Energetic Materials Additive Manufacturing

The benefit of additive manufacturing is being realized in industries where custom parts can be made when traditional manufacturing methods and economics fall short. In recent years, there has been an effort to apply this technology to energetics applications, which has not seen significant technological advancement in processing for many decades. The hope is to reinvigorate an aging industry vital to national defense. The best guidelines and practices governing additive manufacturing in commercial applications do not easily translate when attempting to use them with energetic materials due to material properties and safety concerns. As such, energetic materials additive manufacturing is a field in which standards are not fully established. Current energetic material printing solutions utilize techniques and equipment from contemporary direct ink writing research and the paste-dispensing industry.