Metal Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 11 No. 2 Summer 2025

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In addition to the latest industry news, this 188-page issue of Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine includes the following exclusive features:

LEAP 71: Why engineering must move beyond CAD to realise the promise of AI and Additive Manufacturing

While AI is accelerating innovation across industries, engineering design remains slow, manual and opaque, constrained by tools such as CAD that capture geometry but not intent.

In this article, LEAP 71 co-founder Lin Kayser argues that to realise the full potential of Additive Manufacturing, and enable meaningful AI in hardware development, we have to rethink how machines are designed. His solution is Computational Engineering, a system that encodes physics, constraints, and logic directly into code, transforming engineering into a scalable, intelligent process.

Additive Manufacturing and European defence: a critical opportunity as the US and China accelerate ahead

As global threats mount, Europe is falling behind the US and China in deploying Additive Manufacturing as a defence capability. While these powers integrate AM to enhance readiness and resilience, Europe risks being outpaced by fragmented efforts and slow adoption.

Calum Stewart, former Army Engineering and Logistics Officer and now Director of Defence Programmes at SPEE3D, draws on insights from Maj Gen Ed Dorman (Ret), former Commander of the US Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command; Kieron Salter, CEO of the Digital Manufacturing Centre; and Michail Efthymiadis of General Dynamics European Land Systems.

A market analyst’s view: Europe’s opportunity as defence AM surges in the US and China

Drawing on insight from the AMPOWER Report 2025, this article examines how defence has become a key growth driver for metal Additive Manufacturing. While the US and China advance with coordinated, large-scale adoption, Europe risks falling behind.

Matthias Schmidt-Lehr, Managing Partner at AMPOWER, offers a market analyst’s perspective on the strategic role of Additive Manufacturing in global defence, and what Europe must do to translate its industrial potential into meaningful defence capability.

From Fixed Processes to flight parts: How REM’s advanced surface finishing supports NASA JPL’s AM innovations

REM Surface Engineering has worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for decades to develop surface finishing processes for metal components used in space missions – more recently including those produced by Additive Manufacturing.

Drawing on its aerospace and medical experience, REM has adapted its Isotropic Superfinishing (ISF®) and Chemical Polishing (CP) technologies to address the roughness and surface variability of AM parts.

In this article, REM’s Justin Michaud and Agustin Diaz trace the evolution of that work, culminating in the development of ultralight, crushable lattice structures for the Mars Sample Return mission.

The future of large metal parts: WAAMathon #2 showcases developments in Wire Arc Directed Energy Deposition

Wire Arc Directed Energy Deposition (DED-ARC/W), also known as Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), is gaining traction as a high-deposition-rate solution for large-scale metal parts.

At WAAMathon #2 in Berlin, leading experts from industry and research explored the technology’s rapid progress – from machine design and process automation to real-world applications.

As Dr Joerg Lantzsch reports, the event highlighted DED-ARC/W’s growing relevance across a wide range of sectors, with use cases spanning from turbine blades to underwater habitats.

Wire Electron Beam Directed Energy Deposition (DED): Advancing productivity and sustainability in metal AM

Wire Electron Beam Directed Energy Deposition (DED-EB/W) is gaining attention as a highly efficient metal Additive Manufacturing process. Offering high deposition rates, minimal thermal distortion, and excellent energy efficiency, the process addresses two major industry challenges: productivity and resource use. As sustainability regulations tighten and demand grows for large-scale, cost-effective components, DED-EB/W presents a compelling alternative to powder-based AM systems.

In this article, Bernd Baufeld and Alejandro Zamorano Reichold of Pro-beam Additive GmbH review the technology and examine its technical foundations and potential for industrial-scale adoption.

Building trust in AM: How Qualified AM GmbH is enabling regulated production at scale

Additive Manufacturing is gaining traction in regulated industries, but broader adoption depends on proven qualification frameworks.

This article explores the methodology developed by Qualified AM GmbH, demonstrated through case studies in the semiconductor, rail, and remote manufacturing environments.

Whether applying ISO/ASTM 52920, 52904, 52930, 52928, 52901 or industry standards such as ISO 9001, AS/EN 9100, and ISO 13485, Qualified AM supports industry with a scalable, standards-based approach to compliant and decentralised AM production.

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