Tungsten Powder from 6K Additive qualified for Wayland Additive NeuBeam Technology

6K Additive, a specialist in sustainable production materials for additive manufacturing, and Wayland Additive, developer of the NeuBeam metal process for additive manufacturing, have announced that 6K Additive’s sustainably produced tungsten powder has been qualified for processing with the NeuBeam printing process.

Tungsten, a metal with exceptional hardness and high melting point, presents challenges in processing. The combination of NeuBeam EBM technology and tungsten powder also meets the needs of the nuclear market.

Will Richardson, CEO of Wayland Additive explained: “Wayland Additive has removed the barriers associated with traditional e-beam technologies with our NeuBeam process, allowing a wider range of metals and alloys to be additively processed. 6K Additive can produce these hard-to-process materials at scale, ready for use in the NeuBeam enabled Calibur3 system. We are particularly excited about the opportunities we are uncovering here in the UK for nuclear applications which require the material properties of tungsten.”

Frank Roberts, President of 6K Additive added: “The UniMelt process can create a virtually infinite range of materials, including hard-to-manufacture metals and alloys. While these materials have exceptional properties, they are equally hard to process with traditional AM technologies and often present commercial challenges due to their high cost. Through the combination of our two innovative technologies, 6K Additive and Wayland can produce and process metals that have previously proved elusive. The exceptional properties of refractory metals like tungsten can now be exploited fully through additive manufacturing, opening up exciting new applications in the nuclear, aerospace and defense sectors.”

6K Additive’s production-scale UniMelt microwave plasma process enables precise spheroidization of metal powders while controlling the chemistry and porosity of the final product. This revolutionary technology uses the microwave plasma process to produce many difficult-to-manufacture metal powders, including refractory materials such as tungsten, rhenium, tantalum, niobium and molybdenum. Yields of more than 90% within the desired particle size, as well as the ability to use scrap and recyclates as feedstock, make the process significantly more environmentally friendly and economically viable compared to conventional atomization technologies.

Wayland Additive’s NeuBeam is an e-beam powder bed fusion (PBF) process that effectively neutralizes the charge accumulation generated by the electron beam, a major limitation of conventional e-beam technologies. Eliminating the charge eliminates the need to pre-sinter the bed, allowing parts to be easily removed without creating a hardened sinter cake. The NeuBeam process can produce fully dense parts from a wide range of materials, many of which are incompatible with conventional e-beam or laser PBF processes, such as refractory metals and highly reflective alloys.

6K Additive offers powders from sustainable sources. Their UniMelt system produces powders that are truly spherical, free of porosity and satellites, and have better flowability.