Inkjet 3D Printing Using Molten Metal “Ink”
MIE Department Seminar
October 20, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM America/Chicago
Presenter: Denis Cormier, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology
Location: ERF 1043
Abstract: In contrast to the rapid rise in usage of inexpensive desktop 3D printers, industrial adoption of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies has largely been limited to the aerospace and biomedical sectors over the past 20 years. The primary reasons for this are the high cost of equipment (often >$1M), the high cost of metal powder (5X-10X higher than ingot/bar material), the relatively low print speeds (hours to days per part), and environmental health and safety concerns about metal powders. This talk will present an emerging metal AM technology, called molten metal jetting (MMJ), which has the potential to address many of these challenges. MMJ ejects droplets of molten metal from nozzles towards a moving build platform where they land, spread out, cool down, and solidify to form the shape of the desired component. The process uses inexpensive ingot or bar stock as the feedstock material, thus significantly lowering part cost. This talk will highlight several multidisciplinary research thrusts aimed at increasing print speed and part quality while lowering overall fabrication costs. One such effort involves the recent demonstration of coordinated multi-nozzle droplet jetting that enables significant reductions in part fabrication time with no loss of achievable feature size. Another research thrust involves multi-physics simulations of molten metal droplet ejection with an aim towards increasing the achievable jetting frequency and print speed. Lastly, part quality is of utmost concern for industrial applications. Research involving closed-loop process monitoring and control with high-speed multi-nozzle droplet jetting will be presented.
Speaker Bio: Denis Cormier is the Earl W. Brinkman Professor of industrial and systems engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He has more than 30 years of experience in additive manufacturing (AM) and was a pioneer in the design, fabrication, and testing of engineered lattice structures. He also published some of the earliest papers on metal AM via electron beam powder bed fusion. More recently, he has led the development of a high-speed, high-resolution metal AM process that resembles inkjet 3D printing using molten metal as the “ink.” He has 13 patents, >100 technical papers, and has been the PI for >$30M in sponsored research. In 2024, he was honored with the International FAME award, which recognizes career achievements related to additive manufacturing R&D.
Date posted
Jun 23, 2026
Date updated
Jun 29, 2026