The Belgian company ValCUN aims to close a gap in metal 3D printing with its Molten Metal Deposition (MMD) technology: the economical processing of common aluminum alloys. Although aluminum is widely used in industry thanks to its strength-to-weight ratio, high thermal conductivity and good recyclability, its use in industrial 3D printing has so far remained limited. Conventional processes such as extrusion and casting dominate a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but come with restrictions in terms of complex geometries, dimensional accuracy and batch sizes.
Metal 3D printing also faces high barriers to entry. Laser powder bed fusion, DED and WAAM require specialized powder materials, complex handling and safety infrastructure, for example to deal with potentially explosive aluminum dusts. The high thermal input of these processes makes it difficult to use industrially established 6xxx and 7xxx alloys, which tend to crack and warp. ValCUN’s approach instead relies on wire as a standard feedstock, which is melted in the print head and deposited layer by layer.
According to the company, MMD requires three to eight times less energy than powder-based processes because the melt is generated separately from the part. The process is designed for “print-and-go”: parts are intended to be usable directly without debinding, sintering or removal from the build plate. Compact, plug-and-play systems target integration into existing production lines, including closed material loops with recycling of aluminum scrap.
In terms of applications, ValCUN is targeting, among other things, heat exchangers in HVAC and data center applications, where customer-specific structures can significantly reduce energy losses according to the manufacturer. In automotive engineering and lightweight construction, the focus is on locally reinforced, weight-optimized structures that simplify assemblies and reduce part counts. For the process industry, highly thermally conductive, recyclable substrates are in the foreground, while defense and field operations are expected to benefit from portable, robot-based metal manufacturing.
Co-founder & CEO Jonas Galle states: “Manufacturers want metal AM that makes business sense. MMD does — a deployable, easy-to-use solution that slashes post-processing and time-to-part, delivering immediate value on the production floor.”
At Formnext 2025, in Hall 12.0, Booth C21, ValCUN plans to demonstrate how MMD systems can be integrated into real production environments.
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