Supernova Creates Defense and Space Business Unit to Develop 3D Printing of Military-Grade Energetic Materials

Supernova (a spinoff of BCN3D) has created a new Defense and Space business unit that focuses on developing a proprietary additive manufacturing (AM) ecosystem for energetic materials. The company says this ecosystem is designed to overcome the limitations of traditional manufacturing processes and enhance the capabilities of produced components, striving for technological superiority in critical applications.

The business unit is part of the company’s long-term defense and space initiative in order to break new ground in the manufacturing technologies for those industries, with an initial focus on military-grade energetic materials. Target applications include solid rocket motors (SRMs), which are a critical component for the next-generation hypersonic platforms.

Supernova’s proprietary Viscous Lithography Manufacturing (VLM) technology is a lithography-based AM process that uses a transparent film to transfer high-viscosity materials onto a build platform, where they are cured by light to form 3D printed parts. Unlike conventional processes that require low-viscosity resins, VLM can handle materials with up to 100 times higher viscosity, which benefit from longer oligomer chains in the formulations, resulting in superior mechanical properties.

The company says that VLM is the first AM technology that has successfully proven its potential for processing military-grade materials such as APCP or RDX. Energetic materials are compounds capable of rapidly releasing significant amounts of energy through chemical reactions, commonly used in propellants and explosives. Military-grade formulations — such as APCP (Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant) and RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine) — are highly effective and reliable. However, traditional processing techniques, ranging from casting to extrusion, impose severe geometric limitations, thereby hindering the effective technological advancement of certain components.

One of the key strengths of AM is the geometric freedom it offers. However, military-grade formulations often have solid loads exceeding 80%, making them unsuitable for processing with AM technologies. Supernova’s VLM has successfully demonstrated the ability to process formulations with more than 88% solid load, thereby overcoming this significant limitation to unleash the power of AM and create the next generation of military-grade components.

Process benefits include:

• High-energy density based on a superior solid load
• Stable and homogeneous component properties — starting from a uniform particle dispersion, with isotropic layers, and ensuring the absence of air gaps
• Geometry freedom in the component design
• Rapid prototyping to accelerate development
• On-demand and on-shore production

The initial applications identified to benefit from these value propositions include: SRMs - where the goal is to enhance combustion efficiency and develop custom thrust profiles; explosives - aiming to increase detonation performance in application-specific designs such as shaped charges; and bullet grains - with the objective of achieving higher velocity and reducing weight.

“Supernova Defense and Space represents our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to manufacture,” says Roger Antunez, Supernova founder and CEO. “By pioneering 3D printing of energetic materials, we’re not just advancing technology, we’re providing the tools to the engineers to innovate and reshape the future of defense and space industries.”