Why are Aerospace & Defense Companies Embracing Additive Manufacturing?

It's no longer a question of when metal additive manufacturing (AM)-and particularly metal laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF)-will become an accepted, reliable production technology, particularly in aerospace and defense. This is already the case now. Over the past 18 months a host of aerospace leaders, OEMs, startups, and contract manufacturers (CMs) alike have purchased, or begun outsourcing work to, advanced AM systems. They're confidently producing end-use, 3D-printed parts-and sometimes entire rocket engines.

In a quarterly study of revenue growth of leading AM system-makers, published in the summer of 2022, the industrial sector was reported to have grown 19 percent compared to the same period in 2021. This was cited as proof that companies and users are looking to invest in the larger, more powerful industrial AM solutions that offer greater efficiency and productivity.