AM and composites is a match made in… JEC World 2025

Additive manufacturing and composites are increasingly interconnected, and it could not be any other way. These very horizontal manufacturing segments both target the most advanced vertical industrial areas, from aerospace to high-end automotive to sports equipment and medical devices. Both are developing rapidly. In more and more cases, composite products and even composite manufacturing processes integrate AM and vice versa, shaping the future of manufacturing. Last week’s JEC World 2025 in Paris was the place to see it happen.

Want an example? Take the Czinger 21C, the car with the most 3D printed parts ever, with its fully 3D printed chassis and many other powertrain elements. The car’s entire – and beautiful – body is made of composites – and it’s made in Italy – by the specialist company Ars-Tech (who, incidentally, told us they only use AM marginally, for prototypes and small tools).

This is a unique example, and it doesn’t fully show the extent to which AM and composites are tangled in several composite manufacturing processes. LFAM technology, a segment led by specialist material supplier Airtech and its network of partners, is used to produce tools for composite layup, and it is becoming the chosen solution for large parts like boats, which are increasingly also produced directly using chopped fiber composite materials.

At the same time, processes such as the automated fiber placement process (AFP) are increasingly looking like additive manufacturing processes for continuous fiber. Just ask companies like Ingersoll or Electroimpact. New, increasingly stable, hybrid AM processes for continuous fiber manufacturing continue to enter the market, opening new opportunities by ensuring strength in the critical Z-axis direction.

The composites LFAM players network

Airtech remains the leader of the composite LFAM market. With its LFAM-specific Dahltram composite pellet materials and the (rapidly) growing offer of filaments, along with its expertise in providing composite AM services for 3D printed tooling production (under the Print-Tech brand), the American company has been playing a pivotal role in building the composite LFAM market and this was visible on the show floor, where Airtech’s booth was always the most crowded with people attending both presentations and celebrations. Airtech achieved these results by building a network of hardware companies that qualified the Dahltram materials for their systems. Some of the first companies to join this network, CMS, Caracol and CEAD are now the leaders in the LFAM segment. Others, like Krauss Maffei, Belotti, and Breton, have joined more recently and are still struggling, for different reasons, to fully exploit their hardware systems’ potential within the composite additive manufacturing segment.

Founded in 1969, CMS is a consolidated CNC hardware company that is leading LFAM in gantry architecture systems. The company has transitioned smoothly into the new LFAM market, presenting innovations such as the CMS Kreator and the newer CMS Kreator A3, along with the latest hybrid solutions based on its CNC expertise.

By comparison, Caracol and CEAD were founded respectively in 2017 (after a research project that began in 2015) and 2014. Both companies continue to innovate quickly, presenting new products and multiple applications at JEC World 2025. Caracol launched the latest high-speed xHF Extruder, while CEAD continues to focus on and develop its maritime business after opening its Maritime Application Center (MAC) last January.

The more recent entrants in Airtech’s network are still in an early stage of their market development, and their association with Airtech can only benefit them in the long run. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Thermowood, one of Airtech’s first partners, has recently left the network. Once an almost undisputed leader in LFAM, the company seems to be now limiting its investments in this area. The risk is ending up like Cincinnati Inc, which almost single-handedly invented large format additive manufacturing (using the BAAM acronym, in collaboration with IACMI), and only a few years later completely exited the segment, as others reaped the benefits of its pioneering work.

Another key part of this network is AiBuild, which develops the slicer software most LFAM companies have adopted. While Ai Build was not exhibiting as a company, Co-founder and COO Michail Desyllas was at the show to meet with many of its partners. AiBuild’s network currently includes over 50 companies, about a dozen of which are composite LFAM hardware, material or service companies.

Other material companies see opportunities

In this increasingly attractive context, large and medium-sized material companies also see opportunities even though AM remains a relatively tiny part of their business. Xenia Materials stands out for an offer that includes one of the widest ranges of composite materials, based on a deep expertise of composites for injection molding applications. German company LEHVOSS was among the first to identify the LFAM opportunity and continues to introduce new pellet grades for composite LFAM, even though the company has never adequately supported this part of its business for it to scale fully and remains a marginal player.

After making significant investments in LFAM pellet grades in Europe via its MCPP division, Mitsubishi went through a period of divestment and reorganization to divest. According to representatives present at JEC World 2025, the company based in the Netherlands is now back in force. Various Dutch companies told us that they use MCPP as a preferred supplier for materials such as PETg and PET composites, which are used in sustainable consumer products such as designer furniture and maritime applications. These companies included hardware manufacturers such as CEAD (that used it to 3D print the bar at their booth) and specialized maritime LFAM service provider Royal 3D.

Another company that is back into composite LFAM is SABIC. Well, kind of. Although the company’s communication around this topic has almost reached a standstill, SABIC, a first mover in LFAM composite materials, continues to expand its product portfolio. However, additive manufacturing represents a negligible percentage of the company’s revenues, which amount to over $37 billion and make it, by some accounts, the largest plastics manufacturer in the world. Thus SABIC continues to offer these materials to customers.

AFP and continuous fiber technologies

One segment that saw growing interest from several operators is continuous fiber composite 3D printing. These processes are not only difficult—almost prohibitively difficult—to implement but also hard to classify. When working with continuous fiber reinforcements and additive manufacturing, the line blurs between filament extrusion processes that combine thermoplastic matrices with constant fibers, automatic fiber placement using fibers in a thermoset matrix, and hybrid formative processes that combine 3D printing and molding. All these different processes have in common their goal of achieving higher z-axis strength in a way that transcends the horizontal additive layers.

In this sense, Automatic Fiber Placement systems are the most industrially-ready technology, as demonstrated at JEC World 2025 by companies like Ingersoll and Electroimpact. At its most basic implementation, AFP involves the automated laying of fiber-reinforced tapes pre-impregnated with resin (prepreg) onto a mold or tool (which can sometimes be 3D printed, even in a single process). These fibers are precisely placed in multiple layers and directions to optimize strength and weight. The process is controlled by robotic systems, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability.

While AFP is not a form of additive manufacturing in the traditional sense, it shares similarities with 3D printing, particularly in its layer-by-layer material deposition. In some hybrid manufacturing AFP is sometimes combined with 3D printing techniques, such as continuous fiber 3D printing, to produce lightweight, high-strength composite parts with complex geometries. In addition, some additive manufacturing technologies, like large-scale thermoplastic composite 3D printing, incorporate AFP principles by embedding continuous fibers within a printed matrix.

Ingersoll, one of the leaders in composite LFAM systems, also offers the Mongoose systems, launched in 2009, for AFP. Mongoose, Hawk and Mongoose Hybrid make up Ingersoll Machine Tools’ line up of composite manufacturing modules for the layup of complex geometry structures for space, aerospace and defense. At JEC World, Ingersoll presented its all-in-one solution that includes AFP and LFAM capabilities combined with subtractive (trim, drill & mill) finishing.

Electroimpact also offers AFP and hybrid manufacturing capabilities. The company has integrated an in-situ out-of-autoclave thermoplastic AFP process and an advanced FFF 3D printing process into a unified Scalable Composite Robotic Additive Manufacturing (SCRAM) system. Electroimpact’s SCRAM is an industrial true 6-axis continuous fiber-reinforced 3D printer, which enables the tool-less rapid fabrication of aerospace-grade integrated composite structures. Electroimpact’s largest pure AFP system was recently installed into Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket production line in Middle River, MD. While this initiative is not strictly AM-related, Rocket Lab is a major user of metal AM for its rocket engines, and the AFP machine will enable the company to automate the production of the largest carbon composite rocket structures in history.

Beyond AFP, several (mostly startup) companies are developing hybrid AM processes that can use continuous fiber reinforcements. Some of these companies were not present at JEC World 2025 for different reasons. Markforged, the leader in continuous fiber 3D printing, has never attended as the company sees its process primarily as a 3D printing process for single parts or small batch production. The same goes for Anisoprint, Markforged’s biggest competitor. For both companies, not exhibiting at JEC World is looking more and more like a missed opportunity, however, both are currently facing some complexities: Markforged due to its dismal stock performance and possible acquisition by Nano Dimension; Anisoprint, due to a lengthy reorganization that recently saw the company set up its HQ in Singapore.

Another family of companies, such as 9T labs and Arris Composites, developed hybrid processes that implement AM and allow for serial production of continuous fiber-reinforced composite products. However, 9T, exhibited at JEC World in the past, is experiencing financial difficulties. Arris, based in California, is physically (and mentally) distant from the heart of the composites industry.

This has left room for new entries. One of these, Reinforce3D, presented one of the recent biggest innovations: its continuous fibre injection process (CFIP) technology. This post-process drastically improves the mechanical and lightweighting performance of 3D printed parts by reinforcing them with continuous fibers such as carbon fibers. CFIP is based on strengthening the part after the additive manufacturing (or any other manufacturing) process instead of during it. It consists of injecting the continuous fibres simultaneously with liquid resin inside tubular cavities in the part.

After this, the part is cured so that the resin, once solidified, finally acts as a mechanical interface between the fibers and the rest of the part. This approach offers several disruptive advantages: it enables fiber placement in all directions, including between printing layers, following complex trajectories; reinforces parts made from any existing additive manufacturing technology and material, (including plastics, metals, and ceramics); allows integral joining of different parts with fiber continuity; and supports the efficient manufacturing of large, multi-material, and multi-process structures.

Another startup company, SphereCube also presented its system for continuous fiber reinforced 3D printed parts. Based on proprietary Thermal Laser Curing technology, SphereCube’s technology uses a 5-axis system with an average print volume of 400 x 400 x 400 mm to produce parts by extruding two-component thermoset epoxy resin (along with a hardener) and continuous carbon fiber as the reinforcing material. Once extruded, these resins are cured using the heat source to form the part, which is then compacted.

Other technologies and composite innovations

JEC World 2025 also offers the opportunity to see technologies that don’t fit into any specific technological segment. Massivit, a regular attendee at the Paris fair, showed the latest material innovations for its 10000G system, developed in collaboration with Sika, a materials company with a significant interest in paste materials – both concrete-based and thermosets – for large format 3D printing. Massivit’s 10000-G system is the only one that can proficiently process pure thermosets such as epoxy resins by depositing these inside a 3D printed sacrificial shell, to produce hard and heat resistant molds in a single process. The latest co-developed materials from Sika presented at JEC World included aluminum-filled Sika Biresin CIM 220 and Sika Biresin CIM 120, for high-speed tooling applications, and Sika Biresin CIM 80, a cost-effective digital casting material for room-temperature applications including lay-up tools, masters, jigs and fixtures.

Last but not least, one of the most interesting new AM-related products seen at the show came from Huntsman. The Belgian company, which has so far kept a very low profile on its AM activities (which include the IROPRINT urethane materials introduced in 2019), leverages the MIRALON process to produce clean hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) simultaneously.

MIRALON technology separates natural gas or other hydrocarbons, resulting in clean ‘turquoise’ hydrogen and MIRALON carbon nanotube material. In contrast to traditional hydrogen production (via Steam Methane Reforming or SMR), the MIRALON process avoids the creation of large volumes of carbon dioxide and instead creates a valuable solid carbon product. Therefore, the MIRALON process creates two valuable outputs and eliminates the cost of carbon capture associated with SMR. The best part is that these CNTs can then be used as composite materials in a thermoplastic matrix, to create advanced materials for injection molding and – in the form of filaments – for 3D printing. Composite sustainability is at its best through the entire supply chain. Truly a perfect match.