6K Additive Secures Defense Funding to Recycle Strategic Metal Powders

6K Additive's $1.95 million Phase II contract from the Defense Logistics Agency puts the Burgettstown, Pennsylvania company at the center of a push to close a gap the entire metal AM supply chain feels: the U.S. imports 100 percent of its niobium and relies on China for more than 80 percent of global tungsten.

The contract, announced April 2, runs under a program called "Recovering Strategic Value" and spans 18 months. It tasks 6K Additive with collecting Nickel, Titanium, Tungsten, and C103 (Niobium alloy) scrap from select U.S. Military Depots and converting those materials into certified, high-value metal powder for additive manufacturing and defense readiness applications.

The technical scope goes well beyond simple remelting. 6K Additive's proprietary process converts solid metal scrap first into angular powder, then into the premium spherical feedstock required for powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition systems. Under this contract, the company will also develop a proof-of-concept robotic system for automated identification and sorting of mixed scrap, and conduct cold spray trials evaluating the mechanical properties of upcycled nickel and titanium powder for potential military repair applications. Certified batches of tungsten, titanium, and niobium powder will be delivered for testing against new military metal standards.

Work is set to run at major aviation depots that generate large quantities of mixed scrap weekly, drawing from end-of-life components, machining turnings, and decommissioned parts sitting in DoD stockpiles.

CEO Frank Roberts framed the award in terms of geopolitical exposure. "The U.S. Government has made it clear that to advance our defense readiness we cannot rely on geopolitically sensitive regions for the materials essential to our most advanced weapon systems," Roberts said. "By upcycling domestic scrap from DoD stockpiles and maintenance centers, we are creating a circular, secure, and sustainable supply chain for the U.S. defense sector. This Award enables us and the DoD to further identify end-of-life parts and scrap to convert back into high-value powder ultimately leading to strategic components for the military."

The supply risk is real across all four materials in scope. The Department of Commerce has flagged titanium imports as a national security threat. Niobium, critical for hypersonic applications and next-generation AM alloys, arrives almost entirely from Brazil and Canada. Tungsten, essential for missile components and munitions, is dominated by Chinese producers.

The Phase II award adds to a substantial stack of government investment in 6K Additive, which has also received a $23.4 million Defense Production Act Title III grant, $12.4 million in prior DLA programs tied to titanium, nickel, and niobium recycling, and a $27.4 million Export-Import Bank loan facility. The company broke ground on March 30 on a 45-acre campus expansion at its Burgettstown headquarters, targeting a five-fold production capacity increase from 200 to 1,000 metric tons annually.

With "Recovering Strategic Value" now in its second phase, the 18-month clock is running on proving out robotic sorting and closed-loop upcycling at production scale. Certified powder batches are the immediate deliverable; a domestic metal AM supply chain insulated from geopolitical disruption is the longer-term objective.