SMEs in focus: Denmark’s AM Summit 2025 targets industrial adoption and defence opportunities

Denmark’s AM Summit 2025, held on October 1 alongside the HI Tech & Industry Scandinavia Expo in Herning, offered a clear snapshot of the country’s fast-maturing AM scene. With a new format aimed at production-focused SMEs, the event drew many first-time attendees and sought to strengthen links between AM innovators and traditional manufacturers. Across keynotes and panels, speakers explored the current shift from prototyping to manufacturing that delivers resilience and measurable value. Here, the Danish AM Hub’s Rikke Uldall-Ekman reports on event highlights. ... Read more »

Doing more with less: Domin’s evidence-based path to Additive Manufacturing success using maraging steel

Additive Manufacturing’s promise isn’t in ‘printing everything’ – it is in knowing exactly where to apply the technology. At Domin, a UK manufacturer of motion control products, CEO Marcus Pont’s team uses the technology sparingly yet decisively, exploiting AM-enabled innovations and its potential to deliver complex internal geometries. The twist? A focus on steel. Too often overlooked for titanium or aluminium, maraging steel underpins robust, precise, and efficient hydraulic products. Martin McMahon explores the disciplined use of AM as powerful tool: performance first, costs controlled, and selectively delivering impact at scale. ... Read more »

Beyond the ‘digital warehouse’: What’s really driving the Additive Manufacturing of spare parts in 2025

The notion of a digital warehouse encapsulates the potential of cloud-based digital twins, produced locally and on demand by Additive Manufacturing. This approach promises increased efficiency, sustainability, and resilience against trade barriers and logistical disruptions. In the Winter 2021 edition of Metal AM, an initial survey established a baseline of practice in digital spare parts. In this article, Joseph Kowen revisits that foundation, analysing subsequent developments, persistent challenges, and the evolving industrial and geopolitical factors influencing the adoption of additively manufactured spare parts. ... Read more »

Additive Manufacturing for spacecraft thermal management: Heat pipes, radiators, and the role of Shape Memory Alloys

As space missions push towards 100 kW nuclear fission systems and megawatt-class propulsion, thermal management is becoming a critical bottleneck. Backed by NASA programmes and working with 3D Systems, researchers at Penn State and Arizona State universities are leveraging metal AM to develop titanium radiator panels with integral heat pipes and NiTi components for self-deploying systems. Tests under simulated orbital conditions showed more than 50% performance gains, proving AM’s potential to cut mass and boost efficiency in spacecraft cooling. ... Read more »

Additive Manufacturing at Plansee Seminar 2025: The rise of refractory metals and hard materials

At the 21st Plansee Seminar, it became clear that Additive Manufacturing has firmly established itself within the refractory metals and hard materials community. Presentations covered the full process spectrum – from powder handling and melt pool modelling to in-situ control and post-processing – with results directly relevant to industrial adoption. As Bernard North reports, work on molybdenum, tungsten, rhenium and niobium highlighted practical paths toward dense, reliable components for energy, aerospace and nuclear fusion technologies, marking a decisive step from laboratory feasibility to engineered applications. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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. ... Read more »

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About Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine

Metal AM magazine, published quarterly in digital and print formats, is read by a rapidly expanding international audience.

Our audience includes component manufacturers, end-users, materials and equipment suppliers, analysts, researchers and more.

In addition to providing extensive industry news coverage, Metal AM magazine is known for exclusive, in-depth articles and technical reports.

Our focus is the entire metal AM process from design to application.

Each issue is available as an easy-to-navigate digital edition and a high-quality print publication.

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The free to access Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine archive offers unparalleled insight into the world of metal Additive Manufacturing from a commercial and technological perspective through:

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