Overview of U.S. Additively Manufactured Energetic and Explosive Materials Research

Energetic materials additive manufacturing (EMAM) is a growing research field of particular interest to the U.S. government because of its ability to explore new energetic formulations quickly and economically in various mediums.  This report provides a brief overview of the different additive manufacturing (AM) processes and research being done by U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and industrial and academic organizations.  While there is published work using powder bed fusion and fused deposition modeling AM processes, an overwhelming majority of the publicly available research utilizes direct ink writing and related technologies.  This review summarizes the research and briefly discusses current hindrances and avenues for future EMAM growth.

A similar inquiry that focused on energetic AM research being done in Europe was examined and described in a technical inquiry response report.