#3Dstartup: 6K on creating advanced materials for additive manufacturing

The U.S. company 6K is focused on creating premium materials to advance relatively new industries such as additive manufacturing, renewable energy, and more. If we focus on additive manufacturing, the company has identified the growing demand for metals that can be used in production for sectors like aerospace, medical, automotive and others. In order to meet this demand the company has developed a technology, which they call UniMelt, that enables them to create alloy powders that are truly spherical, void of porosity and satellites and that offer better flowability, or in other words high-performance powders. The UniMelt system uses spheroidization and densification processes to create these premium quality powders. In order to learn more about these processes and what type of materials 6K is working on exactly we had a chat with Dr. Aaron Bent, CEO of 6K since 2014.

3DN: Can you present yourself and your relationship with 3D printing?

My name is Dr. Aaron Bent and I am the CEO of 6K, having joined the company as CEO in 2014 as employee number 3 – we have just under 100 employees today. Over the last 25 years I have founded or run technology startups across markets as diverse as telecommunications, defense & aerospace, automotive, solar, and others, with a common thread that an advanced material has been the enabler for a class of new products. I look for companies that provide a fundamental ability to change the way things are done today, with the goal of having a profound impact on markets and products. 6K is such a company, and the one that has the most potential impact of any I have been involved with in my career.

Dr. Aaron Bent, CEO of 6K

3DN: How did the idea of developing 6K come up?

6K (at its inception was called Amastan Technologies) started as a research project at MIT and later moved to the University of Connecticut focused on microwave plasma as a way to synthesize materials for various markets. We demonstrated the versatility of the platform to manufacture metal powder for AM, advanced materials for energy storage, phosphors for LED lighting, semiconductor materials, defense IR-transparent materials, and more. We quickly began an effort to focus and commercialize the technology, starting down the path of matching capabilities, materials and applications.