6K Additive has bolstered its supply of nickel powder with a metal powder atomiser acquired from Uniformity Labs after the metal powder manufacturer went out of business.
The atomiser has been operational in Hayward, California, since last year, with production said to have ramped up throughout 2026.
It has given 6K Additive a ‘steady source of feedstock’ for nickel-based alloys, supplementing its pre-existing capability for reactive materials such as titanium, tantalum, niobium, and C103 alloys.
With those reactive materials, 6K Additive has been able to embrittle solid scrap using a hydrogen thermal cycle, sizing it down to the right particle size for its UniMelt process. But because nickel performs well at high temperatures, the metal doesn’t embrittle when put through this same process, posing challenges for 6K Additive as it sought to scale its supply of nickel feedstock.
“We always had a steady source of feedstock for titanium, tantalum, niobium, C103, but now we cover the full breadth of materials, and they’re all at high yield,” 6K Additive CEO Frank Roberts said at RAPID + TCT earlier this year.
The atomiser acquired from Uniformity Labs is capable of producing around 50% ‘prime cut’ yield within the desired particle size distribution (PSD), but because 6K Additive’s UniMelt process can process recycled and off-sized feedstock, 6K Additive can claim close to 100% yield.
6K Additive inherited a sieving machine and a classification, along with the acquisition of the atomiser, integrating all of the assets into its existing customer pipeline. Though an opportunistic acquisition at the time, the atomiser is set to play a key part in the company’s recently announced facility expansion plans.
The atomiser will, at some stage, transition to 6K Additive’s Burgettstown, PA, site, with another atomiser also set to come online. Six additional UniMelt systems will also be installed, taking the total number up to ten, with 6K consolidating six facilities across the US into two – a ‘factory within a factory’ at an aerospace manufacturing partner will be the only additional facility remaining.
Construction in Burgettstown is already underway. 6K Additive expects that by the end of 2026, its production capacity will have increased from 200 metric tons a year to 800 metric tons a year. Capacity for a further 200 metric tons will have been unlocked by 2028, when a refractory production facility is scheduled to be completed.
As this increased capacity is unlocked over the next two years, 6K Additive is expecting more application qualifications to be completed and revenue to grow incrementally.
“We’ve got about a $250 million annual turn pipeline and about $70 million of that we’ve already qualified,” Roberts said. “So, this capacity starts to come online late this year, and then it’ll be really on tap for early next year. As we work through, we’ll be working to increase the number of 'quals', but we already have enough that we’re going to do more than we did last year this year. We’ll do quite a bit more next year. And then our goal is, in 2028, we are realising the full potential of that factory, which is north of $130 million in annual revenue run rate.”
According to Roberts, 2026 got off to a particularly busy start, with Q2 orders being brought forward to Q1 and Q3 orders being brought forward to Q2. He attributes the increase in demand for titanium and nickel alloys to the growing interest in metal AM from the defence and suppressor markets, while healthcare and nuclear fusion are two additional markets also said to be increasing their application of AM.
6K Additive is also feeling the benefit from an increased capability of metal AM machines in the processing of tungsten materials, as well as the defence sector’s insistence on utilising a domestic supply chain for its parts and systems. Earlier this year, 6K Additive was awarded a Defense Logistics Agency contract to convert domestic munitions scrap into usable tungsten alloy powder.
“Everybody’s thinking this way,” Roberts said. “We announced last quarter that we did a supply agreement with Siemens Energy. Everybody’s got the mindset of ‘how do I maximise the value of my scrap? And how do I also ensure that’s helping stabilise my supply?’ US DOW is thinking that way, big customers, small customers, everybody is aligned.”
As demand for what 6K Additive looks set to increase, the Burgettstown expansion was core to the company’s growth strategy. It has been enabled in part by sustained business with entities like the US DOW and in part by the company’s listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
6K Additive made the step into the public markets at a point at which it ‘saw a clear line of sight to profitability’ and could calculate that around 90% of its powder business was tied to production programmes. The company also went to the market with a plan that is now being executed and in a geography that is ‘hyper-focused on mining and metals.’
It has meant long days and frequent trips back and forth, but 6K Additive feels it has obtained the capital to fuel its ambitious growth plans. Roberts and the 6K Additive Board are in regular conversation regarding an expansion into Europe – which could be unlocked ‘a little bit sooner than we planned’ thanks in part to a $27m investment from EXIM – and have wanted to occupy a strong position for any further acquisition opportunities that a consolidating AM market might bring.
“Overdrive the plan, global deployment of the technology, continue to consolidate, and keep driving down costs so more and more parts make it into production,” Roberts finished. “That’s my view of where we sit in the ecosystem.”
