Elmet and 3D Systems Will 3D Print Hypersonic Heat Exchangers

A reactive metal, printed instead of forged

Elmet Technologies is bringing metal 3D printing into one of the hardest corners of aerospace manufacturing. The company will deploy 3D Systems' DMP Flex 350 Triple to produce large heat exchangers for hypersonic vehicles, using C103, a niobium-based alloy built for extreme heat.

C103 is mostly niobium, with hafnium and titanium mixed in. It holds up where conventional structural metals soften or fail. The catch is that niobium is reactive, so printing it cleanly takes a tightly controlled, low-oxygen environment. That is exactly what 3D Systems' DMP series is built to do.

Eight years of groundwork

This is not a rushed experiment. Elmet has worked with 3D Systems' Application Innovation Group for eight years, tuning the process parameters for C103 on earlier metal printers. Scott Ohm, Elmet's R&D manager, says the earlier research should make the move to the DMP Flex 350 Triple straightforward.

The machine offers a 350 x 350 x 350 mm build volume, three lasers, and an oxygen level kept around 0 to 6 ppm. That low-oxygen atmosphere is what lets shops reuse powder and hold tight control over metal chemistry, two things that matter when you are qualifying flight hardware.

Qualification on a fast track

Elmet expects to qualify and certify the system within a couple of months and begin production later this year. Ohm points to NASA 6030 certification a few months after that. For aerospace additive manufacturing, that timeline is aggressive, and it signals confidence in the material and process work already done.

Mike Shepard, 3D Systems' vice president of aerospace and defense, frames the deal as a clear case of metal additive manufacturing opening design and production options that conventional methods struggle to match for reactive alloys.

Why it matters for the home workshop

Hypersonic heat exchangers are far from a desktop printer, but the trend is the same one pushing into consumer machines. Reactive, hard-to-machine metals are becoming printable with the right atmosphere and process control. The techniques proven on C103 today shape what shows up in smaller, cheaper metal printers tomorrow.