Titanium Alloy Machining Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
Titanium alloy machining and tool wear patents: who is filing, and where the claim space is still open
Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees account for 79.2% of all 48 records in scope, and the top 10 reach 89.6% — a small group holds most of the documented claim space. Filings peaked at 17 records in 2017, fell through the following years, and bottomed at 1 record in 2021. From there, filings grew to 3 by 2024, a +200% increase over that three-year span — the most recent complete comparison the data supports. 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounted because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the apparent tail-off in the newest years should not be read as declining interest.
- 1KENNAMETAL INC17
- 2JIANGSU KANGRUI NEW MATERIAL TECH CO LTD12
- 3JIANGYIN KANGRUI MOLDING TECH CO LTD5
- 4THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV OF ILLINOIS2
- 5HENAN POLYTECHNIC UNIV2
See the full titanium alloy machining and tool wear analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most patents in titanium alloy machining and tool wear?
The assignee ranking in this dataset covers 17 companies, and it is heavily front-loaded: the leading assignee alone holds 17 of the 48 records in scope. The top 5 assignees combined account for 79.2% of all records, and the top 10 reach 89.6%. That means most of the documented claim space sits with a small number of filers, while the remainder of the ranked list holds only one or two records each.
Is patent filing activity in titanium alloy machining growing or shrinking?
Filing activity peaked at 17 records in 2017, then fell sharply to a low of 1 record in 2021. Since then it has climbed back to 3 records by 2024, a +200% increase over that three-year span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the true recent trend is likely stronger than the raw numbers currently show.
What does US5632941A actually cover, and does it block new filings?
US5632941A, assigned to Kennametal Inc. and granted in 1997, claims a densified titanium diboride based ceramic cutting-tool composition containing tungsten and cobalt with a fine grain size, aimed at high-speed titanium alloy machining. It is the most-cited record in this dataset at 36 citations, meaning many later filings in tool-material chemistry have had to draft around or distinguish from it. It does not cover coolant delivery, chatter control or process parameters, so those branches remain open regardless of this patent’s scope.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Titanium Alloy Machining and Tool Wear covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.