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In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, Dyndrite and Ansys are collaborating on reducing risk in metal AM, and researchers from the Technical University of Denmark are 3D printing ceramic, coral-inspired fuel cells. 3D-Fuel is expanding its filament production in the U.S., and in other polymer news, researchers from MIT CSAIL and the Hasso Plattner Institute are making the most of eco-friendly, recycled filaments. Finally, a furniture piece 3D printed out of recycled concrete pairs utility with aesthetics.
Additive manufacturing (AM) software provider Dyndrite is collaborating with Ansys, part of Synopsys, for risk reduction in metal AM. They will explore, and integrate, Ansys advanced thermal processing simulation software within Dyndrite’s LPBF Pro print preparation process. This will create a powerful workflow that will be helpful for all LPBF users, but especially those that manufacture large, mission-critical, and complex components. Engineers will be able to reduce risk by anticipating residual stress, thermal distortion, and variability in microstructures before printing ever begins, as well as improve confidence in parts that meet demanding performance standards, enable repeatability using the Dyndrite Python APIs, and lower costs by preventing print mistakes, which saves on both material and machine time. In the future, this integration aims to allow users to leverage high-fidelity simulation results directly within Dyndrite LPBF Pro, in order to achieve more reliable, smarter builds.
“Thermal behavior is one of the most significant challenges in metal additive manufacturing. Through this partnership, engineers preparing builds on Dyndrite will be able to take advantage of our predictive thermal simulations to inspect and optimize toolpath parameters and trajectory before a single layer is printed,” said Christopher Robinson, Lead Product Manager of Additive Manufacturing at Ansys, part of Synopsys.
3D printed fuel cells. Image via DTU / Nature Energy.
Fuel cells have typically been confined to flat stacks made with lots of heavy metal parts, which limits their use in aerospace applications. But a team of researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) may have figured out how to make fuel cells powerful and lightweight enough to power future aerospace technologies. Using ceramic 3D printing, a coral-inspired design, and gyroid geometry, they redesigned electrochemical conversion devices called solid oxide cells (SOCs). Gyroidal architecture is structurally robust, with a large surface area, but most importantly, it’s lightweight. In their published paper, the scientists explained how they used a ceramic 3D printed gyroid fuel cell to make devices like SOCs. The structure, a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS), is optimized for minimum weight at maximum surface, and their Monolithic Gyroidal Solid Oxide Cell (The Monolith for short), delivers more than one watt per gram, which could be a game-changer for sustainable energy. It also significantly lowers the weight, allows gases to flow efficiently, enhances mechanical stability, and improves heat distribution. In electrolysis mode, it produces hydrogen at almost ten times the rate of conventional designs, and was successfully tested in extreme conditions, switching back and forth between fuel cell and electrolysis modes. Finally, using 3D printing allows the researchers to make the ceramic fuel cell in just five steps.
“Currently, using electricity-based energy conversion, such as batteries and fuel cells, doesn’t make sense for aerospace applications. But our new fuel cell design changes that. It’s the first to demonstrate the Watts to gram ratio – or specific power – needed for aerospace, while using a sustainable, green technology,” explained Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli a senior researcher from DTU Construct and corresponding author of the study.
“While conventional SOC stacks require dozens of manufacturing steps and rely on multiple materials that degrade over time, our monolithic ceramic design is produced in just five steps, where we eliminate the metal and avoid fragile seals.”
U.S. filament manufacturer 3D-Fuel, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, focuses on practical and functional 3D printing materials, especially for desktop printers. It recently announced an expansion of its domestic production capacity, as well as a permanent reduction in standard pricing for its core 3D printing filament line of popular materials. The price for Standard PLA+ is now 13.2% lower, and Tough Pro PLA+ is 5.6% lower, while Pro PETG is priced 17% lower and Pro PCTG is nearly 25% lower. The resin formulas and print performance of these materials are the same: the price is the only thing that’s changing. Plus, with the company’s increased capacity, it can welcome new extrusion lines and improved process controls, which can result in better batch consistency and shorter lead times. These changes will allow professionals, manufacturers, and makers alike to get premium, high-tolerance filament at a more affordable price, and will make the U.S. filament supply stronger and more resilient.
“This day has been over a year in the making. Not only are we producing filament 24 hours a day, but we’ve also expanded our production capacity, improved our product quality, and have been able to minimize COGS increases by working closely with our US raw materials suppliers,” said John Schneider, Founder and CEO of 3D-Fuel.
“As a result, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve lowered our pricing to pass along these savings. I know how important input costs are to our customers, both old and new, and I’m confident that we’ll now be able to help even more makers and businesses in Fueling Their Creativity.”
There are environmental benefits to using recycled polymer filaments, but unfortunately, they can suffer from unpredictable or degraded mechanical properties, limiting their use in load-bearing applications. At the recent UIST 2025, a team of researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Hasso Plattner Institute presented SustainaPrint, their system for using eco-friendly filaments for 3D printing without compromising a print’s structural integrity. The system strategically assigns standard and eco-friendly filaments to different regions of multimaterial prints. This allows users to reinforce weaker areas with stronger material, and maximize the use of more sustainable filament in other parts of the build. The researchers also developed a low-cost mechanical testing toolkit so users can evaluate their filament strength before they decide to use it. They validated the SustainaPrint system by 3D printing a variety of functional, everyday objects, such as bottle openers, phone stands, plant pots, and reinforced hooks. They found that prints “made with 80% biodegradable filament retain statistically significantly greater strength compared to those made entirely from recycled filament.”
“Designed for makers seeking systematic integration of eco-friendly filament, SustainaPrint optimizes material distribution across a design—going beyond infill-only use or trial-and-error settings. Structurally critical regions are printed with stronger virgin material, while the rest uses the sustainable filament. We demonstrate this approach using biodegradable filament as a case study, though it generalizes to other filament types with similar trade-offs,” the team wrote in their paper.
“Our goal is to help makers replace new plastic with eco-friendly filament while minimizing mechanical performance loss. SustainaPrint does so by selectively reinforcing high-stress regions using just 20% virgin PLA. Using SustainaPrint with PolyTerra and Tough PLA yields maximum strength boosts by an average of 22% and up to 78%. These gains are statistically significant (p < .001), supporting SustainaPrint as a practical path to more sustainable structural 3D printing.”
Photo courtesy of Paris Tsitsos
Vienna-based designer Philipp Aduatz worked with Austrian manufacturer incremental3d to develop and produce the Metric Stool and Table. Measuring 35 x 35 x 46.5 cm, the furniture piece can be used as either a side table or a stool, so it combines utility with aesthetics. Demonstrating “the fusion of sculptural design with advanced 3D concrete printing technology,” the piece was printed out of recycled concrete. By embedding recycled concrete fragments from prior production cycles directly into the print, they created a terrazzo-like surface for the seating area. Not only does this give each object its own unique character, but it also demonstrates the potential of using circular materials in contemporary design. incremental3d and Aduatz have experience with 3D printing concrete furniture in soft gradients, and achieve the effect once again through precise color dosing during 3D printing.
🏷️ p3d_feed“The result is a durable, regionally produced object that embodies sustainability, innovation, and craftsmanship while showcasing the future potential of digital fabrication in furniture design,” Aduatz wrote on his website about the Metric Stool and Table.