WELCOME TO WOHLERS WEEKLY! |
|
|
Stay ahead with our handpicked updates on additive manufacturing, delivered to your inbox every week with our very own Wohlers View on each news item. We're committed to keeping you on the forefront of industry trends and innovations. |
|
|
Nano Dimension, the owner of Desktop Metal since April 2025, announced that the Boston-based subsidiary had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Israeli parent company also announced that it would not acquire Desktop Metal assets.
Wohlers View:
The announcement would appear to be the final chapter in a circuitous course navigated by Desktop Metal since its founding in 2015. The company’s product development at the time focused on metal extrusion and binder jetting (BJT) systems. Desktop Metal went public in 2020 in a transaction with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that brought its value to well over $2 billion at the time.
Post SPAC IPO, the company acquired EnvisionTEC and ExOne, among other acquisitions. In May 2023, Stratasys offered to acquire Desktop Metal, but Stratasys shareholders rejected the deal in September that year. Spurned by Stratasys, in July 2024, Nano Dimension offered to purchase Desktop Metal. After Nano Dimension’s new management failed to advance the deal to closing, Desktop Metal sued Nano Dimension and a court in Delaware ordered Nano to complete the transaction, which closed in April 2025. Upon closing, Nano indicated that it would consider strategic alternatives for the Desktop Metal, setting the stage for the company’s bankruptcy filing.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy suggests that Desktop Metal is planning to reorganize, as opposed to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which the company’s operations are liquidated. However, Nano's announcement, supported by reporting from industry sources, suggests that the company's intention is to liquidate Desktop and sell its assets. Its ExOne and EnvsionTEC are reportedly being sold off to private equity and venture capital firm Anzu Partners. Desktop's core metal binder jetting business might be an attractive, bargain-basement opportunity for an acquirer wishing to try its luck with BJT technology.
Metal BJT was touted at its inception as a breakthrough technology that could offer AM parts at considerably lower cost than the dominant laser PBF process. The promise of metal BJT failed to materialize, however. Established companies such as HP and Colibrium Additive (formerly GE Additive) have also been unable to establish a bridgehead in metal BJT. The main reasons suspected for BJT's inability to realize its potential were, first and foremost, the vagaries of part shrinkage and less-than-expected yields from the sintering process, a common ailment for all sinter-based AM technologies. In addition, the lack of an end-to-end industrial process that could have led to the use of BJT parts, in sectors such as automotive, have hamstrung the development of the process. The most successful practitioners of BJT to date have been companies with advanced sintering knowledge from operations in powder metallurgy and metal injection molding. In the right hands and with efforts and investments geared to eliminate these shortcomings, metal BJT could yet have its day in the sun. READ
|
|
|
The French developer of nuclear energy technology will operate the center in Romans-sur-Isère, France. It will deploy wire-arc directed energy deposition and laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) systems to manufacture a wide range of parts weighing up to several tons, according to Framatome.
Wohlers View:
The nuclear energy industry has experienced growth over the past several years as a low-carbon source of energy in a sector targeting a reduction in the use of fossil fuels. New small reactor designs promise greater safety. Nuclear energy accounts for 9% of the world energy generation capacity, with 62 nuclear power plants currently under construction. France is one of three countries where nuclear power accounts for a majority of the nation's electricity supply.
With improving quality, repeatability and material properties, AM has a growing role to play in providing parts for the nuclear market. Examples of the use of AM in the nuclear industry are becoming more noticeable. Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently conducted testing of 3D-printed stainless-steel capsules for nuclear applications. In 2024, Westinghouse announced that it had supplied its 1,000 3D-printed fuel flow plate, a safety-related part. In March 2025, the UK Atomic Energy Authority announced the acquisition of an electron beam (PBF-EB) system from Freemelt for its development activities. Difficult-to-print tungsten is a desirable material for high-temperature nuclear applications, and advancements in 3D-printing of tungsten via PBF-EB systems is a promising development direction. READ
|
3D Systems released its multi-material denture printing solution, able to produce an aesthetic denture in a single piece. Meanwhile, it was reported that the company had closed down its Systemic Bio 3D bioprinting subsidiary.
Wohlers View:
Earlier this month, Wohlers Weekly reported on an investment of $6.1 million in Novenda Technologies, a Dutch developer of a full-color material jetting system for printing dentures and other medical devices. While 3D Systems had already displayed its platform as early as November 2024, it has only now announced a full commercial release of the platform. As Wohlers Weekly pointed out, the denture market is highly promising for 3D printing due to the surprising number of patients with no teeth, even in advanced markets. 3D Systems estimates the denture market will be worth $600 million by 2029 in the U.S. alone.
The 3D Systems healthcare business, which includes dental, has been one of the more robust segments in the company's business, and accounted for over 40% of total revenue in 2024. The company acquired bioprinting firm Allevi in 2021, and spun out Systemic Bio in 2022. News of the closing of this bioprinting portion of 3D System’s healthcare business is disappointing for the company, but not without reason. Bioprinting and other applications in the healthcare area do not have much in common, other than the fact that they both involve layer-upon-layer object manufacture. Bioprinting involves biological processes, with long development cycles, and operates with a mindset very distinct from medical device manufacture, such as dental products or medical models. As such, it is likely that 3D Systems increasingly viewed bioprinting-as-a-business too far removed from its core business of printing objects, for medical or industrial applications.
Nevertheless, the company may continue to operate its vascularized tissue printing division, driven by its 2021 acquisition of Volumetric Biotechnologies. Through a partnership with United Therapeutics, 3D Systems is targeting the production of fully functional tissues, including organs. READ
|
Researchers at the State University of New York at Binghampton have developed a microbial biobattery containing a gyroid scaffolded a 3D-printed stainless-steel anode with a high surface-to-volume ratio. The study was published in the journal Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research. READ
|
Nature Communications has published the results of research by a team at Freiburg Materials Research Center at the University of Freiburg, Germany, revealing a process that combines material extrusion and volumetric vat photopolymerization to create a multi-material design. READ
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2025 ASTM International. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you purchased a product
or service from Wohlers Associates. |
|
|
|
