Metal multi-material additive manufacturing: Overcoming barriers to implementation
Additive manufacturing has advanced rapidly since its origins in the 1980s. While some processes are now commercially viable, others remain experimental. A key ambition has been to combine multiple materials in a single part, enabling novel properties and overcoming traditional limitations of fabrication and assembly. Multi-material additive manufacturing offers a potential step change across industries, though scaling from lab to industry remains a challenge. This work explores the enabling technologies and science behind metal multi-material additive manufacturing and proposes how the research community can advance these innovations for meaningful industrial impact.
Authors
- Adam T. Clare (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7359-3693)
- David M. Bartels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0552-3110)
- Wessel W. Wits (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5102-5545)
- Frank E. Pfefferkorn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6575-0190)
- Michael Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8072-8768)
- Behzad Rankouhi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1476-2578)
- Peer Woizeschke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5678-2182)
Institutions
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- TU Dortmund University (DE)
- Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging (NL)
- Photonic Science (United Kingdom) (GB)
- University of Twente (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- CIRP Annals
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2025.05.004
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.56