Automated depowdering turns complex printed EV channels into a production-line proposition.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a nozzle system that merges several extrusion streams into one high-output bead. The architecture targets large-format AM's usual trade-off between deposition rate and fine control, matching the throughput of a larger extruder while retaining the flexibility of smaller units.
Apple has moved a fully recycled titanium feedstock into the additively manufactured case of Watch Series 12. The production choice links metal AM's material efficiency to the company's 2030 carbon-neutrality target across manufacturing and product use.
Researchers have used room-temperature, maskless electrodeposition to print freestanding copper microsolenoids directly onto contact pads. The coils delivered nanohenry-scale inductance, quality factors up to 18 and measured operation to 15 GHz without consuming additional planar silicon area.
Electric drivetrains contain fewer components than combustion systems, but the parts that remain increasingly combine thermal management, fluid control and structural functions inside compact housings. That concentration of complexity gives laser powder bed fusion a strong opening in automotive production, while making complete powder removal a condition of success rather than a secondary finishing task.
ZF is testing that proposition through nexAMo, a ten-partner project supported by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The group is developing a flexible, decoupled production matrix for smaller batches and shorter product cycles, with LPBF positioned as a route to valve units and other components whose intersecting internal passages are difficult to manufacture conventionally.
Those same passages are difficult to clean. Automotive production demands complete cleanliness, traceable handling and repeatable cycle times at scale; a design that depends on manual shaking or probing cannot move smoothly through an automated line. Depowdering therefore becomes part of design qualification and production architecture, especially when trapped metal powder can compromise function or safety.
Solukon's SFM-AT800-S serves as an automated node in the nexAMo line. An automated guided vehicle docks at the machine, the part is secured through a zero-point clamping system, programmed motion removes powder, and the component waits for particles to settle before automatic unloading to the next step. The arrangement shows how post-processing must be integrated with material flow if complex printed EV hardware is to graduate from flexible design to repeatable factory production.
BMW says a wire-arc additively manufactured component is in the final stages of qualification for a vehicle due to launch in 2027. The program supplies a firm production timetable for a process better known for prototypes and large structural demonstrations.
America Makes and NCDMM have selected EWI for a $13.2 million project to build the Integrated System for In-situ Testing and Evaluation. Backed by the U.S. defense manufacturing office, INSITE aims to turn build-time signals into a practical quality-assurance system for additive production.
Impossible Objects has closed a $40 million Series B round to increase capacity for its high-speed composite-based additive manufacturing process. The Illinois company is directing the capital toward aerospace, defense and advanced-manufacturing demand, where production volume is the central test for composite AM.
HKUST engineers have formulated a printable construction material that binds simulated Martian soil with gelatine and yeast engineered to act like mussel adhesive. Compression tests reached strengths comparable with terrestrial building materials, pointing toward shelter production that relies on locally available regolith rather than payload-heavy imported binders.
General Motors now uses Stratasys FDM systems at more than 20 North and South American plants for tooling, fixtures, jigs, factory aids and selected end-use parts.
A UK Ministry of Defence program has taken new propulsion systems and turbojet engines from concept toward production in months by combining industrial collaboration with additive manufacturing.
Plasticpreneur's Polyverse Solutions has introduced the compact NOVA-60, whose universal mold system accepts printed or machined aluminum inserts for short product-development cycles.
Mosaic Manufacturing has launched Orion for labs and clinics producing both soft and rigid patient-specific orthotic devices.
Skyrora has completed a hot-fire test of a 3.5-kilonewton low-Earth-orbit engine featuring a titanium-coated component developed through the EU-funded MADE-3D program.
SWISSto12 and Mitsubishi Electric have signed an agreement pairing Mitsubishi's satellite integration expertise with SWISSto12's printed radio-frequency designs and processes.
Kallisio has opened an expanded-access program connecting patients to its FDA-cleared, custom printed Stentra intraoral device even when their treatment center has not adopted it.
Bechtle has acquired Kaut-Bullinger's 3D-printing assets, customers and installed systems, extending its HP-focused additive business across Germany and Austria.
A print operator asks how busy shops absorb demand without adding another fleet that needs constant supervision. The options include trusted local partners, distributed networks and keeping every job in-house. The thread focuses on where each model first breaks down: quality control, lead time or quoting.
A community question moves AI discussion away from slogans and toward wasted feedstock. Suggested uses range from parameter tuning and early failure detection to nesting, predictive maintenance and demand planning. The useful question is which interventions can already save material in a working shop.
A first-time prosthetic cover wraps an Ottobock 3R80 knee in six PETG sections that fit standard printers. A magnetic rear panel preserves tool-free access to knee settings. The finished shell weighs about 260 grams and turns personal fabrication into a practical assistive-device upgrade.
A designer with no previous RC-car experience has built a printable 1:10 Bugatti Type 35C around the mechanical choices of the 1926 original. The hardware may be overpowered, but it can migrate into a heavier future model. The two-month project documents how historical engineering becomes a hands-on design curriculum.
A removable, slotted entry narrows a litter-box opening enough for its intended users while blocking a larger and unwelcome visitor.
A printed lunar-phase clock drives its display through the Moon's 29.5-day cycle, shown in a compact time-lapse.
The researchers reshape laser energy into a core-ring profile to attack powder spatter at its source during powder bed fusion. By changing how heat and recoil forces develop around the melt pool, the method offers a route to cleaner neighboring powder and more stable layers without treating spatter only as a monitoring signal. The work makes beam shape itself a process-control variable for reducing a persistent defect mechanism.
Experiments and deep learning expose how cable reinforcement redirects stress and direction-dependent behavior in printed concrete.
EBSD misorientation measurements are evaluated as quantitative indicators of local plastic strain in laser-additively manufactured alloys.
A data-driven generator designs metal microarchitectures that are then realized as composite metamaterials through binder jetting.
Spatiotemporal exposure control and a reaction-diffusion-scattering model push projection stereolithography below nominal pixel size while maintaining continuous printing.
Rolling and interpass electrical treatment are coupled with selective laser melting to improve both strength and ductility in refractory Ta12W.
Interface engineering and a printed metastructure combine to strengthen terahertz shielding in a ceramic composite without relying on a solid bulk form.
The study examines how process choices can limit residual stress and geometric distortion in thin-walled polymer prints.
Surface nanocrystallization and nitriding temperature are linked to scratch-failure mechanisms in printed Ti-6Al-4V.
Laser-generated ultrasound is advanced toward stage-by-stage imaging of hidden defects before a metal AM build is complete.
Time-frequency acoustic features and a deep network classify contact-tip-to-work distance at high resolution during wire-arc additive manufacturing.
The review connects printable mix design and layer interfaces to climate-dependent durability evidence from laboratory tests and field exposure.
In-situ synchrotron imaging shows particle dynamics, more than bulk material properties, governing several large-pore mechanisms in powder-blown DED.