One of the most popular topics of developing metal printing sector, material manufacturing is improving with new productions. A department of USA National Ministry of Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office stated that it will support this segment.
Formed to help additive manufacturing sector, Advanced Manufacturing Office(AMO) made a total 5 million dollars of investment to Ames and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The works on metal alloys development will be supported thanks to this funding.
With the $5 million in funding from the AMO, both research labs will seek to develop new 
metal alloy powders, with optimal properties and qualities for additive manufacturing. Considering this, metal alloy powders, which are the raw material used for metal 3D printing, need to be of optimal quality in order for additively manufactured parts to display strong and durable qualities. So far, while 3D printing as a technology has advanced in leaps and bounds, many industries have been held back due to lack of materials within AM.
“There’s a lot of intense interest focused on additive manufacturing with metal alloys, because there are so many potential applications,” said Iver Anderson, project leader and senior metallurgist at Ames Laboratory and adjunct professor in Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University. “Industry has demands for prototyping parts, design development, reducing waste of expensive materials, and efficiently producing custom and legacy components for their customers.”
