | 27 |
| 5 | 一种基于选区激光熔化技术制备梯度材料的装置及方法 | 27 |
| 6 | 一种激光选区熔化制备TiAl合金结构件的方法 | 26 |
| 7 | 一种复合材料和结构功能的金属骨植入物的制造方法 | 20 |
| 8 | 一种贵金属激光选区熔化粉料模块化处理装置与方法 | 19 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a maturing filing pace, moderate top-tier concentration, active cross-sector collaboration, and. China’s dominant jurisdiction share shapes where new entrants and incumbents can most efficiently direct investment.
Field has plateaued near its 2021 peak
Annual filings reached a peak of 63 in 2021 and have since plateaued in the high-30s to low-50s range, consistent with a maturing technology. The multi-year window still shows positive growth of 16%, but the acceleration phase is past. R&D investment should shift emphasis from broad platform claims toward differentiated process variants and application-specific enablement.
Lifecycle: MaturityModerate concentration with a crowded mid-tier
The top five filers hold 25% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total — high enough to signal meaningful portfolio depth at the top, but low enough that the mid-tier (Renishaw, GE entities, Boeing, BWXT) retains real competitive relevance. A challenger with focused prosecution in underserved sub-classes could close the gap relatively quickly given the narrow lead margin between first and second place.
Concentration: ModerateLawrence Livermore–Seurat Technologies is the most active co-filing pair
The most frequent co-filing relationship recorded is between Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC and Seurat Technologies Inc, with 5 jointly filed patent families. South China University of Technology co-filed with Guangdong Huayi Sanitary Ware Industrial Co. on 2 families, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University has separate single-family collaborations with Yunnan Guiyan New Material Co. and AECC Shanghai Commercial Aircraft Engine Manufacturing Co. These pairings suggest national lab–startup and university–industry as the dominant collaboration models in this space.
Collaboration: Lab–StartupChina leads filings; US and EPO form a strong secondary tier
China accounts for the largest share of patent records by jurisdiction, followed by the United States and then the European Patent Office and WIPO PCT filings. India is the only other jurisdiction with a materially non-trivial count. Coverage in Japan, Canada, and the UK is sparse, representing potential freedom-to-operate opportunities or underserved protection gaps depending on commercial strategy.
Geography: China-ledGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC | Seurat Technologies Inc | 5 |
| South China University of Technology | Guangdong Huayi Sanitary Ware Industrial Co. Ltd | 2 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Yunnan Guiyan New Material Co. Ltd | 1 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University | AECC Shanghai Commercial Aircraft Engine Manufacturing Co. Ltd | 1 |
| South China University of Technology | Dongguan Keheng Hand Model Co. Ltd | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Lawrence Livermore anchors the field; RTX Corp is the most significant rising challenger
The top two applicants have contrasting momentum profiles: the current leader’s recent filing pace has sharply decelerated, while the second-ranked applicant entered the ranking recently with strong activity, reshaping the competitive picture at the top.
Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC
Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC holds 24 patent families — the largest portfolio among ranked applicants — with technology emphasis concentrated in additive manufacturing process (B33Y10), equipment (B33Y30), and monitoring/quality (B33Y50) sub-classes. Despite this breadth, recent-period filing momentum has declined sharply (trend: –88% vs. prior period), suggesting the organization has moved from active prosecution toward portfolio consolidation or that earlier filings are now maturing. Its co-filing relationship with Seurat Technologies Inc adds a commercialization dimension to what is otherwise a national-lab portfolio.
Families: 24RTX Corp
RTX Corp ranks second with 21 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in recent-period momentum, meaning substantially all of its recorded activity is concentrated in the recent filing window. Its technology focus spans powder metallurgy process (B22F10), additive manufacturing monitoring (B33Y50), and process (B33Y10) sub-classes — a profile consistent with integrating metal PBF into aerospace component manufacturing. The combination of industrial scale, aerospace supply-chain access, and new-entrant momentum makes RTX Corp the most structurally significant challenger to Lawrence Livermore’s current lead.
Families: 21| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC | 2 | ▼ -88% |
| RTX Corp | 18 | ▲ new entrant |
| Renishaw PLC | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Xi’an Space Engine Co. Ltd | 5 | ▲ new entrant |
| South China University of Technology | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc | 7 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served adjacent branches worth monitoring
Several IPC classes appear alongside the dominant B22F/B33Y core but at notably lower frequency, pointing to sub-areas where patent density is thin relative to the technical activity they represent. These are observations of relative sparsity; they carry potential value only where the technical connection to metal PBF is concrete and an entry path exists.
C22F · Non-ferrous metal treatment
C22F (non-ferrous metal treatment) appears in only 15 patent records — roughly 2% of the IPC distribution — despite the fact that post-process heat treatment and microstructure control are widely recognized as critical to achieving target mechanical properties in laser powder bed fusion parts. The sparse coverage suggests that process–property linkage patents connecting PBF build parameters to downstream thermal treatment are underrepresented. Teams working on residual stress relief, precipitation hardening, or directed microstructure engineering in PBF nickel or titanium alloys could find relatively open prosecution space here.
Search this in Eureka →G06T · Image data processing & generation
G06T (image data processing and generation) appears in only 8 patent records — 1% of the IPC distribution — despite growing industrial adoption of in-situ melt-pool imaging, computed tomography defect detection, and layer-wise quality monitoring in metal PBF systems. The low count relative to known commercial activity in process monitoring suggests that computational imaging and machine-vision quality-assurance methods applied specifically to powder bed fusion remain an adjacent branch with limited patent density. Entrants combining sensor hardware with image-processing algorithms for real-time defect classification could find meaningful whitespace here.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across core technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | B33Y 10 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B22F 10 · Powder metallurgy | B33Y 50 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B33Y 30 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B22F 12 · Powder metallurgy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC | Strong · 20 | Strong · 12 | Strong · 14 | Strong · 18 | Strong · 11 |
| RTX Corp | Strong · 14 | Strong · 19 | Strong · 16 | Moderate · 9 | Strong · 10 |
| Renishaw PLC | Strong · 6 | Strong · 10 | Moderate · 5 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 7 |
| The Boeing Company | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Moderate · 3 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Strong · 8 | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc | Absent | Strong · 7 | Strong · 5 | Absent | Moderate · 2 |
| University of Science and Technology Beijing | Strong · 5 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 4 | Moderate · 2 |
Frequently asked questions
The evidence scope contains 338 patent families in metal powder bed fusion (standalone), spanning global filings tracked over the last decade.
Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC holds the largest portfolio among all ranked applicants with 24 patent families, followed by RTX Corp with 21 and Renishaw PLC with 11.
China leads all jurisdictions in patent record count, followed by the United States and the European Patent Office. WIPO PCT filings represent a fourth meaningful channel, particularly for applicants seeking broad international coverage.
The field is assessed at the Maturity stage: annual filings peaked at 63 in 2021 and have since plateaued in the high-30s to low-50s range. The multi-year window still shows positive growth, but the rapid-growth acceleration phase is past.
B22F (powder metallurgy) and B33Y (additive manufacturing) are near-universal co-classifications and dominate the technology composition. C22C (alloys) and B23K (welding, soldering and brazing) form a significant secondary tier, followed by B29C and C22F at lower frequency.
The most active co-filing pair is Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC and Seurat Technologies Inc with 5 jointly filed families, suggesting national lab–startup partnerships as a productive model. On white space, C22F (non-ferrous metal treatment) and G06T (image data processing) are adjacent branches with relatively low patent density despite clear technical relevance to post-process microstructure control and in-situ quality monitoring respectively.
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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.
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