First Annual Conference on Additive Manufacturing of Metal Materials Successfully Held in Shenzhen

Nanjixiong learned that the first Annual Conference on Additive Manufacturing of Metal Materials was successfully held in Shenzhen on October 23–24, 2026. The event brought together prominent experts and attendees from the additive manufacturing research community. The Additive Manufacturing Branch of the Chinese Society for Metals was formally established in 2025 and chose Shenzhen for its first annual meeting.



Academician Lu Bingheng opened with “Additive Manufacturing Drives Innovation in Manufacturing Equipment,” followed by Academician Lu Jian on “New Developments in Metallic Materials Based on Artificial Intelligence and Additive Manufacturing.” One opening talk focused on equipment; the other on AI and materials. Engineering questions such as equipment stability, large build areas, and multiple lasers continue to evolve, but the bottlenecks to industrialization are material systems and process windows.



Academician Lu Jian's discussion of AI and metallic materials pointed to a clear direction: trial-and-error powder formulations and experience-based parameter tuning are being replaced by data-driven approaches constrained by models. Qu Xuanhui discussed microstructure control in oxygen-rich titanium and titanium alloys; Chen Zhe covered physics-constrained AI for additive alloy design; Gu Dongdong addressed integrated material–structure laser additive manufacturing; Zhang Zhefeng discussed fatigue-resistant titanium alloys; and Tang Haibo spoke on strength and toughness control in large components.



Taken together, the 21 talks described a shift in metal additive manufacturing from “being able to print it” toward “printing it reliably, economically, and for critical load-bearing components.” Materials design, process control, and performance evaluation all need to advance together.

























The four specialized sessions also merit attention. Session 1, “AI + AM / New Materials,” put AI alongside new materials. This is not merely a trend: the parameter space in metal AM is vast. A small change in laser power, scanning speed, hatch spacing, layer thickness, or atmosphere changes melt-pool behavior and the final microstructure. AI-assisted alloy design and process optimization can address the sector's weakest link: predictability.

Sessions 3 and 4 focused on new processes. Shi Yusheng discussed multi-material additive manufacturing with controllable macro- and microscopic shape and properties; Lin Feng covered electron-beam powder bed fusion; Sun Guifang spoke on in-situ underwater laser remanufacturing; and Zhu Qiang addressed alloys with high crack susceptibility. Their common theme is movement beyond laboratory samples toward real service conditions. Underwater remanufacturing, crack-sensitive alloys, and interfaces between dissimilar materials are difficult problems that industrialization must address.







Nanjixiong attended some of the talks. They presented substantial frontier work in metal additive manufacturing, and a number of the research efforts have already had a positive impact on industry.



The conference also included a visit to the CISRI Guochuang Hetao Laboratory in Futian, Shenzhen, allowing participants to see how its metal additive manufacturing R&D and testing platforms operate.

AI-translated from an article by Xiaoruanxiong on Nanjixiong, originally published on 2026-10-26. Text and images retain the original source attribution.
Read the original Chinese article