U.S. Metal Powders Inc., parent company of Ampal in Palmerton, opened its new Technical Center on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting. The center will enable the company to perform quality checks on its aluminum powder products and conduct research and development for emerging industries.

"Last May, we were here to officially launch our planned expansion and dedicate this building to my father, Clive Ramsey," said Louise Ramsey Thomas, president of U.S. Metal Powders. "Today, we are here to celebrate both the ribbon cutting of our new Technical Center and the move of our headquarters from Flemington, New Jersey, to Palmerton. This is an exciting time for our company. Being under one roof will make us an even stronger force in the growing aluminum powder industry."Jessu Joys, the vice president and global technical director, said the work was done by Korpics Kontracting Inc. in Walnutport. They started in April and finished ahead of schedule on June 6.The new center is more than 2,400 square feet and is larger than the one they had in New Jersey. It will house about 20 pieces of equipment, cubicles and venting hoods. The equipment will be moved from the New Jersey lab next week."Aluminum is one of the most abundant materials in the world, and it is being used in almost everything you see," Joys said.Some of the equipment includes pieces used for chemical and particle analysis, and scanning electron microscopes. The more expensive pieces run anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 each, he said."Having versatile equipment here means we will be able to supply many industries," Joys said.The company is developing aluminum alloys that can be used in additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, chemical industry, energy sector, explosives, metallurgic industry, metallic pigments, propulsion and several others.Joys said the new space will give us "room to think and experiment. The more space we have, the more we think, and the more we do."One industry that he is excited to move the Palmerton site into is the aerospace industry. Right now, U.S. Metals' company Poudres Hermillon in France is working in that market."We have a lot of aerospace customers we are growing from our French company," he said.But before that becomes a reality locally, a specialized clean room for research and development would have to be added to the new center.In the meantime, Joys anticipates hiring more technicians in a year or two for the lab.Currently, the company is focusing on high-quality aluminum alloy powders, which are growing in demand and fetch a higher price.Niels Nielson, senior vice president at Ampal, said a truckload of aluminum powder can sell for about $1.35 per pound, but the high-quality mixes can go for about $15 per pound. Uses for it in the automotive industry, chemical applications and 3-D printing have increased the market dramatically, he said."That's what's really driving the market," he said, specifically about the automotive industry.Ampal has also "developed a group of metals you could use in powdered metallurgy," he said.These metals are a combination of aluminum with silicon or titanium to give the metal some elastic properties.Nielson said he's excited about the new Technical Center."It's nice to bring the customers up and show them what you can make," he said. "It's impressive and that's not an accident."Peter Ramsey, whose father, Clive Ramsey, owned and operated the company before his death a year ago, also expressed excitement about the growing company."We're really excited about it. It was my dad's passion, and we can keep his legacy going," he said.