Aurelia Technologies and Velo3D Partner to Explore Metal 3D Printing for Gas Turbine Components

Aurelia Technologies, a developer of small-scale gas turbines, has entered a phased partnership with Velo3D to evaluate metal additive manufacturing for select turbine components. The program will use Velo3D's Sapphire XC platform to assess feasibility, develop materials and processes, and progress toward qualification and low-rate initial production. Aurelia aims to reduce dependence on long-lead forgings, tooling-intensive processes, and large inventory commitments through design consolidation and faster iteration—targeting high-temperature, high-stress alloys typical of turbomachinery.

This partnership is significant within the energy vertical, a fragmented and early-stage AM market that has seen far less qualification infrastructure than aerospace or medical. Aurelia’s structured, phased approach mirrors the slow-but-steady qualification grind familiar from aerospace, but applied to a segment where qualification cost and repeatability remain open questions. Velo3D, emerging from its post-SPAC restructuring, is positioning its Sapphire XC for production-oriented applications rather than R&D demos—a necessary pivot if it is to compete against better-capitalized LPBF rivals like EOS, Nikon SLM Solutions, and Chinese entrants. The partnership tests whether Velo3D can support both development and scale-up with a disciplined qualification workflow, a gap that energy customers increasingly demand.

For the energy sector, this is a small but methodical step. Aurelia must demonstrate that the Sapphire XC can produce turbine parts with consistent mechanical properties under cyclic thermal loads—something that existing castings and forgings already do at lower risk. The real test will be whether the program moves beyond feasibility to low-rate production, and whether Velo3D can deliver the process repeatability that energy OEMs require. If successful, it could open a narrow but viable production channel for gas turbine components, but only if material and qualification costs align with the economics of small-scale, fuel-flexible turbines.