6K Additive

6K Additive (a sub-organization of materials company 6K) offers metal powders and alloys for additive manufacturing (AM). The company's proprietary technology, UNIMELT Plasma Production, is claimed to be the world's only microwave plasma system capable of delivering a near-infinite range of performance materials. This technology enables 6K to transform legacy industrial production with high-efficiency plasma, replacing outdated process technologies with clean, efficient production. The company's solutions are designed to provide previously unattainable design flexibility, from nanometers to microns, and cover a wide range of materials, including metals, alloys, oxides, silicon, carbides, and nitrides.

In November 2023, 6K Additive acquired Global Metal Powders (GMP), a company known for its proprietary manufacturing and recycling capabilities in preparing material, to use GMP's technology to produce sustainable titanium and refractory metal powder on a large scale.

In September 2024, the company expanded its metal powder portfolio to include angular chromium and titanium powders. 

Key customers and partnerships

6K Additive has entered several partnerships with companies, including:

1) Metal Powder Works to bring pure copper, copper alloys, and bronze AM powder to the market (November 2023)

2) Morf3D to qualify metal powders for AM (May 2022)

3) Agile Space Industries to use Ni625 powder for customer space applications, including critical rocket parts (August 2023)

4) Z3DLab to develop titanium powders (July 2023).

The company was awarded a five-year blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with the US Army Development Command in September 2023 for strategic high-performance metal powders.

In August 2024, 6k Additive joined two projects under American Makes. The company partnered with RTX Technology Research Center and the University of Arizona on the EARTH project to enhance sustainability in aerospace and defense manufacturing as well as the the PADAM project, funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, to improve the cost-efficiency and performance of niobium C-103 powder feedstock for advanced 3D printing processes.