6K Additive on Why RAPID + TCT Is the Place to Find the Right People to Grow AM

As RAPID + TCT 2024 approaches, one of the most exciting event features is undoubtedly the exhibitors. But with over 400 expected to attend, it is hard to know where to start. To give a better idea of what can be expected this year, we decided to sit down with some of the major companies who will be attending, starting with 6K Additive. The innovative material manufacturer has been a mainstay at RAPID + TCT since it formed in 2019 and we had the opportunity to chat with Frank Roberts, its president, to learn more about the company and why the event is so important for the wider additive manufacturing community in the US.

3DN: Could you introduce yourself and 6K Additive?

We built up here in Pittsburgh and that is where we met the team at 6K and were first introduced to the company’s revolutionary Microwave-Based Plasma Technology, called UniMelt, and decided that we would merge the entities into what became 6K Additive, a metal alloy producer with a unique method to produce spherical powders for metal AM. After our deal with 6K in 2019, we built a powder facility and we have a unique process to create powders because it is not atomization (either plasma or gas). Rather we do spheroidization.