A 100% Sustainable Source for AM Powders

Additive Manufacturing is often defined as a Sustainable Manufacturing Process. As AM grows and matures, however, it is becoming evident that the metal powder feedstock used for AM is one of the least sustainable components of the entire process. It is not uncommon for less than 20% of the powder produced to be useful for AM. Once the powder enters the AM printing process, further losses are realized as the powder is used and starts to fall out of spec – from either a growing particle size distribution or shifts in the powder chemistry. Adding in powder that is used for supports, test coupons and failed builds, and the percentage of useful powder drops substantially. In this discussion, we will explore 6K’s unique approach to leveraging these scrap streams to generate virgin metal powders that make the AM feedstock 100% sustainable.