6K Additive and Surgical Metal Recycling (SMR) announced May 4 they had agreed to a partnership that will see the two sides work together to reprocess used and out-of-spec medical implants into manufacturing powders via 6K Additive’s UniMelt production-scale microwave plasma platform. The resulting premium powders will be used to create new medical implant parts through additive manufacturing, in an effort to create a sustainable and circular metal supply chain in Australia.

The collaboration will first focus on titanium (Ti64), before expanding to incorporate cobalt chrome. 

The service will initially be offered in the United States before later being offered in Europe.

"By recycling, re-using and rejuvenating the metals we already have in the country, we can massively reduce the environmental impacts of metal extraction and processing for virgin material thanks to 6K's UniMelt platform,” said Peter Pecht, CEO of SMR.