Additive Manufacturing Media

Additive manufacturing at IMTS is no longer a showcase technology — it is increasingly a production technology.

At IMTS 2026, several trends emerged that reflect where AM stands in the broader manufacturing landscape:

- Equipment OEMs are taking on part production services, offering customers a lower-risk entry point and faster path to production
- Calibration and build preparation tools are reducing setup time and operator burden
- Robotic large-format systems are becoming more modular and adaptable
- Drone manufacturing has moved from development to rapid, high-scale production — with AM as an enabling technology across polymer, metal, and composite processes
- U.S.-based machine manufacturing is moving from a preference to a procurement requirement, shaped in part by National Defense Authorization Act language
- Postprocessing automation is advancing to match faster print throughput

One challenge the show brought into focus: qualification. In-process inspection partnerships — such as EOS and Phase3D's work on Fringe Inspection — point toward "born qualified" parts, but that capability is still being proved out.

The full breakdown of these six trends, plus the qualification challenge, is worth reading for anyone tracking where industrial AM is heading. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/articles/additive-suppliers-take-on-the-role-of-production-partners-and-more-from-imts-2026-

America Makes is bringing advanced manufacturing directly into the hands of high school students across five states.

On October 2, 2026, in recognition of National Manufacturing Day, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute will host half-day Design + Build + Fly events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama and California.

Through its "3D Printing for Drones" initiative, students will step into the role of an additive manufacturing engineer, working through challenges tied to drone design and deployment. Key considerations include:

- Weight and battery management
- Manufacturability and reliability
- Mission requirements and functional prototyping

Events will include mentor-led activities, safety instruction, design challenges, and build sprints, culminating in students testing the components they design and build.

Locations span Youngstown, Johnstown, El Paso, Huntsville and Riverside, with sessions running between two and six hours depending on the site.

For event details and information on America Makes' Education and Workforce Development initiatives, visit americamakes.us. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/america-makes-brings-3d-printing-and-drone-technology-experiences-to-students-across-five-states

Recruitment and retention in additive manufacturing are not separate problems — they share a common root.

The manufacturing talent pipeline requires more than attracting new workers. Once employees enter, the challenge shifts to career development, support systems, and workplace structures that give them a reason to stay.

Key considerations from the field:

- Career paths in manufacturing are often non-linear — a "honeycomb," not a ladder — but those paths must be made visible to younger workers who may not know what future roles exist
- A widening gap between specialized AM employer needs and generalized educational preparation can produce a workforce mismatch, not a lack of student interest
- Retention depends on addressing external barriers — transportation, childcare, housing — because "the whole person shows up to work every day"
- Longstanding practices such as 12-hour and swing shifts may no longer align with the workforce manufacturers are trying to retain

As AM integrates with digital twins, simulation, and conventional processes, employers must distinguish true job requirements from outdated practices.

The full analysis examines how alignment between education, skills, work, and advancement defines workforce sustainability in modern manufacturing. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/articles/creating-workplace-cultures-that-support-long-term-manufacturing-careers

Designing high-performance alloys for extreme environments demands more than trial and error.

QuesTek Innovations is adding the Niobium Suite to its Icmd materials design and engineering platform, developed in collaboration with niobium producer CBMM. The new capability incorporates advanced models and data specific to niobium-based alloy systems, allowing engineers and materials scientists to:

- Evaluate performance trade-offs more efficiently
- Predict material behavior in extreme environments
- Reduce development timelines and reliance on expensive experimentation

Niobium plays a key role in improving strength, durability and high-temperature performance in advanced materials. Target applications span aerospace, energy and additive manufacturing.

The suite builds on validated work with ARPA-E, including a CALPHAD database for Nb-based alloys, and is designed to help organizations model both established alloys like C-103 and next-generation Nb-superalloys for jet engines and in-space thrusters.

By simulating how niobium-based materials influence microstructure and performance, Icmd enables faster iteration and more confident decision-making early in the development process.

Read the full article to learn more. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/questek-computational-platform-expands-advanced-materials-design-with-new-niobium-suite

AI is everywhere in manufacturing — but knowing where to start in additive manufacturing is the real challenge.

Dr. Tim Simpson, Fellow ADDVisor, opens a new series examining how AI can be applied across the AM value chain — from part identification and design generation to build orientation optimization and process qualification.

Key entry points he outlines:

- Summarizing AM processes and materials for a specific application
- Researching available systems, post-processing requirements, and common defects
- Compiling relevant AM standards and converting them into actionable checklists
- Benchmarking how different AI platforms respond to the same prompt

One consistent finding: AI combines just-in-time learning with hands-on application, accelerating work when users engage it directly rather than passively consuming AI-generated summaries.

The caveat is equally important. AI functions best when paired with subject matter expertise to evaluate and correct outputs — a point Simpson illustrates with a generated infographic that contained a process illustration that was, by his assessment, "very wrong."

Read the full piece to explore where AI adds genuine value in AM operations. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/articles/am-ai-two-technologies-that-work-together

Measurement inconsistency has long been a barrier to commercial scaling in photopolymer additive manufacturing.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the commercial availability of Reference Material 8047, a standardized photoactive resin developed with the Photopolymer Additive Manufacturing Alliance (PAMA) to improve measurement consistency and reproducibility across the advanced manufacturing sector.

In photopolymer 3D printing, establishing a reliable working curve is essential to achieving adequate cure depth — ensuring each layer bonds securely without over-exposure or material degradation. Discrepancies in how laboratories measure light pe*******on depth and critical exposure energy have historically hindered scale-up.

RM 8047 addresses this bottleneck by providing a uniform benchmarking baseline for method validation and process control. Key aspects of its development include:

- An interlaboratory study coordinated across more than 30 cross-sector stakeholders
- Testing at 385-nm and 405-nm wavelengths using NIST-calibrated light sources
- Working curves derived using the Jacobs Equation

"By establishing standard reference materials, we help eliminate measurement variance... and give the industry the metrics needed for true commercial scalability." — Jason Killgore, NIST

Read the full article for technical details and ordering information. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/nist-reference-material-promotes-standardization-in-photopolymer-3d-printing

Data preparation is a critical — and often underestimated — bottleneck in additive manufacturing software development.

The Institute Digital Additive Production (DAP) at RWTH Aachen University has released DAPComputationalGeometry (DAP-CG), an open-source computational geometry library designed to improve performance, reduce memory consumption, and accelerate data preparation in AM CAM software.

As parts grow more complex and machines incorporate multiple lasers, the volume of data AM CAM software must process continues to grow. Poor scaling in data structures and geometry algorithms can push processing times from minutes to hours — or days — while memory demands may increase severalfold.

DAP-CG addresses this directly:

- Polygon compression reduced memory required for nesting by a factor of 5 in industrial trials
- Algorithms support build orientation, support structure generation, nesting, slicing, and scan strategy calculation
- Modern C # features accelerate geometry translation and rotation

Released under the permissive Boost Software License, the library is available free of charge for research and commercial use.

The full technical overview is available via the Institute Digital Additive Production at RWTH Aachen University. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/rwth-aachen-university-open-source-geometry-library-reduces-memory-requirements-for-am-cam-software

A 12-year collaboration between Stratasys and Limbitless Solutions is expanding its scope — with sustainability and education now central to its mission.

Limbitless Solutions, a nonprofit research facility at the University of Central Florida, uses Stratasys additive manufacturing to produce end-use prosthetic components, 3D-printed molds for thermoformed cosmetic elements, and rapid prototypes — delivering hundreds of bionic prosthetic devices to children across the U.S. and beyond.

The expanded partnership includes:

- A dedicated Limbitless lab equipped with Stratasys systems, where students develop real-world engineering skills
- Donation of a Certified Pre-Owned F370 3D printer, supporting operations, education, and community outreach
- A focus on circular manufacturing through Stratasys' Mindful Manufacturing approach

The Certified Pre-Owned program extends equipment life through factory-certified refurbishment — reducing waste while enabling purpose-driven organizations to expand their reach.

For the children served, these prosthetics provide functionality while building confidence and encouraging self-expression.

The full story examines how additive manufacturing, corporate social responsibility, and STEAM education can intersect to create measurable social impact. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/stratasys-expands-partnership-with-limbitless-solutions-to-broaden-access-to-3d-printed-prosthetics-for-children

Qualification costs and machine-to-machine inconsistency remain among the most significant barriers to widespread adoption of metal additive manufacturing in production environments.

The America Makes Delta Qual 2.0 program — a $9 million initiative focused on modernizing qualification methodologies for laser powder bed fusion — is working to address that directly. Dyndrite has been selected as a participant in two funded technical efforts under the program.

The two project areas target distinct but related challenges:

- Topic 1 focuses on quantitative measurement-based installation qualification, establishing machine performance baselines capable of supporting event-based requalification with little to no mechanical testing
- Topic 2 pursues bracketed qualification frameworks that allow manufacturers to vary processing parameters without requiring full requalification

As Dyndrite CEO Harshil Goel notes, "qualification must evolve beyond today's static parameter sets" — toward quantitative measurement, validated process windows, and traceable workflows.

The funded projects bring together a broad coalition including Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, RTX, EOS North America, and Auburn University, among others.

Read the full article to understand the technical scope of each project. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/news/dyndrite-supports-america-makes-delta-qual-20-to-advance-metal-additive-manufacturing-qualification

Traditional thermal pins couldn't reach a critical mold area — and the consequences were measurable: slow cycle times, warped parts, and surface defects.

When K-Rain approached Zero Tolerance LLC with a persistent cooling problem, the answer came through a three-way collaboration involving a mold builder, a metal printer manufacturer, and a simulation expert. The solution: 3D-printed conformal cooling inserts made from Corrax stainless steel, designed to distribute heat evenly through tight spaces where conventional cooling couldn't reach.

The results were concrete:
- Cycle time dropped from 54 to 44 seconds — an 18–20% improvement
- Warpage and sink marks were eliminated
- The process is now being replicated in new molds

Notably, simulation was run after the tool was already built and tested, allowing real-world data to validate virtual results with remarkable accuracy. As one participant observed, redesigning and re-machining tooling costs far more than a simulation that catches problems early.

The project reinforces a practical principle: additive manufacturing complements machining — it doesn't replace it.

Read the full case study for the engineering details and shop-floor lessons. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/articles/how-metal-am-cut-mold-cycle-time-by-20-2