Researchers at RMIT University have created the first buoyant metal-polymer open-cell hybrid lattice metamaterial that floats in water, addressing a fundamental incompatibility between porous metal architectures and buoyancy. Published in Advanced Materials, the study introduces a hybrid architecture that combines 3D printed titanium lattices with injected polyurethane foam to achieve skeletal densities below 1.0 g/cm³.…
Developer of composite 3D printing technologies Continuous Composites (CCI) has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the U.S. Navy to advance its Continuous Fiber 3D Printing (CF3D) technology toward 3D printing UAV structures with electrical conductors embedded directly inside the composite material. The program’s goal is load-bearing UAV components…
The University of Maine has launched 3Dirigo X, a 30-foot, 3D printed vessel engineered to reach speeds near 40 knots and withstand offshore conditions, marking an advance for large-scale 3D printing from demonstration technology toward a practical manufacturing tool for commercial and defense shipbuilding. The boat was designed and built at UMaine’s Advanced Structures and…
U.S.-based 3D printer manufacturer 3D Systems has entered a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to advance additive manufacturing for nuclear energy, broader energy infrastructure, and national security applications. The agreement centers on SRNL’s Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC), the only national laboratory-operated facility in South Carolina located on a…
Researchers from University Medical Center Hamburg–Eppendorf and institutions of the German Armed Forces have identified a shift toward in-house 3D printing across European neurosurgical departments between 2020 and 2025. Survey results also show implant fabrication emerging as a clinical application, while dependence on external printing providers declined. Published in the International Journal of Bioprinting, the…
Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) has signed a mass production procurement agreement with Terra Drone for interceptor drones made using 3D printers. ATLA selected the Terra B1, a rocket-launched interceptor drone, after a demonstration with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces. The tender called for drones capable of countering one-way attack platforms like the Shahed…
Adidas has unveiled Futurecool, a fully 3D printed sneaker built on the brand’s Climacool ventilation legacy. A limited run of 400 individually numbered pairs went up for raffle on the CONFIRMED app on 28 August, with the wider release following on 1 April 2027, when the shoe goes on sale worldwide for €180 in unisex…
Queen’s University Belfast researchers have developed a dissolvable, 3D printed patch that delivers two anti-cancer drugs directly through the skin using microneedles too fine to draw blood, offering a potentially less painful alternative to repeated topical treatments and injections for localised skin cancer. The study, led by Professor Dimitrios A. Lamprou and first-authored by PhD…
Coventry-based Sarginsons Industries has become the first foundry in the UK to invest in inorganic 3D sand core printing technology, committing £800,000 to a system capable of producing printed cores at around 54 litres per hour. The move is aimed at cutting the time to a finished aluminium casting from as long as six to…
Bambu Lab has filed three Chinese patent applications covering new nozzle-monitoring and automatic printhead-changing technologies. The designs include illumination integrated into cooling ducts and a storage rack capable of exchanging multiple replaceable printheads. Filed by Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co., Ltd., the company behind Bambu Lab, the applications target camera-based extrusion monitoring and multi-color or multi-material…
Researchers at Washington State University and the University of Minnesota have developed an AI-guided experimental design method that identified feasible Directed Energy Deposition (DED) parameters for GRCop-42 at laser powers as low as 500 W. Called Bayesian Experimental design for Additive Manufacturing (BEAM), the method uses previous print results to select promising parameter combinations for…
Moisture remains one of the leading causes of failed FDM prints, wasted filament, and nozzle clogs, yet the standard remedies haven’t moved much in years. Heated dryer boxes work but demand a constant cycle of drying, printing, and resealing that breaks down at any real volume, and they risk deforming temperature-sensitive materials over extended use. …
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and A.J. Tuck Company have developed a hybrid manufacturing process, combining 3D printing, electroforming and hot isostatic pressing, that produces leak-free containers used to build critical components for advanced nuclear reactors, cutting a step out of a supply chain that has long depended on forging capacity concentrated outside the United States.…
The U.S. Navy released new technical requirements Aug. 11 designed to rapidly scale metallic 3D printing across the submarine enterprise, stripping away administrative and engineering hurdles that have slowed the use of additive manufacturing (AM) in submarine construction, maintenance and repair. A New Pathway to Replace Legacy Parts The newly approved Project Peculiar Document (PPD)…
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced a new collaboration to expand the domestic supply chain for industrial pressure vessels using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), a move aimed at accelerating the qualification of critical nuclear components as the U.S. races to scale up its nuclear energy portfolio. The partnership was…
Minneapolis-based company Chromatic 3D Materials has established a rocket propellant test-firing capability at Camp Ripley, a 53,000-acre Minnesota National Guard training facility near Little Falls, under a five-year lease agreement that took effect June 1. The company says the site gives it a closed-loop environment, a propellant print lab paired directly with on-site test-firing infrastructure,…
Italian rider Francesco Furlani has completed over 4,500-kilometer journey from Italy to Nordkapp, Norway’s North Cape, driving a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape TM 703 fitted with a camper body built entirely through large-format 3D printing. The shell weighs around 70 kilograms, compared with roughly 200 kilograms for a comparable fiberglass structure, a 130-kilogram difference that determined…
The American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI) announced the launch of the Horizon Manufacturing Cup, a fast-pitch competition that will award $3 million in non-dilutive funding, including a $1 million grand prize, to five manufacturing startups. The one-day event will be held Oct. 20, 2026, on Indiana University‘s campus in Bloomington, Indiana, and will…
Researchers at Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale have developed a method to convert plastic and agricultural waste into edible food using genetically programmed yeasts, with the resulting material extruded through a 3D printer into protein-rich cookies. The team, funded through NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge, presented the work during the “Undergraduate and Graduate Research in…
Aerospace and defense manufacturer Ursa Major has announced to go public through a business combination with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. III (Nasdaq: BCCQU), a special purpose acquisition company backed by Inflection Point Asset Management. Following the transaction, the combined company will be renamed Inflection Point Mach X Bleichroeder Corp. and is expected to trade on Nasdaq…
