Metal Additive Manufacturing Technology in Rocket Engines and Future Prospects

Against the backdrop of the aerospace industry's escalating demand for lightweight, high-strength components with complex geometries, traditional manufacturing methods such as forging and casting face inherent limitations in material efficiency and design flexibility. Metal additive manufacturing (MAM), a flagship of digital manufacturing, leverages high-energy beam technologies like laser powder bed fusion to enable layer-by-layer fused deposition, thus overcoming bottlenecks in fabricating intricate aerospace partsfrom rocket engine cooling channels to turbine blades with internal lattice structures. This technological paradigm shift is particularly pronounced in the commercial spaceflight sector, where advancements such as SpaceX's reusable rocket programs and China's burgeoning commercial launch vehicle initiatives have harnessed MAM to reduce production cycles by 40% and achieve up to 30% weight reduction in critical components. As a result, MAM has emerged as a pivotal technology to balance cost-effectiveness and performance in next-generation aerospace systems. This paper systematically reviews the technical characteristics, application advancements, and existing challenges of MAM, while contextualizing its technological development pathway and future directions through engineering practices in U.S. and Chinese rocket engine programs.