Unlocking AM's Material Potential in 2025: What’s Changed and What Hasn’t

Unlocking AM's Potential Through Materials: What’s Changed Since We First Wrote About It

Back in 2019, we published a post titled "Unlocking AM’s Potential Through Materials", highlighting how materials innovation was key to unlocking additive manufacturing’s (AM) full potential. At the time, there was a growing buzz around new alloy formulations, open material platforms, and digital tools to support data capture. Four years on, where do we stand?

In 2025, the relationship between materials and digital workflows has deepened - but some challenges persist.

Revisiting the Stories: Diamonds and Magnets

In our 2019 post, we explored some standout innovations: diamonds made through additive processes and rare-earth magnets fabricated without binders. These technologies were early proof points of AM’s versatility.

So, where are they now?

The additive diamond project by Sandvik demonstrated that it’s possible to manufacture extremely hard materials with complex geometries - though mass industrial use is still limited due to cost and niche applications. However, its legacy lives on in the development of composite materials and wear-resistant parts in AM workflows.

Rare-earth magnet printing, led by companies like BASF and the DOE’s Critical Materials Institute, has matured, with some pilot-scale applications now producing components for electric motors and wind turbines. Yet, broad adoption is still challenged by powder quality, supply availability, and cost.

What’s clear is that these experiments weren’t dead ends - they were stepping stones toward today’s more integrated material systems.

What Hasn’t Changed: Silos, Proprietary Constraints, and Data Gaps

Despite progress, many AM teams still struggle with data fragmentation. Materials testing data is often locked in PDFs or spreadsheets, disconnected from design or production tools. Proprietary machines limit material options and discourage experimentation.

The same friction points that existed in 2019 are still present: limited interoperability, manual data entry, and the lack of context behind material decisions.

The Authentise Difference: Connecting Materials to the Digital Thread

What’s changed since 2019 is our ability to integrate material decisions into the digital thread itself.

With Authentise, material selection isn’t a side conversation - it’s a data-rich, traceable decision embedded directly into the production workflow.

Teams using Authentise solutions can:

• Attach testing results to digital work orders

• Automate data capture from third-party labs and sensors

• Track the rationale behind material substitutions or deviations

• Reduce the risk of material non-conformance

In a world where material agility is a competitive advantage, this matters.

As we said back then: "Unlocking materials is key to unlocking AM." That hasn’t changed.

But now, we have the tools to do it.

Ready to unlock material traceability in your AM workflow?

👉 Book a demo to see how Authentise can help.