6K Additive and Freemelt partner to develop materials for AM
November 17, 2021
6K Additive, a division of 6K, headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts, USA, and Freemelt, Mölndal, Sweden, have announced a strategic partnership to develop and bring to market new materials for their Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-EB) Additive Manufacturing machine platform.
Freemelt’s PBF-EB platform is intended to enable advanced AM applications, such as those for hypersonics, which require performance refractory materials (e.g., tungsten) to withstand extreme temperatures, forces due to speed, shifting directions and altitude dynamics. 6K Additive states that it has the production expertise and scale to produce refractory performance powders and the Freemelt AM machines provide a manufacturing platform to deliver customers stringent requirements for these materials.
“Since the commercial launch of refractory metal powder we’ve seen a ton of interest in refractories – specifically tungsten,” stated Frank Roberts, president of 6K Additive. “Freemelt is an organisation that prides itself on working with the market for parameter development on their platform to help customers push the capabilities of 3D printing for applications that require high-performance parts and materials like tungsten.”
Dr Ulric Ljungblad, CEO of Freemelt, added, “The market is consistently asking us for performance materials, and partnering with 6K Additive gives us and our customers a material supplier that not only delivers high-quality metal powder, but is quickly commercialising the sought-after performance materials like tungsten and other refractory metals. The new partnership helps us and them push the limits of what’s possible with 3D printing.”
Freemelt will be exhibiting at Formnext 2021 where it will showcase its tungsten powder and AM parts as well as its Freemelt ONE system at Hall 12.0 booth 138.
