Rosswag Engineering, qualloy & EPlus3D Launch Validated Metal Powders

08:30 am by Joris Peels 3D Printing 3D Printing Materials Asia Business Europe Metal 3D Printing Quality Control

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EPlus, Rosswag, and qualloy have had a partnership in place since April 2026, with an MOU that focused on trying to build a manufacturing tool chain together. Now the trio has announced a validated powder range in 316L and 17-4PH. More materials in the Eplus3D select range are to follow. You can buy the materials through qualloy’s online store, where the firm hopes to become a supplier of small-batch powders worldwide. The powders are in stock in Germany with a 5-day lead time.

In this case, service firm and settings developer Rosswag validated the powders. Eplus3D Germany did the test builds; Rosswag tests them while qualloy sells the powder. The three companies are doing “joint material qualification and parameter development, creating validated material-process combinations” together. We’re not sure who makes the powder, but if I had to guess, it would most likely be Avimetal or CNPC Powder, though it could be Eckard.

The 316L builds were done on an EP-M300 at 50 μm layer thickness, and the firms say that density on both materials was higher than 99.9%. The team tested at 0.5 mm wall thickness and 35° overhangs.

Mechanical Properties

Validated 316L and 17-4PH stainless steel powders

Material	Orientation	mE (GPa)	Rp0.2 (MPa)	Rm (MPa)	A5 (%)
316L	XY	166 ± 15	531 ± 15	664 ± 15	41 ± 5
316L	Z	149 ± 10	452 ± 10	585 ± 15	51 ± 5
17-4PH	XY	151 ± 12	464 ± 10	957 ± 10	29 ± 5
17-4PH	Z	168 ± 5	575 ± 12	980 ± 10	26 ± 5

Key: mE = Elastic modulus (GPa);
Rp0.2 = 0.2% proof strength (MPa);
Rm = Ultimate tensile strength (MPa);
A5 = Elongation at fracture (%).

Source: Eplus3D

The goal is still the same: together, Rosswag Engineering, Qualloy, and Eplus3D are building on the original partnership goal of creating a more integrated and validated metal additive manufacturing ecosystem. One of the key aims is “competitive pricing,” and the trio will show off parts at Formnext.

This seems to be a smart play by the three firms. Eplus is essentially using local firms qualloy and Rosswag as a crowbar to gain access to the DACH market. Through their local connections and presence, trust in Eplus can grow. The two smaller firms are hitching their wagons to Eplus. On the one hand, paranoia around Chinese firms could lead others to doubt their ability to qualify parts or supply powders. But a cheap, easy-to-implement steel powder could very well be a real help to people wanting to do some serious manufacturing. Eplus’s machines and reliability have steadily improved, and the company now offers a full lineup. The company has 10 machines in its large-part Atlas line, 3 machines in its Forge series manufacturing line, and 4 in its Flex small-scale and R&D line.

Eplus has been growing, but a canceled IPO took a lot of wind out of its sails. As Pawel Slusarczyk points out, we don’t really know why the IPO was blown off, which adds to the uncertainty. Much bigger BLT is public, and many other Chinese LPBF firms are battling for market share. This puts a very ambitious Eplus on its back foot, really. Others are leaner and have much more affordable machines. Take Riton and Fastform, for example, who are shipping a lot of entry-level dental machines.

Meanwhile, BLT dominates the higher-end market, while Farsoon’s internationalization has been more complete, with stronger local support, distribution, and application engineering. Avimetal is also from Beijing and an integral part of China’s defense establishment. So if I were to bet on who would win out as China’s biggest 3D printing players, I’d bet on Avimetal and BLT. So at first glance, it may look like a solid play to partner with Eplus, but competition in China is heating up, and we’re about to enter our survivor phase.