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Plasma technology developer6Khas provided a rare insight by inviting 3D Printing Industry into its powder production facilities and some of the key drivers behind their rapid expansion.
Those familiar with the firm will already know that its 3D printing-focused 6K Additive and battery-oriented 6K Energy divisions use its UniMelt reactors to recycle metal waste into sphericalized powder material for metal 3D printing. This microwave plasma process allows for up to 100% of millings, turnings and other discarded materials to be reused in a process that’s said to improve yields and drive circularity on the shop floor.
With 6K’s technology only reaching a proof-of-concept stage in 2018, it has moved on fairly rapidly since. Having first ‘struck plasma’ with a UniMelt system in 2020, the company has gone on to get four reactors operational at its Pittsburgh facility, and two more active in North Andover, with demand for these said to have soared in the last six months.
That said, the 20-foot-high nature of6K的Unimelt系统means that they don’t exactly get brought to trade shows, and many don’t get to see how they work in person. Likewise, the nature of the firm’s business units raises questions about where its target markets lie and how their reliance on the same technology creates a cross-over.
3D打印行业headed over to 6K’s Pittsburgh factory earlier this week to answer these questions and more. As well as getting the grand tour, attendees got the inside scoop on where the technology sits and what 6K Additive President Frank Roberts referred to as the “market forces pulling it in different directions” into new sectors and applications.
Breaking down the UniMelt process
Before touring the 6K’s Pittsburgh factory floor, we saw a breakdown of the UniMelt system’s inner workings and its benefits over traditional methods of metal powder production. Initially commercialized at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2008, the technology involves preparing used materials via cleaning, milling, and resizing, yielding an ‘engineered feedstock.’
然后将该材料馈入反应器，该反应器用血浆处理，将其转化为具有均匀分布颗粒的球形粉末。与等离子体雾化方法相比，其中类似于3D打印粉Teknaand热原发生6K团队表示，Unimelt可以将可用的粉末收益率从25-30％提高到100％。
According to Roberts, the surface tension generated on particles as part of the process also forces them into a perfectly-spherical shape, “no matter how ugly” materials are when they enter the reactor while reducing the time it takes to change grade of powder from “a week plus,” down to just a single day. Likewise, when it comes to reactive materials, he highlighted how the UniMelt reactor can add or take away oxygen in a way that restabilizes them and allows powders to be tailored to certain use cases.
When asked whether the technology’s much-touted energy efficiency and sustainability benefits were its USP, Roberts suggested that quality comes first, saying that “you have to check that box before anyone even talks to you.”
6K的CMO Bruce Bradshaw补充说，空中客车和EO等大型粉末用户越来越关注碳信用额，可以为其提供机会。如果该公司成为第一个为每公斤粉末分配碳信用额的人，那么布拉德肖说，这可以为制造商提供另一个理由，以在其现有的成本效益之上转向其流程，即“为废料提供更好的价值”。
Exploring 6K’s Pittsburgh plant
在被深入探讨6 k技术,members of the press were then granted a walking tour of its Pittsburgh facility. From the outset, it was made clear that safety had been made such a priority across the site that visitors didn’t even need to wear protective gear. This is because each part of the facility has been fitted with sensors and control units designed to automatically check for potential hazards and blast-proof doors capable of containing fires.
As attendees entered the complex, they were greeted by a warehouse full of end-of-life parts that had been shipped in and were being prepped for recycling, including huge aerospace builds. Roberts explained that not all of these would be broken down with the UniMelt, as those with thicker cross-sections could be better suited to melting. Described as “the most technically complex” process at the facility, it was said each would be individually evaluated and sorted for reuse.
Guests were then shown through to 6K’s alloy building, where materials are turned into puck-like chunks before being packed into rolls and shipped to users. At this stage, the level of automation at the facility began to set in, as the press showed barrels of material being automatically loaded into presses, which squeezed out around 25% of their leftover water content.
As the tour went on to the powder production side of the plant, where 6K Additive’s four operational UniMelt systems are housed, Bradshaw revealed its plans for further automation. In the next phase of its roll-out, the firm’s CMO said it intends to automate the feeding and collection of powders from its reactors by the end of 2023 and in the future, to ultimately turn the entire operation into a ‘lights out’ facility.
Toward the end of the visit, attendees were allowed to examine and scale a UniMelt system for themselves in a part of the site that was obviously set up for expansion. On one side, there was a shuttered door to bays in which 6K is setting up six more reactors, with the first two of these due to be online by Q2 2023. Eric Martin, COO of 6K Additive, explained that even before their installation, the facility has an annual powder capacity of 300 metric tons, and its newer machines are being built around the “learnings” gathered via the development of their predecessors.
分析Unimelt的应用
Following the factory tour, the media were treated to presentations about how the powders produced using UniMelt technology are applied in practice. The first of these was led by Mark Straszheim, Advanced Materials Lead at坎伯兰添加剂，一个3D打印局针对空间，航空航天，国防和石油和天然气部门的客户。
斯进入他的公司专门从事turning early design concepts into parts ready for higher throughputs via its suite of low-volume production services. Since gaining the defense-critical ITAR and AS9100D certifications, the firm has gone on to make a second home for itself atNeighborhood 91这是位于附近匹兹堡国际机场的志趣相投的3D印刷公司的合作。
Straszheim explained that it has developed close ties with partners to the point that they now exchange resources. Not only does the firm pool spares with another manufacturer, but it shares a supply of noble gasses, and 3D printing facilitators, which can otherwise raise cost-per-part. 6K Additive’s role in all of this has been to begin supplying it with recycled materials. During characterization, Straszheim said these had properties “at least” on a par with those of standard powders, and he opened the door to further 6K collaboration.
The event’s second speaker, theQuadrus Corporation’s导演乔·西姆斯（Joe Sims）通过他的公司如何从6K合作中受益。尽管传统上，Quadrus是航空飞行控制和指导软件的开发商，但在采用了第一台概念激光器机器时，Quadrus于2014年进入3D打印。自那时以来，西姆斯说，选择性激光熔化（SLM）已获得了Marshall Flight Space Center，并显示出相当大的零件整合潜力。
However, when his company initially set out to expand the technology’s aerospace applications with the creation of a tungsten-rhenium, it nearly gave up. Sims said it was only when the Quadrus team realized the impact of its material’s particle size and shape on performance that it started to make breakthroughs. This is where 6K’s technology really came into its own, as it enabled the creation of a spherical, lowly-oxygenated material, which “spreads beautifully” in SLM machines.
Using this feedstock, Sims said his company has since been able to 3D print rocket motor nozzle parts, which have undergone seven hot-fire tests. Compared to the Carbon Matrix Composites (CMC) traditionally used to make such components in around 14-15 months, the aerospace veteran suggested that with tungsten-rhenium, users “can make the same part in a month… at a fraction of the cost.”
Moving forwards, Sims outlined how the material’s extremely high heat resistance could make it ideal for addressing emerging超音速飞行applications. Already, the powder has proven capable of withstanding exposure to 2,300°C plasma for ten minutes, and though Sims described it as “one of the most expensive materials on the planet,” he said 6K’s machines allow its utilization to be optimized.
Unimelt技术的下一步？
Next up on 6K’s agenda will be the expansion of its Pittsburgh facility so that it can cope with a reportedly rapid rise in demand for nickel, titanium, and refractory powders there. This will see the addition of a further 20,000 sq. feet of powder capacity with four new UniMelt microwave plasma systems and the construction of a new 15,000 sq. foot feedstock preparation building.
“Global unrest has shed a major spotlight on our nation’s supply chain vulnerability for critical materials,” explained Roberts. “This, in combination with our consistent product quality, sustainability benefits, and the fact that we are a domestic supplier, have contributed to increased commercial activity with key strategic customers.”
“This expansion will help us meet customer demands in the coming years and ensure efficiencies in current and future operations.”
那么6K的UNIMELT技术还能应用在哪里？当被问及该公司6K添加剂和6K能源业务之间的交叉前景时，罗伯茨声称“每个人都在电气化上投资”，而布拉德肖表示，其每个部门继续从Unimelt进行的投资中受益美国能源部recently plowing in another $50 million.
With 6K Additive entering full-scale powder production, it’s also thought to be proving the technology’s viability to large OEMs on the 6K Energy side of things. Describing the two businesses as “joined at the hip,” Roberts revealed that one customer was even working with both simultaneously and suggested that a more direct correlation could be in the offing, especially in sectors like automotive.
至于其材料调色板，6K可以回收11种铜，镍，铝，钛和不锈钢的变体，并在其北安多弗设施的地平线上进行了更多的耐火金属的工作。该公司还继续通过案例研究来证明其技术的功效Morf3D. Rounding off the day, Bradshaw said these “are valuable with third parties that have aerospace and defense customers,” especially when they show powders are “well within specification.”
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Featured image shows the 6K Additive facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo by Paul Hanaphy.
