Online AM skills training courses

Growing demand from manufacturers for an easy way to train employees in the basics of additive manufacturing (AM) has led 180 Skills to add five new courses that introduce AM technology.

Customers can assign courses individually to team members and new hires or incorporate them into learning paths designed to upskill or reskill employees.

“Manufacturers were already facing a shortage of skilled workers when the labor market entered its current, highly competitive stage,” says Joe Kitterman, CEO of 180 Skills. “For our customers, we are a lifeline, helping them upskill any individual to become a productive employee and allowing them to easily build paths to advancement that make current employees less likely to leave.”

Photo courtesy of 180 Skills

The 180 Skills platform currently offers nearly 800 courses organized into four broad categories: Technical, Quality, Risk Management & Compliance, and Workplace & Soft Skills. Customers can administer these courses via the learning management system (LMS), or through their own LMS.

180 Skills

6K Additive launches refractory metal powders for AM

6K Additive recently announced the commercial availability of refractory metal powders for additive manufacturing (AM). Production scale of high-value materials such as tungsten and rhenium enable advanced application capabilities in aerospace, defense, and medical industries.

Huntsville, Alabama-based Quadrus Corp. recently used 6K Additive’s services for making spherical tungsten-rhenium they subsequently used to produce a non- eroding rocket motor throat insert.

“We have a focus on propulsion applications that require high-temperature, high-strength materials used in modern rocket nozzle applications. Our tungsten/rhenium powder spheroidized by 6K processed exceptionally well in our selective laser melting machines,” explains Joe Sims, director of the Quadrus Advanced Manufacturing Division. “Having a reliable, trusted supply chain partner like 6K Additive for refractory materials is critical to our business and to our defense customers. Our powder quality requirements are extremely high and 6K Additive easily cleared that hurdle for us.”

6K Additive