3D Printing News Briefs, December 17, 2025: Standards, Ballistics, Dental Aligners, & More

Today’s 3D Printing News Briefs is a bit of a mixed bag, including stories about standards, ballistics 3D printing, dental aligners, and more. Read on for all the details!

DNV Announces New Edition of AM Standard to Cut Costs & CO2

DNV, a global independent expert in risk management and assurance for the energy sector, recently unveiled a big update to its flagship standard for additive manufacturing. A major outcome of the ProGRAM Joint Industry Project (JIP), this edition of DNV-ST-B203 extends the standard to polymer 3D printed parts, and adds major enhancements in design, qualification, and sustainability in order to lower barriers to AM adoption and support sustainable 3D printing in the energy and maritime sectors. The standard offers defined acceptance criteria and guidance on both part families and in-process monitoring, which helps improve efficiency. The main enhancements to DNV-ST-B203 include practical, comprehensive design guidelines to help engineers better optimize part geometry and material selection; an expanded qualification framework to reduce redundant testing and lower costs; a new methodology for estimating and reporting the carbon footprint for 3D printed parts; and the aforementioned addition of polymer 3D printed parts. DNV-ST-B203 is one of two globally recognized AM standards for the energy sector, and the update highlights DNV’s commitment to making the technology more cost-effective, practical, and future-proof.

“With global competition in AM standards, it is crucial to provide a robust, practical framework that builds trust and scalability for this transformative technology. This edition directly addresses industry needs with practical design rules and clear CO2 footprint metrics, empowering our customers to adopt AM with greater confidence,” explained Dr. Sastry Kandukuri, Global practice lead for additive manufacturing at DNV.

GKN Aerospace Announces Partnership to Expand AM Capabilities in Norway

GKN Aerospace Norway signed a strategic agreement with Norwegian Catapult Manufacturing Technology (MTNC) to help expand its additive capabilities in Norway. The two will work to speed up industrial adoption of AM, and build a platform for advanced AM in the country, by investing in the technology at GKN Aerospace’s engines center of excellence facility in Kongsberg, which will allow the company to meet demands from engine OEMs for 3D printed critical engine parts. The agreement supports GKN Aerospace’s long-term strategy of global AM expansion, and after investments in the U.S. and Sweden, is the next important step in this expansion. The partnership will reinforce the company’s strategy of accelerating innovation and bringing advanced AM closer to customers, while at the same time supporting Norway’s goal of becoming a leader in sustainable industrial development and innovation. As such, MTNC and the Industrial Growth Company (SIVA) will co-invest NOK$12 million, which will go towards building Norway’s position.

“Together with GKN Aerospace, we are building a platform for future-oriented manufacturing in Norway. This collaboration combines world-class expertise with a shared ambition to drive technological progress and support a greener industry,” explained Ole B. Hoen, Head of Kongsberg Technology Cluster. “By co-investing in this initiative, we ensure that the unique infrastructure and competence GKN Aerospace now gets in Kongsberg becomes available to the broader Norwegian Industry who will follow in GKN Aerospace’s footsteps through learning and testing in the Catapult.”

Missouri S&T PhD Student Researching 3D Printing for Ballistics Prototyping

Missouri S&T PhD student Avery Lyons has been drawn to science from a young age. Now, as a Kummer Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellow in mechanical engineering management, she’s working on a faster process for producing and testing 3D printed ballistics, and her research is getting her recognized around the world. Lyons says that sintering, which removes the binder from a printed part and fuses together the metal particles, can take more than a day, but she’s found that 3D printed copper ammunition prototypes may not need this step for early testing rounds. While this obviously isn’t advisable for mass production, it could work for early testing, which means post-processing could go much more quickly. Her research earned her second place in this summer’s International Ballistics Symposium in Florida, and Lyons was one of just five students to receive funding through the Student Participation Program at the 74th annual meeting of the Aeroballistic Range Association in France. While she plans to continue her ballistics research, her main PhD research is focused on using ultraviolet light to create new organic explosive materials.

“The crazy thing is this 3D-printing work started as a side project. It was just something I was curious about testing, but it worked so much better than I could have imagined,” Lyons explained.

“Even a few years ago, I never would have guessed I’d be a Kummer I&E Fellow at Missouri S&T, firing 3D-printed slugs into a foam backstop. But I want my work to support the people who keep our communities and nation safe, and if faster prototyping leads to better designs and more reliable materials, that’s a win for everyone.”

Correcting Anterior Tooth Rotations with 3D Printed Shape Memory Aligners 

In late 2022, Graphy Inc and the University of Bonn began a research collaboration, studying the mechanical and biomechanical properties of shape memory aligners. Now, the results from a joint study have been reported, validating that Graphy’s 3D printed shape memory aligners can correct anterior tooth rotations without using attachments. The team, which included researchers from Seoul National University, King Saud University, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), tested 240 aligners, without attachments, for efficiency and reproducibility. These were 3D printed from Graphy’s TC-85 shape memory resin, in 0.50 mm, 0.75 mm, and 1.00 mm thicknesses, and the team used an electro-typodont model—created specifically to quantify the rotational correction of aligners—with a max matrix to simulate periodontal tissue. The maxillary right central incisor (tooth #11) was rotated in four increments, and after the fourth aligner, the researchers found that 80-93.1% of the planned rotation was recovered. This supports using directly 3D printed shape memory aligners for complex movements with no auxiliary features.

“The electric typodont appears to be a reliable pre-clinical tool for evaluating the effectiveness of aligners. Furthermore, 3D-printed aligners successfully achieved incisor derotation without the use of attachments. Furthermore, while variations in aligner thickness influenced the dynamics of derotation, they did not alter the ultimate correction outcome,” the researchers conclude.