Metal Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 12 No. 1 Spring 2026

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In addition to the latest industry news, this 208-page issue of Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine includes the following exclusive features:

Inside Nikon’s metal AM strategy, Part 1: Hamid Zarringhalam on building a new growth pillar

Nikon believes metal Additive Manufacturing can become its next billion-dollar business. Backed by significant cumulative investment, the company is concentrating on defence, qualification strategy and production economics rather than general rapid expansion.

Hamid Zarringhalam, in conversation with Martin McMahon and Nick Williams, explores how semiconductor-style process control and long equipment lifecycles underpin Nikon’s approach – and why execution, not enthusiasm, will determine how AM delivers durable industrial scale.

Inside Nikon’s metal AM strategy, Part 2: Scaling industrial production in Long Beach

Following our interview with Hamid Zarringhalam in the preceding article, Metal AM travelled to Nikon Advanced Manufacturing’s Long Beach, California facility to examine how the company’s defence-led strategy is being executed in practice.

Reporting for Metal AM magazine, Martin McMahon toured the production floors, qualification laboratories and large-format NXG installations supporting U.S. defence programmes, assessing how Nikon is translating capital investment and policy alignment into repeatable process control, production throughput and industrial-scale capability. 

Steel reinvented: Colnago’s Steelnovo and the search for the perfect modern road bike

For Colnago, one of cycling’s most prestigious brands, the Steelnovo represents a showcase project – a modern interpretation of what the ‘perfect’ road bike might look like. Instead of the titanium more commonly used for additively manufactured frame lugs, the company worked with Additiva Srl and ATLIX to develop complex 316L steel nodes combined with Columbus steel tubing.

Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine’s Nick Williams explores how the project demonstrates the potential of AM to modernise traditional materials while preserving the distinctive ride quality associated with steel frames.

Additive Manufacturing in US defence logistics: From technical progress to operational capability

Additive Manufacturing is advancing rapidly across the defence sector, but technology alone does not deliver operational advantage. The real challenge is integration – linking machines, materials, data, and logistics into systems that can perform under operational pressure.

In this article, MG (Ret.) Edward F Dorman III, former US Army theater sustainment commander and a recognised authority on contested logistics and defence industrial integration, assesses the current state of advanced manufacturing within the United States defence ecosystem and the implications for the future of US military sustainment and manufacturing. 

Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2026: Strategy without the strategy-speak in a maturing AM industry

Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2026 offered a revealing snapshot of an industry entering a more sober phase. The discussions in New York were less about disruption and more about execution: how capital cycles shape machine sales, why software and ecosystems may determine who scales, and where polymer and metal Additive Manufacturing follow very different economic paths. If there was a common thread, it was that AM’s future will depend less on technology claims and more on solving specific industrial problems. Joseph Kowen reports.

Wire-based Directed Energy Deposition in large-scale metal Additive Manufacturing: Choosing the right process

Wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) is becoming one of the most practical routes for manufacturing large metal components, offering higher deposition rates and better material utilisation than many powder-based Additive Manufacturing processes. Yet wire-based DED is not a single technology category.

Laser, electron beam, and arc-based systems each present different trade-offs in precision, productivity, thermal control, and industrial practicality. In this article, WAAM3D examines how these process families compare and why newer dual-wire approaches are expanding the industrial potential of large-scale metal AM.

Industrialising Haynes® 282®: Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition for high-temperature performance

Although Haynes^® 282^® offers an excellent balance of weldability, creep strength and high-temperature stability, processing via metal Additive Manufacturing presents challenges. Steep thermal gradients during deposition can promote hot cracking and porosity, narrowing the process window.

In this article, Spain’s Etxetar explores what is required to industrialise laser and powder-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) of this alloy. It shows how adoption depends on aligning feedstock quality, deposition strategy and hardware configuration, using IG-series heads to demonstrate how nozzle design, monitoring and toolpaths are tailored to application requirements.

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