Continuum Powders and Mastrex Pre-Qualify Metal Powders for LPBF Printers

Continuum Powders and Mastrex have launched a partnership to pre-qualify metal powders and processing parameters for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) systems. The collaboration covers cobalt chrome, Ti-6Al-4V, and 17-4 stainless steel for Mastrex's MX series printers.

Removing the guesswork

Moving a new metal powder onto an LPBF machine usually means developing processing parameters from scratch. That takes time and resources. The Continuum-Mastrex partnership hands over pre-validated settings and performance data instead.

Customers switching materials no longer need to run lengthy trial builds to find working parameters. The powders arrive with tested specifications already matched to the MX series.

How it compares

Similar validation pushes are happening elsewhere in the industry. Qualloy, Rosswag Engineering, and Eplus3D announced a comparable partnership in May, offering validated materials through an online shop paired with process parameters. Velo3D is separately qualifying Ti-6Al-4V powder from Amaero at Auburn University's National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence.

The Continuum-Mastrex effort stands out because it directly ties powder qualification to a specific printer platform rather than offering general material data.

What's next

The partnership starts with three widely used alloys but leaves room to expand. As more materials get validated, Mastrex customers gain a shorter path from powder selection to production-ready builds.