On December 8, 2025, metal powder supplier Zhongti New Materials announced that it has established a strategic partnership with Brose, a world-leading automotive systems supplier. The two parties will jointly explore green manufacturing pathways under a circular-economy model. Through technological innovation, they aim to convert steel machining scrap from Brose’s China production lines into high-performance iron-based powders suitable for 3D printing, setting a new benchmark for sustainable upgrades in the automotive industry and the industrial application of green materials.
Transforming Production Scrap into Additive Manufacturing Powder
Relying on its independently developed atomization and recycling technologies, Zhongti New Materials has successfully converted Brose’s steel machining scrap into high-quality, eco-friendly metal powder. Through advanced AMP and PS spheroidization processes, the resulting powder features high sphericity, excellent flowability, stable particle-size distribution, and low oxygen content. These characteristics fully meet the stringent material requirements of additive manufacturing in the automotive sector and comply with international quality standards such as IATF 16949.
Brose, a globally renowned supplier of automotive mechatronic systems, offers products covering key components such as doors, seats, and electric motors. In new product development, Brose has extensively adopted additive manufacturing and consistently insists on using materials identical to mass-production grades for prototype validation, ensuring component performance comparability and reliability.
Recycled materials achieve performance equivalent to traditional sheet steel
Jan Sander, Senior Additive Manufacturing Expert at Brose, stated:
“This ‘green steel’ powder is derived entirely from recycled scrap from our stamping workshop, and its chemical composition and mechanical properties are completely identical to those of components made from traditional sheet steel.”
While ensuring system compatibility, the material also demonstrates significant circular-economy value and has now entered the stage of batch-production evaluation.
Brose’s mass-production scenario: dense-stack 3D printing using green steel metal powder
By establishing a closed-loop production process from scrap to powder, the collaboration effectively helps Brose reduce its dependence on raw materials and minimize waste generation, supporting the company’s long-term ESG goals. In addition to this project, Zhongti New Materials’ efforts in developing SCS-certified 100% recycled titanium alloy powder, high-sphericity aluminum alloy powder, and other green materials further strengthen its leading position in the high-end, environmentally friendly additive manufacturing materials sector.
As global manufacturing places increasing emphasis on green supply chains and circular economy models, additive manufacturing—owing to its near-net-shape forming characteristics—demonstrates unique advantages in material recycling. The partnership between Zhongti New Materials and Brose provides a complete closed-loop example of transforming industrial scrap directly into high-performance printing materials, offering significant value as an industry benchmark. This not only accelerates the green transformation of the automotive supply chain but also presents a replicable technological pathway for achieving sustainable production through additive manufacturing in broader industrial fields.
In the future, with continued capacity expansion and technological advancement, such green material solutions are expected to play an increasingly critical role in high-end manufacturing.
