Ceramic 3D printing specialist Lithoz is using this year’s formnext to demonstrate that ceramic 3D printing has firmly entered industrial-scale production. The company’s Booth 11.1 C35 centers on real-world applications manufactured with its LCM technology across aerospace, semiconductors, medical devices and high-end consumer goods, underscoring how ceramic additive manufacturing (AM) is now being adopted in serial production environments.
Central to this message is Lithoz’s global “Ceramic 3D Factory” network, a group of experienced contract manufacturers whose expertise is accelerating the adoption of LCM-based ceramic manufacturing among OEMs worldwide.
Johannes Homa, Lithoz CEO, underscored the significance of this year’s display, stating: “With this focus on real series applications from various industries, we are not only sending a clear signal about the growing relevance and adoption pace of ceramic additive manufacturing for OEMs in these turbulent times. This concerted focus on premiering real-world components successfully scaled to industrial level on Lithoz CeraFab printers is our manifesto for serial production in ceramic 3D printing.”
Ceramic Casting. Photo via Lithoz
Aerospace & Semiconductor Highlights
A major section of the stand will again feature the CeraFab System S320, the industrial printer introduced last year with an expanded build platform. A live demonstration will be shown alongside newly developed mid-sized ceramic parts already being produced in series. The main highlight is a complete S320 build plate filled with 46 ceramic casting cores designed for the manufacturing of single-crystal turbine blades in next-generation aircraft engines. Similar cores are currently being produced by Safran Aircraft Engines, which recently installed three CeraFab System S65 printers at its Gennevilliers facility near Paris.
The booth will also feature a highly complex alumina ALD ring with a diameter of 380 mm. Designed by Plasway and produced in series by Alumina Systems in Germany, this component benefits from thin-walled, flow-optimized geometries that extend its uptime from one month to nine months while tripling production output. Also on display is a gas injector for semiconductor etching, produced by Bosch Advanced Ceramics in quantities of 2,000 units per year. Its internal structure contains three 6 mm channels branching into 62 openings separated by walls just 0.2 mm thick, pairing alumina’s chemical resistance with efficiency gains enabled by optimized part design and reduced assembly effort.
Gas Injector. Photo via Lithoz.
Completing the semiconductor display are aluminum nitride (AlN) cooling plates featuring intricate internal lattice and gyroid structures that deliver highly efficient thermal control, compact form factors and long-term performance thanks to AlN’s electrical insulation, thermal stability and resistance to chemical erosion.
Medical, Consumer & Design Premieres
The medical and dental section of the booth will present the world premiere of patient-specific ceramic earmoulds for hearing aids. Developed by Swiss company OC GmbH and mass-customized by CADdent in Germany using CeraFab S65 Medical printers, these components are produced from alumina-toughened zirconia (ATZ). They offer the comfort of personalized fit alongside acoustically neutral sound characteristics and superior hygiene performance compared to titanium or plastic earmoulds.
Manufacturing on Demand
Ceramic Earmould. Photo via Lithoz.
The booth’s design highlight is the “Thales VORO” moving-coil turntable cartridge from HiFiction AG in Switzerland. Its housing is a single-piece zirconia structure printed without support material and inspired by naturally occurring Voronoi geometries. Scaled to serial production by Steinbach AG in Germany, the part delivers exceptional resonance behavior at very low weight. This combination of engineering function, aesthetic clarity and AM secured the Thales VORO an iF Design Award for 2025.
Ceramic 3D printing pushes efficiency
Beyond Lithoz, many have reaped the benefits of 3D printing ceramics for several applications.
For instance, French 3D printing company 3DCeram was chosen as an official supplier for space propulsion manufacturer ThrustMe to produce ceramic components for electric thrusters. Through this partnership, ThrustMe applied ceramic additive manufacturing to create miniaturized, highly complex parts capable of operating in the extreme thermal, chemical, and electrical conditions of space.
The ceramic materials provided stability under plasma exposure, resistance to high temperatures, and strong electrical insulation, making them ideal for ThrustMe’s iodine-fueled propulsion systems. The partnership demonstrated how ceramic 3D printing can enhance efficiency, design flexibility, and production speed in advanced aerospace applications.
Elsewhere in research, ceramic 3D printed solid oxide cells (SOCs) developed by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) achieved over 1 W per gram, combining low weight with high power output. The fully ceramic, monolithic design was 3D printed with a gyroid structure that maximized surface area and mechanical stability while eliminating metal parts and seals.
This reduced manufacturing to five steps and enabled both fuel cell and electrolysis operation, producing hydrogen at nearly ten times the rate of conventional SOCs. The lightweight design demonstrated strong potential for use in aerospace and space systems.
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Author: Paloma Duran
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