While this approach is likely natural for the majority of the newest generation of engineers, many the old guard may still need convincing, including an appreciation for the differences between DfAM and design for manufacturing (DFM) more generally.

But even if DfAM is a core part of your engineering umwelt, it’s important to recognize that this once novel concept is also still evolving. Enter a new paper from researchers at the University of West Attica in Greece, which proposes a “system-level and process-aware design mindset” that aims to take engineers beyond the basic physics and geometry of 3D printing to integrate design intent, material behavior, and sustainability into a more holistic DfAM model.

“Design for Additive Manufacturing should not merely ensure printability,” said lead author Antreas Kantaros in a press release. “It must connect material-process interactions, build orientation, tolerancing, and sustainability considerations to create designs that are innovative, reliable, and efficient.” Kantaros is a materials scientist in the department of industrial design and production engineering and, according to his LinkedIn page, he was among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in 2024.

The paper critiques existing DfAM methods that focus mainly on geometry optimization, arguing that such heuristics overlook critical factors such as anisotropy, thermal distortions, and lifecycle sustainability. As a solution, the authors advocate for an integrated workflow which combines simulation, optimization, and AI-assisted manufacturability feedback within digital design environments.

To support their claims, Kantaros and his colleagues cite part consolidation, mass customization, and functionally graded materials as applications that demonstrate how their holistic DfAM thinking can improve product performance while reducing environmental impact and production costs.

“True innovation in additive manufacturing begins when design and manufacturing are no longer treated as separate stages,” said professor and co-author Theodore Ganetsos. “By merging these perspectives, we can achieve sustainable, high-performance engineering solutions.”

The paper, entitled “Toward a Holistic Approach for Design for Additive Manufacturing: A Perspective on Challenges, Practical Insights, and Research Needs,” is published under a Creative Commons license in the journal Advanced Manufacturing.

The post Rethinking design for additive manufacturing appeared first on Engineering.com.

“We’re on our way to Motor City!” the flight attendant announces as our plane taxis to the runway at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. It’s a short flight to Detroit (less than an hour) but it gives me time to reflect on that nickname and whether it’s still apt.

Google autocompletes ‘detroit automotive industry’ with ‘collapse’ and the subsequent search results include articles about its rise and fall, a Wikipedia page on the 2008-2010 auto industry crisis, and an “explain like I’m five” subreddit thread titled simply, “What happened to Detroit?”

To say the answer is complicated would be an understatement, but whatever explanation you choose, there are at least two undeniable truths.

First, the auto industry is baked into the DNA of Detroit and Michigan more broadly. On the cab ride to my hotel in Plymouth, I pass Henry Ford Health as well as seemingly endless parade of job shops and suppliers spanning the entire value chain. Advertisements for technical training and shift work are second only to those for ambulance chasers personal injury lawyers in frequency (though it is a distant second).

Second, and more importantly, however you tally up the factors leading to the shakiness of the Motor City moniker today, technology will surely be on the list. The U.S. auto industry has been playing catch-up on that front since the ‘70s. Only in the last decade or so have we started to see it reemerge as a technology leader, not just inside the vehicles rolling off the assembly line, but on the line itself and in manufacturing as a whole.

That’s why I’m here: to attend a Media Day at the Rivian Engineering Center in Plymouth, MI, cosponsored by Stratasys, and to learn how additive manufacturing (AM) fits into the future of automaking.

Here’s what I saw.

Rivian Impressions

The first note I write down upon entering the building is, “software company vibe” and it holds up until we start the actual facility tour. There are rows upon rows of desktop computers, interspersed with shipping containers that serve as meeting rooms in the large open-concept space. Murals of rugged landscapes adorn the walls: mountains and forests evoking treks through the Pacific Northwest. The first real indicator that this is a car company is the set of bay doors on opposite sides of our conference room.

That’s quickly reinforced as the presentations get underway, with an introduction that frames Rivian as an American Automaker, first and foremost. The company is launching its new midsize—the R2—next year, which it sees as the next chapter in the history of US automotive manufacturing.

Before becoming the Engineering Center, Plymouth was Rivian’s original HQ. Its first manufacturing facility is located in Normal, IL and a second just recently broke ground in Stanton Springs, GA. Even though its current headquarters are in Irvine, CA, Rivian still evokes a sense of continuity with the legacy of automaking in the American heartland.  Nevertheless, there is something indelibly tech-y about this introduction. Maybe it’s the fact that a representative of the company cites Rivian’s software stack (of all things) as its “secret sauce.”

Additive automotive manufacturing

Now comes the real reason we’re here: Rivian’s use of Stratasys’ 3D printing. Jonathan Dankenbring, Rivian’s senior manager for prototype manufacturing, walks us through his operation virtually and (later) physically. He tells us about his experience leading Rivian’s prototype manufacturing team, which started seven years ago with a couple of CNCs and a single desktop 3D printer he brought from home. Today, his department includes a DMG MORI 5-axis mill as well as 28 Stratasys machines for selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), and Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF).

Dankenbring tells us that he and his team have received six thousand requests in 2025, 86% of which have been completed in five days or fewer in Q4 of this year. Jared Beck, additive manufacturing manager at Rivian’s production plant in Normal, IL tells us you can find an additive part “every fifteen feet” when you walk through the 1.1 million-square-foot facility, which adds up to a lot of 3D printing. In short, Rivian is a manufacturer that is heavily invested in AM. But here’s another key statistic: 38% of those six thousand requests Dankenbring highlighted were for jigs and assembly aids.

Examples include ten thousand small shims for panel alignment made with SAF, soft jaw replacements (“We haven’t machined those in four years,” Dankenbring says.) and 35% of Rivian’s stamping prototypes, which can apparently bend steel plates up to 2mm thick.

“But where are the end-use parts?” the automotive media guys at the event want to know. They seem disappointed that we aren’t being shown examples of additive manufacturing for automotive components. It’s understandable, because they’re more interested in the end product than how it’s made, and 3D printing technology is mostly a novelty to them. But, as our tour gets underway, I think I’m already starting to see the bigger picture.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Inside Rivian’s prototype manufacturing.

The post The future of automotive additive manufacturing – Part 1 appeared first on Engineering.com.

The growth of the Chinese additive manufacturing (AM) industry over the past few years has been a hot topic of conversation among industry insiders.

The additive manufacturing consultancy AM Power put China’s AM market at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% over the last five years, which is apparently more than twice the global average of 12%.

Meanwhile, the market intelligence firm CONTEXT reported last year that sales of Chinese metal AM systems – particularly laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) – were up 45% year-over-year, while Western sales of metal L-PBF systems were down 4% in the same period.

On the ground, one needs only look back on the exhibitor maps of major industry shows, such as RAPID+TCT or Formnext, over the past few years to see the swelling number of Chinese AM suppliers and the growing footprint of many booths.

While talk of the growth of 3D printing in China often focuses on the consumer market with companies such as Bambu Lab or Creality, as the CONTEXT stats show, the industrial AM sector is also expanding quickly.

Take Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies (BLT) as an example.

This year alone, BLT has announced three major distribution agreements, the biggest with engineering solutions provider GoEngineer for sales in North America in March. More recently, BLT also announced partnerships with Malaysian GSH Precision Technology – a provider of fabrication, contract manufacturing and industrial automation – as well as South African AMT3D, which also acts as a re-seller for Meltio and MX3D metal AM machines in sub-Saharan Africa.

Add in BLT Europe, the company’s Frankfurt-based subsidiary, which boasts “over 1,400 installed metal machines and counting” on its LinkedIn page, and you’ve got an impressive global distribution network for a company that didn’t even exist 15 years ago. As to where this is all heading, you only need to look at what BLT chose to highlight during this year’s Formnext: a copper inner wall liner for a rocket engine thrust chamber.

3D printed on a six-laser BLT-S615 using copper-chromium-zirconium powder, the part measures an impressive 502mm x 946mm and weighs 35 kg. Copper powders are notoriously difficult to print using L-PBF owing to the material’s reflectivity, which makes this an ideal candidate to demonstrate BLT’s technical capabilities.

The choice of industry application seems fitting as well, given the increasing emphasis and interest in South Africa’s aerospace industry, plus the recent investment by GE Aerospace (which owns BLT competitor Colibrium) in Malaysian aerospace and aviation training. Partnering with an American re-seller like GoEngineer is an obvious move for BLT to expand in the near-term, but these partnerships with GSH and AMT3D show that the company is playing the long game, too.

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“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

There are a lot of ways to interpret this little piece of ancient wisdom but, when it comes to additive manufacturing (AM), I think the best way is to take it as equivalent to the much more modern aphorism: Stay in your lane. It’s taken the 3D printing industry almost four decades to figure out what that lane looks like and, thus far, it doesn’t appear to include a big off-ramp for volume production.

Look for AM’s victories and you’ll find them in prototyping, in manufacturing support, and in end-use applications where customization or complex geometries (which often amount to the same thing) take priority over speed and cost, i.e., medical or aerospace. The reasons for this are well worn, but they’re also based on a certain set of assumptions about what additive manufacturing looks like and how it works.

After a recent conversation with Fabric8Labs VP of product and applications, Ian Winfield, I’m starting to wonder whether winning in AM is less about fighting the right battles or staying in the right lane, than it is changing the rules of the game altogether or (with one last twist of the knife into this tortured metaphor), straying off the beaten path.

Yes ECAM

Winfield doesn’t have the typical background of an additive manufacturing expert. Rather than coming from medical or aerospace or mechanical more broadly, his formal training is in electrochemistry. But there’s a good reason for that. “When I saw what Fabric8Labs was doing in terms of using electrochemistry for 3D printing structures, it sort of blew my mind,” he tells me. That’s because, while most engineers probably think of using electrochemistry for thin films in, for example, electroplating, Fabric8Labs has found a way to use it to build three-dimensional objects. This is what the company calls Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM).

Essentially, in ECAM the entire build plate is the cathode. As Winfield explains it:

“We generally integrate the build plate into the final product. So, if you think about liquid cooling, we can procure a 1-2mm thick sheet of copper 101 and then chemically activate it. It gets chucked into the Z stage on the top, and the bottom – the printhead – is based on display technology. We bring the build plate down to that display and then send the pattern of what we’re printing to activate it. Wherever we activate it, that creates an electric field, so I envision it as projecting an electric field wherever I activate a pixel.”

Clearly, this is a very different approach to 3D printing metals compared to laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) or directed energy deposition (DED) for several reasons. First and foremost, while those processes often struggle with pure copper due to its reflectivity, that’s the primary material for ECAM. Moreover, the feedstock itself is a metal oxide, which can be pumped through multiple machines and is both less expensive and considerably easier to handle than metal powder.

Then there’s the resolution, which is extremely high: Winfield says ECAM’s voxel size is currently 33μm. Together, these attributes point to electronics and thermal management as ideal applications for ECAM.

Of course, one thing ECAM shares in common with other additive technologies is that its high resolution comes at the price of a relatively small build volume: Winfield says the display (which dictates ECAM’s build volume) is currently 120mm x 120mm and that the machine’s output is 1-2mm per hour in the Z-axis, but he also added that scaling up ECAM is relatively simple in terms of connecting additional machines to the feedstock plumbing.

“We’re grouping them today in our facility in what we call a ‘pod’ of 24 printers with one feedstock system that’s pumping liquid to all of them,” he says. “If we wanted to increase the build area, we’d just have to make sure we re-engineer the tool to make sure we’re holding everything planar, because we’re working in such close layer heights.”

Technology-Market Fit

“Everyone talks about product-market fit,” says Winfield, “but I think a lot about technology-market fit: the intersection between what’s best for the manufacturing technology and what’s best for the end product.” For ECAM, that line of thinking goes straight to thermal management and electronics, including 3D printed antennas, which can actually be printed directly onto PCBs, since the process runs at room temperature. An added bonus, Winfield points out, is that since the print head in ECAM is controlled via lithography, all the antennas in a phased array come out perfectly aligned.

Beyond electronics, ECAM also has potential in medical device applications, such as x-ray collimators or minimally invasive surgical tools. “We’ve already done testing with a nickel-cobalt alloy that we’ve developed for biocompatibility,” Winfield explains. “You wouldn’t use that for a permanent implant, but as a surgical tool, the alloy we developed meets FDA requirements.” He also mentioned micro-mechanical components, electrical connectors, and power electronics – such as traction inverters for electric vehicles – as other potential avenues where the technology could expand. This is, notably, another way in which ECAM seems different from other additive technologies: 3D printing often seems like a solution looking for problems but, as Winfield frames ECAM, the challenge appears to be limiting the scope of R&D into various applications to ensure Fabric8Labs is growing in the right way.

To that end, the company just completed a major funding round: $50M to expand its domestic advanced manufacturing capacity. That level of investment in AM isn’t as common as it used to be when 3D printing hype was at its peak, and it’s especially surprising given how much focus (and funding) artificial intelligence (AI) draws these days. When I mentioned this to Winfield, he pointed out that AI is actually a good thing for Fabric8Labs in terms of market potential.

“Liquid cooling has been around for 20 years, but not at scale in data centers by any means,” he explains. “With these high-powered GPUs, everyone’s saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to have to go from 5% liquid cooling to 95% liquid cooling in my data center,’ because that’s the only way to get the GPU density they need, so the timing of the AI boom has really helped us in that way.”

“If fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight”

Much of the discussion around AM today involves how best to deal with two of the biggest obstacles for scaling it: post-processing and quality control. Yet what’s interesting about Fabric8Labs is that the company seems to be building an additive technology that simply avoids those challenges rather than confronting them.

Winfield says that common post-processing techniques for metal AM (heat treatments, powder or support removal) are unnecessary in ECAM: “All we do is run the part through a couple of rinse tanks to make sure there’s no residual chemistry and then passivate it to make sure the copper doesn’t oxidize.”

In-situ monitoring, a much sought-after feature for practically all AM processes, also comes almost for free in ECAM. “If you think about Ohm’s law, that enables us to detect the proximity of a copper feature to a pixel, so we can generate a heat map of how each layer is progressing over the build,” Winfield explains. “Then there’s an algorithm that can turn the pixels on or off, or turn the current density up or down, because we have grayscale control over individual pixels. And what’s really cool is you can use that data to recreate the part – almost like an x-ray scan – and see how well it built and if any features are missing. Our goal is to eventually use that data to say whether the part is good or bad even before it comes off the printer.”

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new technology, and I’ll freely admit that I am excited about ECAM and what it could mean for the future of additive manufacturing as an industry. Of course, with how often this industry has been burned by excessive hype, it’s prudent to be conservative in predicting where this technology is heading. Still, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t bet against Fabric8Labs.

The post Breaking the rules to win the additive manufacturing game appeared first on Engineering.com.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us and we all know those topics that will inevitably come up at the dinner table despite ever present reminders to avoid them. But here’s one topic you won’t find on that list: 3D printing.

So, when your relatives start expounding on their own pet theories of “What’s Wrong With This Country” or “The Trouble With Kids Today” why not derail them with anecdotes about some of the latest breakthroughs in additive technology?

Here’s a few to get you started:

Mighty Morphin 3D printed structures!

We’ve covered the topic of 4D printing for years here on engineering.com, but the technology still largely confined to the laboratory. However, a team of engineers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is aiming to change that with a new approach to morphing 3D printed two-dimensional structures into curved 3D structures for space-based applications.

“[O]ur collaborators in the Beckman Institute developed a recipe for a pure resin system that’s very energy efficient,” explained Ph.D. student Ivan Wu in a press release. “And we have a 3D printer that can print commercial aerospace-grade composite structures. I think the breakthrough was combining those two things into one.”

Wu’s idea is to mold the liquid resin with printed carbon fiber and then freeze it, so that it can be stored safely and efficiently for transport and then later activated via a low-energy heat stimulus that initiates the polymerization process. This process, called frontal polymerization, is intended to eliminate the need for ovens or autoclaves large enough to cure a full-sized satellite dish.

“For me, the first challenge was to solve the inverse problem,” Wu said. “You have a design for the 3D shape you want, but what is the 2D pattern to print that results in that shape? I had to write mathematical equations to describe the shapes to print the exact pattern. This study solved that problem.”

Wu sourced equations and wrote the code to program the printer to deposit the fiber bundles onto a bed to create five different 3D configurations: a spiral cylinder, a twist, cone, a saddle and a parabolic dish.

“Together, they show the diversity of shapes we can make. But I think the one that’s most interesting and applicable is the parabolic dish, which mimics the smooth, curved shape that’s needed for deployable satellites.”

Wu’s proposal is to use the activated 3D shapes as molds for in-space manufacturing of high-stiffness structures. His research is supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory and published in the journal Additive Manufacturing.

microDeltas of the world, unite!

Another well-worn topic on our site, delta robots have been deployed in all manner of picking, packing, and sorting tasks in a variety of manufacturing industries. They’re typically on the order of a few cubic feet in size, but a team of engineers at Carnegie Melon University have managed to 3D print “microDeltas” that make a penny look enormous.

Microrobotics at this scale have normally required manual assembly and folding microfabricated components, but the Carnegie Melon engineers have developed a 3D printing process for microrobotics that uses a combination of two-photon polymerization and a thin metal coating to create complex 3D geometries and actuators without any folding or manual assembly.

“Eliminating the need for assembly has huge benefits in terms of rapid fabrication and design iteration,” said Sarah Bergbreiter, professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Melon, in a press release. “At large scales, researchers can assemble robots from motors and mechanisms that you can buy off-the-shelf. We don’t have that luxury at these small scales where both making and connecting tiny pieces together is hard. That’s where this new fabrication process is incredibly beneficial.”

According to Bergbreiter and her students, the 1.4 mm and 0.7 mm microDeltas, are the smallest and fastest Delta robots ever demonstrated. They also claim that shrinking the robot improved precision to less than a micrometer, increased speed by operating at frequencies over 1 kHz, and delivered enough power to launch a grain of salt: a projectile 7.4% the mass of the entire robot.

They suggest that densely packed arrays of multiple microDelta robots could enable entirely new robot capabilities at small scales, such as rich haptic feedback or previously infeasible micromanipulation tasks.

3D printed blood vessels while you wait

3D printing organic tissue, aka bioprinting, has been used to duplicate brains, bones, cartilage, and ligaments, sometimes not just replicating but improving on nature’s designs. The latest advancement in this vein (pun unintended but grudgingly preserved) comes from mechanical and biomedical engineers at the University of Sydney.

They’ve created anatomically accurate models of both healthy and diseased areas of blood vessels, including their delicate structures and the dents and divots on the damaged lining of the blood vessel walls that are commonly found in stroke patients.

The researchers used CT scans of stroke patients as blueprints to create mini models, shrinking the original 5-7mm carotid artery 3D model to 200 to 300 micrometers. They also managed to reduced the time it takes to print the models from 10 hours to two by using glass slides as a base, rather than the conventional resin moulds.

According to the team, this artery on a chip’ method successfully mimicked the physical appearance of blood vessels, and blood flow simulations generated similar fluid dynamics and movement of natural blood flow. During testing, the researchers were able to witness, in real time and under the microscope, blood clot formation and the behaviour of platelets which area crucial component involved in blood clotting that could lead to a stroke.

“We’re not just printing blood vessels,” said PhD candidate Charles Zhao, “We’re printing hope for millions at risk of stroke worldwide. With continued support and collaboration, we aim to make personalised vascular medicine accessible to every patient who needs it.”

The research is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

She’s a quick (3D printed) house

Closer to home, researchers at Oregon State University have delivered the latest advancements in 3D printing for construction with a quick-setting, sustainable alternative to concrete that they’re hoping could be used to 3D print homes and infrastructure.

The new clay-based material cures as it’s being extruded as a result of an acrylamide-based binding agent triggering frontal polymerization. The researchers report that their material can even be printed across unsupported gaps, such as the top edge of an opening for a door or window.

“The printed material has a buildable strength of 3 megapascals immediately after printing, enabling the construction of multilayer walls and freestanding overhangs like roofs,” said Devin Roach, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the OSU College of Engineering, in a press release. “It surpasses 17 megapascals, the strength required of residential structural concrete, in just three days, compared to as long as 28 days for traditional cement-based concrete.”

Additionally, because the new material consists largely of soil infused with hemp fibers, sand and biochar – carbon-rich matter made by heating wood chips and other organic biomass under low oxygen – its environmental footprint is significantly smaller than that of concrete.

“Currently, our material costs more than standard cement-based concrete, so we need to bring the price down,” Roach said. “Before it can be used we also need to follow American Society for Testing and Materials standard tests and prepare a report that professional engineers can review and approve if it is proposed to be included in construction projects.”

The research is published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials.

That’s it for this Thanksgiving Research Roundup. Enjoy your turkey and be thankful it was raised on a farm instead of in a vat!

The post 3D printing research roundup appeared first on Engineering.com.

(Here’s Day 1, here’s Day 2, and here’s live footage of the Frankfurt Airport so you can create your own virtual travel experience.)

Let’s start with a couple of announcements.

BLT’s AI quality software

I thought I might be able to get away with not talking about AI for the duration of the show but I’ve been foiled by my own hubris and also the latest piece of software from Bright Laser Technologies, aka BLT.

Designed for metal laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), BLT-PrintInsight combines online monitoring and offline analysis to provide process visibility, control, and traceability in additive manufacturing (AM). According to the company, the software uses multi-source data fusion and (offline?) AI-driven analysis to provide real-time defect detection and feedback as well as post-process risk assessment.

The online monitoring module aims to automate defect recognition and correction using vision algorithms to reduce human effort and improve detection accuracy. Key functions cited by BLT include powder spreading online monitoring and scanning online monitoring. The former is designed to detect powder shortages, uneven powder spreading, collapse, and recoater collision, while the latter is built to identify burnt spots and slag buildup.

The offline analysis module uses post-print data to evaluate part quality and pinpoint risk areas, combining 3D model visualization, defect record management, and one-click quality report generation.

As upgrades, users can also customize detection models using their own defect samples, capture real-time thermal radiation signals to generate thermographic maps, or incorporate video recording with support for playback and automatic cleanup.

Commercial availability of new Colibrium M Line L-PBF machine

GE Aerospace subsidiary Colibrium Additive has announced the commercial availability of its new M Line 4 × 1 kW laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) system, designed for the production of complex components in aerospace and defense.

Building on the company’s M Line 4 × 400 W platform, the new system is intended to deliver a significant increase in productivity via higher laser power and features a 500 × 500 × 400 mm build volume.

“The M Line 4 × 1 kW system allows manufacturers to accelerate productivity without sacrificing quality,” said Philipp Schumann, Product Manager – M Line at Colibrium Additive in a press release. “It meets the rising demand, especially in highly regulated industries, for faster, more cost-effective production by combining precision where it matters most with efficiency across the rest of the part.”

According to the company, the M Line 4 × 1 kW system supports CoCr and Ni718 materials at launch, with additional parameters currently under development. All parameters are visible and editable within the WRX3 software suite, which also provides open access to sensor and operational data streams through an OPC/UA interface.

The M Line platform incorporates a modular architecture that separates the Laser Processing System (LPS) from the Material Handling Station (MHS). This configuration is intended to enable powder resupply, part removal, or other handling tasks to run in parallel with active printing.

2025 Formnext Award Winners

I’ll have more details about some of the organizations and individuals listed below in a future article but, for now, here’s a quick rundown of this year’s award winners.

AMbassador Award: Irena Heuzeroth, research associate and trainer, SKZ

An engineer and senior AM trainer in the field of injection molding, Irena has been very involved in the practical study course “Certified Industrial Technician Specializing in Additive Manufacturing,” which is offered jointly by the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce and SKZ.

Design Award: Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd

A German university of applied sciences for design, HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd won for its Grabbit products, which are made from TPU lattice structures, PA12, and ash wood. They’re designed to help with hand strength and dexterity in cases of illness, injury, or age-related weakness.

(R)Evolution Award: Laempe Mössner Sinto

A supplier of foundry solutions for core making, LMS won for its 3D printing system for the large-scale production of sand cores, currently in operation at BMW Group. The system produces over 1,100 cores per day, which makes it one of the fastest binder jetting printers in the world.

Rookie Award: IAM3DHUB

The international advanced manufacturing consortium won for its 3DMyMask project, which combines AM with 3D face scanning to produce customized silicone masks designed to improve the treatment of disorders such as respiratory distress. The project includes neonatologists, industrial engineers, and entrepreneurs, all of whom are part of the IAM3DHUB ecosystem.

Start-up Award: PERFI Technologies

Winning for its volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM) technology, the company is aiming to transform conventional 3D printing by printing every point of an object simultaneously, rather than layer by layer. If it works, this would reduce production times from hours to seconds, as well as obviating support structures and reducing post processing.

Sustainability Award: EOS Electro Optical Systems

EOS has developed a filter system designed to neutralize condensate, soot, ultra-fine particles, and other reactive by-products of metal-based AM directly in the production process, converting highly reactive particles into stable metal oxides. According to EOS, this chemical-free filtration and integrated oxidation technology not only protects the environment, it’s also economically sustainable. 

That’s all for today. See you tomorrow for my show wrap-up and retrospective.

The post Formnext 2025 – Day 3 Recap appeared first on Engineering.com.

(It’s just like in-person coverage, but with fewer handshakes and more livestreams.)

Let’s dive in with two more big announcements from the show.

HP promotes materials, machines, and partnerships

The 2D and 3D printing behemoth, HP is pushing hard on additive manufacturing (AM) adoption with a host of announcements, including the new HP Additive Manufacturing Network Program, which is framed as “an inclusive, dynamic, data-driven framework.”

More tangible news includes the announcements that Continuum Powders and INDO-MIM have qualified OptiPowder Ni718 for use on the HP Metal Jet S100, with sintered components reportedly achieving >98% density. HP is also collaborating with GKN Powder Metallurgy on copper applications with more details to come.

On the machine side, the company is getting into material extrusion with the HP Industrial Filament 3D Printer 600 High Temperature (HP IF 600HT), a modular system designed for printing high-temperature and engineered filaments that will be available in the first half of next year. A larger system, the HP IF 1000XL will be introduced in the second half of 2026.

Automation, qualification, and workflow management from Materialise

Promoting AM automation and interoperability, Materialise has introduced three new CO-AM solutions, CO-AM Professional, CO-AM NPI, and CO-AM Enterprise, all powered by CO-AM Brix, which is described as a “new, low-code, node-based automation technology” along with the company’s cloud-based CO-AM Build Platform. The company says that its next generation build processors now feature a fully open, modular framework.

Here’s a rundown of the three new software tools:

• CO-AM Professional: Workflow automation and built-in traceability for high-mix, low-volume AM. Cloud-based and integrated with Magics, it’s intended to unify data and build/platform preparation.
• CO-AM NPI: Designed for NPI and qualification for series AM parts with CO-AM Brix toolpath optimization and build prep engineering. It locks validated recipes and QA parameters with the aim of speeding up certification and ensuring repeatable production.
• CO-AM Enterprise: Combines CO-AM Professional’s AM preparation with production execution and order management, connecting real-time shopfloor data and capturing input/output production and quality records.

“The AM industry needs an ecosystem that connects tools and automates workflows. No point solution will solve this challenge,” said Udo Eberlein, vice president of software at Materialise. “Platforms without deep domain knowledge risk becoming abstraction layers, convenient until they’re not, flexible until you need something they didn’t anticipate.”

From the Industry Stage

“Changing the manufacturing industry is, by definition, something that takes quite some time. The journey to full industrialization takes time, and it needs several companies to be speaking the same language because that creates trust for those that are new to additive.”

Felix Ewald, CEO & co-founder, DyeMansion

The second day of talks broadcast on the Formnext YouTube channel covered a few more of the AM industry’s favorite “-izations,” including personalization, industrialization, democratization, and sustainabilization sustainability. Artificial intelligence (AI) came up several times as well (because of course it did) but I’m going to leave that topic for later this week when I write about the start-up competition.

Instead, let’s focus on two of the panel discussions, the first of which was about AM industrialization, framed around the theme of risks and opportunities in democratizing 3D printing. What, exactly, ‘democratizing 3D printing’ means was a matter of some varied opinion, with some of the panelists interpreting it fairly liberally (no pun intended) as being about the proliferation and understanding of the technology.

“If you’re looking for people within your company, you will now find a lot of very enthusiastic guys,” said Stefanie Brickwede, managing director at Deutsche Bahn. “They have desktop printers at home, so they already know what additive manufacturing is about. A couple of years ago, we had to explain it to everybody.”

Others on the panel took a harder line. “It seems like every conversation about democratization is just about the price,” said Josef Průša, CEO and founder of Prusa Research. “But that’s not it. It’s about having control of your data: everything is transparent. You should have a diversity of suppliers, but the market is not there right now.”

Průša went on to argue that the Chinese Communist Party is “subsidizing” the AM industry. “They are trying to control the market” he said. “I would say that is completely against the idea of democratization.”

Although he didn’t explicitly disagree with Průša, Christian Seidel, strategic implementation consultant at Wohlers Associates and professor of manufacturing technologies at Munich University, emphasized the importance of “low-cost” 3D printers (which immediately calls various Chinese companies to mind). “These low-cost printers enable the whole industry,” he said, “because the next generation of engineers can think additive.”

Standardization and certification could be the solutions to this politically thorny issue, as Jan Lukas Waibel, head of 3D printing at the model and mold-making company Zech und Waibel Modellbau, suggested. “[Providing a 3D printing service] is a great opportunity, but we need certificates or regulations to prove the quality of our parts. We’re working for industries so we need to meet their standards.”

Brickwede agreed, emphasizing standardization as the key to AM industry growth. “It might not be considered sexy,” she said, “but if we do not all get more into standardization, we will never have this hockey stick of growth.”

Interestingly, the idea that standards and regulations can be an accelerator to progress rather than a barrier came up in the afternoon panel discussion on sustainability as well. “Standards can help a lot in terms of how to measure and evaluate recyclability or how to test recycled material,” said Ramona Fayazfar, adjunct research professor at Western University and founder and CEO of ReEarthMater. “Those regulations push sustainability; they’re accelerators, not barriers.”

Henning Schmidt, head of liaison office, Berlin at PlasticsEurope Deutschland, agreed. “We need regulations in order to have very clear frameworks that enable us to proceed with design optimization for material savings and reliability,” he said. “From our point of view, regulation is not bad, it’s necessary. We just need to be more precise with it than we have been so far.”

My takeaway from these discussions is this: If more and better standards and certifications are the key to democratic and sustainable AM, while at the same time ensuring that the democratization of 3D printing technology doesn’t result in a proliferation of inferior products by (and for) AM, then it’s no wonder that the road to industrialization seems to be so very, very long.

The post Formnext 2025 – Day 2 Recap appeared first on Engineering.com.

Let’s kick things off with a few of the latest announcements from two of the biggest players in the industry.

New SLA machines, materials, and software from 3D Systems

Topping the bill for 3D Systems at Formnext 2025 is the SLA 825 Dual, with a build volume of 830 x 830 x 550 mm, dual lasers, and other productivity enhancements designed with automotive, aerospace, and service bureau applications in mind. According to the company, it’s also been designed to be upgradeable “for future technology innovations” and is available for immediate ordering, with shipments planned before the end of this year.

3D Systems also announced a new software tool called ArrayCast that’s intended to make it easier for engineers to create customized casting trees, including configurable runners, sprues, and end effectors. The company says ArrayCast can deliver 10x faster production cycles by digitally assembling casting trees prior to printing and reduces manual labor by as much as 20x by eliminating the need for hand gluing and wax welding. ArrayCast is immediately available as an add-on via 3D Sprint.

On the materials side, 3D Systems is introducing Accura SbF for investment casting and showcasing Accura Xtreme Black resin, which it compares to ABS. “These next-generation additions to our Stereolithography portfolio will help catalyze our customers’ innovation,” said Marty Johnson, vice president of product and technical fellow for 3D Systems in a press release. “These technologies that include our new SLA printing platform and new build style for our QuickCast offering enhance our industry-leading solutions for polymer printing.”

EOS bets big on L-PBF

Targeting “industrial scale” applications, EOS has introduced a new, large-format laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) system, the M4 ONYX. Designed for energy, defense, aerospace, and semiconductor applications, the new system features a 450 x 450 x 400 mm build volume, six 400 W lasers, and boasts more than 90% powder material recovery. The system also comes in a variant, the M4 ONYX FLX with four 1kW beam-shaping lasers. EOS claims the new machines deliver up to 97% overall equipment effectiveness with full-service contracts and support job changeovers in under 30 minutes via the Grenzebach Dual Setup Station.

“This optimized system was only made possible by the dedication and expertise of our global team, whose relentless pursuit of AM excellence continues to set new standards for the industry,” said Marie Langer, EOS CEO in a press release. “Together, we are shaping the future of metal 3D printing productivity and responsible manufacturing…”

The M4 ONYX will be commercially available in Q1 2026 with the M4 ONYX FLX variant following in Q3.

From the Industry Stage

“I think we’re still facing the same challenges we did 10 years ago. If I go to a supplier and ask, ‘Can you print me this part out of stainless steel?’ Every time they ask, ‘Okay, why should we print it? What is it for? What is the application? How do we want to qualify it?’ So every time it develops into a small research project.”

Arvid Eirich, head of AM, Deutsche Bahn AG

As the saying goes: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It’s been ten years since the first Formnext, and yet many of the conversations you’ll hear on the show floor today are strikingly similar to the ones you would have heard a decade ago. At least, that certainly seems to be the case from my second year of covering it remotely. Watching the Industry Stage on its YouTube livestream through a haze of virtual jetlag, I can’t help but notice the repetition in many of the topics that came up during the morning presentations.

Terry Wohlers did his usual schtick, emphasizing the additive manufacturing (AM) industry’s growth—18% year-over-year for the past decade—to a respectable $22 billion today (though that’s still a tiny fraction of manufacturing’s multi-trillion-dollar footprint).

He also gave credit to China for its AM growth, highlighting the 1.5 million foldable hinges for mobile phones 3D printed in 2023, as well as the fact that four Chinese AM companies have grown from zero to more than $200M in revenue in just a few short years. Of particular note is Bambu Lab, which Wohlers said has the highest revenue in the world, despite being only five years old.

Doubling down on the theme of looking back to Formnext’s beginnings, Stefanie Brickwede, managing director at Deutsche Bahn took the stage to talk about her initial excitement upon learning about 3D printing technology and how it was quickly curtailed by financial concerns from the C-suite. As she tells it, it took a bottom-up approach to drive early adoption at DB AG.

“We shouted into the company and said, ‘We’re going to start with additive manufacturing. Who really wants to join us? No matter which hierarchy level, no matter what you’re doing, just contact us, and then you’re in,” she recalled. “Now, 10 years later, we have printed more than 200,000 parts.” It’s exactly the sort of grass-roots enthusiasm (despite underwhelming production volumes) that drove so much of the early hype around AM.

On that note, there was also the usual healthy dose of AM cynicism that’s grown up over the past decade, counterbalancing the optimism still embraced by many of the presenters on stage. Last year, it was supplied by 3Dprint.com’s Joris Peels. This year it came from 3D Printing Industry’s Michael Petch. (Can it be my turn next year?) “I’ve been coming here personally since 2016,” Petch said. “I still hear the same language. I still hear ‘It’s all about the application!’ We’ve been talking about that for a while. Progress is glacial. It’s not a problem. Well, it is if you run out of capital.”

Balancing the hype with the reality has always been an issue for 3D printing. It’s the nature of the technology. The AM industry is still fighting that battle on multiple fronts: education, standardization, even interoperability. Wohlers, to his credit, captured the issue in referencing a quote from Bill Gates: “Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

Whether 3D printing embodies this sentiment or not depends on whom you ask but, in the context of the AM industry and ten years of Formnext, I’d say his timeframe might be off by an order of magnitude.

Stay tuned for more Formnext 2025 coverage this week.

The post Formnext 2025 – Day 1 Recap appeared first on Engineering.com.

Like castells or underwater hockey, additive manufacturing (AM) is a team sport: success in 3D printing on an industrial scale requires collaboration and input from experts across multiple domains. Examples abound, from consortiums of the largest 3D printing companies, to research projects between Ivy League rivals, to joint efforts between public and private institutions on materials discovery.

Three of the latest examples of this trend originate with one company: Renishaw.

Hot on the heels of its participation in a new metal AM project spearheaded by Airbus, the British engineering company has announced collaborations with the French Dassault Systèmes and the Belgian Materialise, portending significant growth in European AM collaboration (Brexit notwithstanding).

RenAM 500 series now integrated into 3DExperience

According to a recent press release from Renishaw, users of the 3DExperience Delmia Powder Bed Machine Programmer Role can now set-up, program, and analyze AM processes for Renishaw 500 series metal AM systems.

“A virtual machine is an exact representation of a machine in the virtual world, with all its parameters. You can launch a production run and make virtual parts; it’s unique in terms of quality validation,” said Jérémy Mosse, team & application manager at Dassault Systèmes, in the release.

This role provides a 3D interactive environment that’s intended to enable manufacturing engineers to optimize powder bed fusion manufacturing techniques, and it includes Renishaw’s TEMPUS technology, which is designed to allow the machine’s laser to operate while the recoater is in motion. Renishaw claims this can result in time savings of up to nine seconds per build layer without compromising part quality, reducing overall build times by as much as 50%.

“This collaboration enables a unique approach to efficient metal 3D printing,” said Olivier Scart, DELMIA alliances director partnerships at Dassault Systèmes, in the same release. “The combination of Renishaw’s TEMPUS technology and the end-to-end unique solution provided by the 3DExperience platform will break silos and open a new stage for additive manufacturing industrialization.”

Highlighted benefits of the integration, according to Renishaw, include part validation prior to 3D printing, part simulation of the AM process to explore machine parameters virtually, and part traceability between design and manufacturing.

Next-generation Build Processor software with Materialise

In addition to its integration with 3DExperience, Renishaw has also announced the launch of next-generation Build Processor (NxG BP) software developed in collaboration with Materialise. The new software aims to strengthen integration between Materialise Magics and Renishaw’s RenAM metal AM systems by enabling the direct export of job files from Magics to Renishaw machines using the QuantAM file format.

“We’ve worked closely with users to understand where the bottlenecks are in their AM workflows,” said Ben Diaz, product manager at Renishaw, in a press release. “NxG BP enables swim lane laser control, integrated inspector tools, implicit modelling support and compatibility with the RenAM 500 series of machines. Ultimately, customers will have a more intuitive and efficient way to get from design to print.”

According to Renishaw, a key innovation in the software is the Swim Lane feature, which is designed to distributes laser scanning intelligently across defined regions of the build platform.

“By enabling direct integration between Magics and Renishaw systems, we’re removing the friction that slows down advanced users who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with metal 3D printing,” said Karel Brans, partnership director at Materialise, in the same release. “Whether it’s handling complex implicit geometries or optimizing multi-laser performance with features like swim lane control, this collaboration gives Renishaw customers the workflow control they need to succeed on their terms.”

NxG BP also incorporates an integrated Inspector tool for real-time verification of laser paths and job setup directly within the workflow. The processor is fully compatible with the complete RenAM machine range and is intended for advanced AM “power users” who manage a wide variety of part types and need functionality that goes beyond QuantAM per se.

Stay tuned for lots more AM news this week as Formnext 2025 kicks off in Frankfurt.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect from the show.

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Most of the big funding announcements you hear about these days include venture capital’s favorite acronym, ‘AI,’ or the more buzzwordy ‘agentic,’ which makes the latest announcement from Silicon Valley-based Carbon all the more heartening.

The additive manufacturing startup has just raised $60 million in new funding, led by its current investors Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, adidas, Baillie Gifford, Madrone, and Northgate.

If you’re playing “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)” then you might have noticed adidas as the odd one out on that list, but there’s a good reason it’s there. The sportswear company has been working with Carbon for nearly a decade, scaling additive footwear production to millions of components, including the fully 3D printed Climacool series.

Indeed, sportswear is a major market for Carbon, with football helmets produced using the company’s technology ranking first in NFL/NFLPA laboratory testing the last six years in a row. According to the company, the football helmet manufacturer Riddell is “significantly scaling” its Carbon 3D printed pads across multiple helmet lines at both the high school and college levels. Other sportswear manufacturers that have been getting into the game with Carbon’s tech include CCM, Schutt, and VICIS. Carbon also states that six of the top ten riders in the 2025 Tour de France used saddles produced with Carbon technology.

“It’s an exciting time for Carbon,” said Phil DeSimone, CEO and cofounder of Carbon in a press release. “We have built a remarkable portfolio of products and a network of trusted suppliers, production partners, customers, and collaborators who share our vision. With this latest round of investment, we’re in a good position to expand what’s possible in digital manufacturing and redefine how entire industries bring ideas and products to market.”

“We believed in Carbon’s mission from the very beginning,” said Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital in the same release. “Carbon’s print technology, proprietary resins, and design expertise – along with their proven success across multiple industries – position them to lead and collaborate in shaping the next era of digital manufacturing in the United States.”

This latest round of investment puts Carbon among the top funded additive manufacturing startups in 2025. Together with the company’s statement that it’s close to achieving cashflow-positive-operations, this demonstrates that additive manufacturing still has rising stars, which is good news for the industry as a whole.

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