EU’s ‘Enlighten’ Project Debuts Multi-Metal 3D Printing to Revolutionize Rocket Engine Manufacturing

The €38M Enlighten project uses a new 3D printing process to fuse multiple metals in one rocket part, potentially saving weeks in development for the ESA.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 28, 2026, 1:24 PM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Christopher McFadden, Innovation News

Beyond Traditional Fabrication

Rocket engines are among the most complex engineering feats in existence, traditionally requiring hundreds of individual parts machined from specialized alloys. These components must be meticulously welded or bonded together, with every joint representing a potential point of failure and a requirement for exhaustive safety testing. The Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology (IGCV) is now challenging this paradigm by utilizing multi-material 3D printing. By printing different metals in a single run, researchers can eliminate the need for secondary assembly steps, creating more robust, lightweight, and compact engine designs.

Customized Material Distribution

The primary advantage of the "Enlighten" project’s technology is the ability to place specific metals exactly where they are needed most. Engineers can now deposit heat-resistant alloys in areas exposed to hot exhaust gases, high-strength metals in high-stress zones, and magnetic metals for functional components like valves. For example, the Fraunhofer team successfully printed a rocket valve using a combination of magnetic and non-magnetic steel. In traditional manufacturing, these two materials would have to be fabricated separately and then welded—a process that is both time-consuming and prone to structural weaknesses.

Solving the ‘Metallurgical Mismatch’

Combining disparate metals is a significant technical hurdle, as many elements do not bond well and can create brittle joints or cracks. A notable example is the interaction between titanium and nickel, which can lead to catastrophic failure under the extreme pressures of spaceflight. To solve this, the Fraunhofer team developed a "sandwiching" technique using a thin buffer layer of molybdenum to act as a chemical bridge between the incompatible metals. This allows for the structural integrity of the part to be maintained even when using materials with vastly different thermal and physical properties.