Continuum Powders and Mastrex announced a collaboration today to evaluate, develop parameters for, and validate Continuum's metal powders across every machine in Mastrex's MX series laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) lineup. The partnership pairs Continuum's powder engineering with Mastrex's machine development to give manufacturers "greater confidence" when qualifying new materials for production runs.
Initial work covers three alloys: cobalt chrome, Ti-6Al-4V, and 17-4 stainless steel. Nickel-based superalloys and copper-nickel alloys are next as the partnership expands. Continuum, based in Orange County, California, makes its powders through the Greyhound M2P platform, which recycles alloyed metal scrap into spherical powder in a single step. Mastrex, headquartered in Houston, builds LPBF systems the company positions as a lower-cost entry point into metal additive manufacturing.
Engineers who run material qualification programs will care about the practical payoff here: rather than developing print parameters from scratch on a new machine, they get supplier-validated starting parameters and build-consistency data specific to the MX series. The companies say they are assessing powder behavior, processing conditions, build consistency, and material performance directly on Mastrex hardware, work intended to cut the time and resources typically spent introducing a new material.
Jon Cozens, chief executive of Continuum Powders, said the bigger obstacle to wider additive manufacturing adoption isn't "a lack of innovation" but the effort required to implement new materials with confidence. Ilay Fridland, partner at Mastrex, said pairing the two companies' work lets customers "adopt new applications with greater confidence while reducing development effort," framing it as part of Mastrex's original goal of lowering the barrier to entry for LPBF technology.
Both companies describe this as the start of an ongoing technical relationship rather than a single announcement. As additional alloys clear validation and qualification milestones, Continuum and Mastrex plan to publish technical updates, application data, and customer case studies tied to specific powder-platform combinations. Manufacturers interested in testing Continuum powder on Mastrex hardware can already request sample builds and parameter-development programs through the two companies.
