Millennial Metal Additive Manufacturing

Metal additive manufacturing has reached an interesting stage in its development as a production technology. It’s certainly not young-the first research on selective laser sintering (SLS) was published in 1986-and yet the idea of 3D printing with metal is nevertheless regarded as a novel one. In short, the technology has reached that awkward phase where it’s mature, but still seen by many as an adolescent: it’s a millennial.
And-like millennials-metal AM is crucial to the future of manufacturing. The best way to understand why is to take a close look at where it’s come from and what it’s doing today. Although the first metal 3D printers emerged in the 90s, the technological basis for metal AM goes back much farther than that. In the ‘60s, we started working with wire feedstock and electron beam welding for nuclear applications, explained Kenn Lachenberg, Director of Operations at Sciaky Inc.