Additive Manufacturing Additive Manufacturing of Metal Is Becoming More Efficient, Cost-Effective, and Sustainable

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In the EU project InShaPe, the project partners optimized the additive manufacturing of metals. To achieve this, the researchers combined AI-driven beam shaping with multispectral imaging (MSI) in powder bed fusion of metals (PBF-LB/M). The results: manufacturing rate sextupled, production costs halved, energy consumption and material waste significantly reduced.

Powder bed-based additive manufacturing of metals is now considered a key technology for producing complex metal components. Nevertheless, rigid laser beam profiles and insufficient process monitoring methods often cause issues in the melting process, leading to material defects and production stoppages. This results in waste, increased energy consumption, and production costs, while fundamentally slowing down the production process. In the EU project InShaPe, a consortium addressed these challenges and developed a new manufacturing approach combining AI-driven beam shaping and multispectral imaging in its research work. The project aimed to significantly improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of this manufacturing process. These innovations were successfully tested by the project partners on five demanding industrial demonstrators from aerospace, the energy sector, and mechanical engineering. The Chair for Laser-based Additive Manufacturing at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) coordinated the project and carried it out together with ten other partners from eight countries. The European Union supported InShaPe with $8.48 million USD from the "Horizon Europe" framework program.

Productivity Increased Sixfold—New Manufacturing Process Proves Effective in Practice

The InShaPe project partners succeeded in significantly increasing the productivity of the PBF-LB/M process. For various industrial applications, they achieved productivity increases of over 600 percent (6.2x), including production rates of up to 5.69 in³/h for Inconel 718 components. The original production rate was 0.91 in³/h. At the same time, the consortium managed to reduce costs by 50 percent, achieving a key project objective. Inconel 718 is a nickel-chromium alloy characterized by high strength, corrosion resistance, and heat resistance. It is commonly used for components exposed to high temperatures, pressures, or corrosive environments, such as in aerospace.

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The innovation of beam shaping and multispectral imaging (MSI) was demonstrated by the project partners in five industrial use cases: an impeller for aerospace (Inconel 718), an industrial gas turbine part (Inconel 718), a part of a spacecraft combustion chamber (CuCrNb), a cylinder head for a chainsaw engine (AlSi10Mg), and components of satellite antennas for space communication.

AI-Driven Beam Shaping And Multispectral Imaging in Interaction

The intelligent beam shaping and multispectral imaging work closely together to significantly improve the additive manufacturing process. The laser beam profile is adapted specifically for each component, taking geometry and material into account. This improves the quality of the component and enables faster processing by reducing defects such as cracks, splashes, and condensate formation, which would otherwise cause rework and/or waste. During the InShaPe research, a ring-shaped beam profile—combined with optimized scanning strategies—proved particularly advantageous for diverse applications. Here, the laser energy is applied not through a Gaussian profile but through a ring-shaped intensity distribution to create the melt pool. This results in a more stable melt zone and more uniform material processing.

In parallel, the new multispectral imaging captures signals in different wavelength ranges and monitors the PBF-LB/M process in real time. This allows thermal changes in the melt pool to be detected early. The captured data flows directly into process control. Errors that previously led to production interruptions or rework can now be corrected, enabling the process to continue without significant delays.

We look forward to this technology being integrated into industrial systems in the near future, contributing to advancements in process control, quality assurance, and application performance across various sectors.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Wudy

Pioneer for the Industrial Adoption of Serial Production

Overall, this approach marks an important advancement toward industrial serial production using PBF-LB/M: the interplay of intelligent beam shaping and MSI-based process control results in a more stable melting process, reduces sources of error, and enables targeted, resource-efficient energy use. This allows complex metal components to be produced faster, more cost-effectively, and more sustainably—while achieving higher quality and significantly increased productivity. InShaPe thus paves the way for the accelerated industrial adoption of AI-driven beam shaping and MSI-based process control, strengthening technological progress in additive manufacturing—particularly for the aerospace, energy, and automotive industries. "There is significant interest from academia and industry in our work. We look forward to seeing this technology integrated into industrial systems in the near future, contributing to advancements in process control, quality assurance, and application performance across various sectors," says InShaPe coordinator Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Wudy from the School of Engineering and Design at the Technical University of Munich.

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