Honeywell has qualified 6K Additive Ni 718 powder for use in the additive manufacture of aerospace and defence parts.
It follows a lengthy validation process that took more than a year, after a contract manufacturer supplying parts to Honeywell expressed an interest in using 6K’s metal powders.
The request from the contract manufacturer was made while the supplier was looking for alternative material sources in a bid to reduce risk. Once Honeywell agreed to explore the use of 6K Additive’s Ni 718 powder, the materials manufacturer supplied material to Honeywell in order for them to produce a series of sample and benchmark parts. The parts were printed successfully and came through rigorous testing, with Honeywell then carrying out an audit on the 6K Additive production facility.
Paperwork has been completed to allow the Ni 718 powder from 6K Additive to be used for both aerospace and defence applications. While specifics on the latter aren’t being made public, it is believes parts like ai ducts, brake components and bearing housings are considered potential applications in the aerospace sector.
“Nickel 718 is a historic nickel super alloy typically used in hot sections of engines and other extreme environments using other turbine applications, like land-based turbines, but also in oil and gas as well,” Brian Morrison, Vice President of Powder Sales at 6K Additive, told TCT. “Honeywell, I think, intends to use it for components that are going to have exposure to higher temperatures.”
Key to the qualification by Honeywell of 6K Additive’s Nickel 718 powder are the material’s sustainability credentials. 6K Additive President Frank Roberts remarked last week that Honeywell is ‘a company that leads with sustainability in everything they do and that includes their cutting-edge, end-to-end additive manufacturing operations.’ A lifecycle assessment study of 6K Additive’s Ni 718 carried out in 2022 revealed that, compared to traditional processes, the UniMelt method of manufacture boasted a 91% reduction in energy use and a 91.5% reduction in carbon emissions.
Roberts has gone as far as to suggest that the qualification of Ni 718 by Honeywell will ‘empower sustainable additive manufacturing production in the aerospace industry like never before.’ 6K Additive also expects this development to open some new doors. With a company of Honeywell’s reputation approving the use of Ni 718, the company is confident it will draw the attention of others in aerospace and beyond.
“Its significance is huge,” Morrison said. “It provides us a roadmap on how we’ll be able to continue the qualification programs with other large manufacturers, not only aerospace, but folks in the biomedical community, for example. It really challenges us to go back through all our processes and documentation and traceability, because it’s a fundamentally different process than what Honeywell is used to. A lot of time was taken to walk them through the process, the different quality steps, how we trace material back so that they’re comfortable with it. That’s what’s going to allow us to continue to get qualified at other aerospace OEMs and grow our overall addressable market in additive manufacturing.”
