Accelerate and de-risk your additive manufacturing application development
2K+
Structural Ti or Al-alloy components for space flight since 2015
200+
Critical Passive RF flight parts since 2017
15+
Satellites with 3D Systems produced flight hardware on board

Reduce Weight, Improve Functionality, and Consolidate Parts

Aerospace Overview Image with Fighter Jet

With our decades of experience in additive manufacturing for the aerospace industry, we use our consultative approach to help you create airworthy parts with reduced weight and improved performance. We are uniquely qualified to help you rapidly design and produce consolidated components for aerospace and defense applications, accelerate the certification process, and optimize your entire supply chain.

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On-Demand Webinar: Generation of Titanium Material Allowable Data for Laser Powder Bed Fusion

3D Systems has generated a high-fidelity dataset including a wide range of mechanical and material properties for LaserForm Ti Gr23 (Ti-6Al-4V ELI) printed on the DMP Flex 350.

Additive Manufacturing Applications for Aerospace and Defense

  • Communication Satellite Orbiting the Earth

  • Passive Radio Frequency (RF) Hardware

    Passive RF hardware is a family of parts that conduct an electromagnetic signal. They can guide, filter, modulate or amplify a signal in different stages of a typical communication chain from earth to a satellite and back. Learn more about the drivers to select our technology to design and manufacture these components.

    Passive RF Hardware Applications
  • Lightweight Aerospace Bracket from Thales

  • Lightweight Brackets

    Use our advanced direct metal printing to produce lightweight aerospace parts at reduced operational costs that enable greater fuel efficiency. Using topological optimization, you can design highly complex features that maintain or even improve material strength.

    Lightweight Bracket Applications
  • Cutaway of a DLR 3D Printed DMP Fuel Injector

  • Propulsion & Space Launch

    Create fewer, optimized parts while lowering the costs of manufacturing. Using our additive manufacturing and consulting for aerospace and defense enables a single 3D printed component to replace multiple subcomponents. This means consolidating these subcomponents into a monolithic design, which contributes to weight reduction, fewer bolted and welded joints, and improved overall system performance.

    Propulsion Applications
  • Certified Oxygen-Free Copper (A) combustion chamber

  • Heat Exchangers

    Maximize heat transfer and minimize temperature fluctuations by integrating heat-exchanging structures into a single, 3D printed design. Unlike traditional methods, our leading additive manufacturing allows for the production of efficient, high-performance thermal management parts through a streamlined process that reduces time to market.

    Heat Exchanger Applications
  • Investment Casting Applications for Aerospace

  • Investment Casting Patterns

    Skip the expense of injection molding tooling for casting patterns. Our advanced software, hardware, and materials enable you to use investment casting workflows to cast 3D printed molds in a fraction of the time and cost. Aerospace parts manufacturers can move directly from CAD to casting pattern with fewer design limitations and quickly create hollow patterns capable of far greater design complexity.

    Investment Casting Applications

  • Application Innovation Group

    Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize your designs, prototype, validate and define a manufacturing flow.
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NoSupports enables metal powder-bed printing without support structures.

Powered by 3DXpert software, NoSupports expands the design envelope, accelerates design cycles, and unlocks new applications. 

Customer Stories
German Aerospace Center (DLR) Designs Liquid Rocket Engine Injector with 3D Systems
New metal printed design for SMILE Project engine injector yields superior mixing and combustion efficiencies, lighter weight, 30:1 parts count reduction ...
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Thales Alenia Space and 3D Systems Prove Viability of Direct Metal Printing
3D Systems' On Demand Manufacturing team delivers critical 3D printed metal satellite parts that are 25% lighter and ready in half the time of traditional production techniques...
Read more
Planetary Resources Uses 3D Printed Casting Patterns to Explore New Frontiers in Spacecraft Manufacturing
3D printed SLA casting patterns deliver more sophisticated, consolidated parts that are lighter, cheaper, easier and safer to produce even in mass production...
Read more

3D Systems Helps Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers Maximize Efficiencies

  • Dedicated Industry Expertise

    3D Systems has in-house aerospace industry experts across all major aspects of aerospace parts manufacturing, from engineering and design to certification and production. Our experts work with you to optimize your efforts in manufacturing aerospace components for commercial, business, military, aviation, and space applications.

  • Guided Implementation and Support

    Based on more than a decade of leading-edge manufacturing within highly regulated environments such as healthcare, aerospace, and high tech, we provide you with unique insights, assist in the certification process, and enable a streamlined pathway to full-scale manufacturing using our innovative technology. 

  • A Strong ROI

    Our two AS/EN9100 production facilities allow for parallel paths to application development and on-site customer process development. This streamlines the implementation of additive manufacturing and results in an ROI of up to 60%.

  • Additive Manufacturing You Can Trust

    We help maximize your manufacturing process to reduce costs while achieving greater consistency and reliability in your final aerospace components. We work with you to scale your additive manufacturing capabilities at your own pace, and help you ensure traceability and transparency for regulatory and quality control requirements.

  • A Focus on Research and Design

    As demands in the aerospace and defense industries evolve, our additive manufacturing ensures that you can continuously innovate your production and products. Using our in-house expertise, we remain at the forefront of change, developing advanced technology and materials for aerospace applications.

3D Systems is BSI Certified

3D Systems locations in Littleton, CO and Leuven, Belgium are proud to operate quality management systems which comply with the requirements of AS9100D and ISO 9001:2015.

BSI Certification - Littleton, CO
BSI Certification - Leuven, Belgium
3D Systems is BSI Certified

  • 3D Printing Helps the US Air Force Replace Obsolete Parts

    3D Systems and the US Air Force use additive manufacturing to replace hard-to-build parts for aging military aircraft.
  • How Research with Figure 4 3D Printing Will Help US Air Force Replace Obsolete Parts

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I agree the items, technology/technical data and/or services will not be used for any purposes, to include design, production, assembly, testing, operation, integration, installation, inspection, maintenance, repair, overhaul, or refurbishment, related to a military or defense application or military End-Use or by a military End-User in the People’s Republic of China, Venezuela, Burma (Myanmar) or Russia; or any other country, state or province named in US Regulation 744.21 Supplement 2. The product(s) software, and/or technology acquired from 3D Systems will not be re-exported, sold or otherwise re-sold or transferred to a destination subject to UN, EU or OSCE embargo where that act would be in breach of the terms of that embargo sold, or transferred inviolate on of Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items;We will not sell, transfer, export, or re-export any items received from 3D Systems for use in activities that involve nuclear explosive activities; unsafeguarded nuclear activities; nuclear fuel cycle or nuclear propulsion activities; or in the design, development, production, stockpiling, or use of chemical weapons, biological weapons, missiles, rocket systems or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)

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