QuesTek wins AM Bench 2025 challenge for AM phase modelling
QuesTek Innovations LLC, Evanston, Illinois, USA, the primary operating arm of QuesTek International LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been awarded first place in the AM Bench 2025 modelling competition for its CHAL-AMB2025-08: Phase Transformation Sequence. The award is said to recognise the company’s ability to accurately predict how phases evolve during laser melting of FeCrNi alloys, widely used in Additive Manufacturing.
Led by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the AM Bench programme aims to provide high-fidelity benchmark measurements and challenge problems that allow modellers to validate simulations against experimental data. The 2025 winners were announced at an awards dinner during ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE).
Challenges like AM Bench aim to play an essential role in advancing the broader Additive Manufacturing industry. As organisations increasingly rely on computer models to guide material and process development, the need to test those simulations against independent datasets also grows. By comparing different modelling approaches against the same measurements, the programme works to help the community identify what works, understand where improvements are needed, and accelerate the adoption of reliable predictive tools across manufacturing sectors.
“This win reflects more than technical accuracy – it signals where the field is going,” stated Jason Sebastian, Executive Vice President at QuesTek Innovations. “Additive Manufacturing is moving toward a future where materials and processes are digitally validated long before fabrication. Our performance in this benchmark demonstrates that QuesTek’s simulation capabilities are helping lead that transition, giving industry a faster and more confident path from concept to qualification.”
About the challenge
The challenge focused on predicting the sequence of phases that form during rapid solidification in Fe-Cr-Ni alloys with different Cr/Ni ratios. These alloys are used as model systems for many stainless steels, and are particularly relevant to Additive Manufacturing because the process involves intense heating and cooling cycles that drive phase evolution differently from traditional manufacturing methods.
QuesTek’s winning CHAL-AMB2025-08 sequence used solidification microstructure models included in QuesTek’s Materials by Design technology. The technology suite, embodied in QuesTek’s ICMD Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, was recently enhanced in an effort to improve support for alloy and process design for Additive Manufacturing.
This award marks QuesTek’s second consecutive win at AM Bench.
