Balerion Principal Emerson Garnett sits down with Jacob Nuechterlein, Founder & President of Elementum 3D, to discuss metal additive materials. Elementum 3D develops specialty materials for metal additive manufacturing, including aluminum, nickel, copper, tungsten, and related systems. The company’s reactive additive manufacturing approach addresses cracking and qualification barriers for high-performance parts in space, defense, automotive, and energy applications.
Timestamped Overview
00:00 – Introduction and Elementum 3D overview
01:05 – Founding problem, early additive manufacturing material limits, and validation with the first printer
03:38 – Reactive additive manufacturing and in-situ ceramic particles that reduce cracking
05:27 – Additive geometries, aerospace-grade aluminum, Europa mission hardware, and rocket engine parts
06:39 – Product demand across nickel superalloys, aluminum, copper, and space and defense markets
08:33 – Formula One qualification and adoption by NASA, primes, and racing teams
09:45 – Customer material down-selection, OEM design culture, and redesigning for additive manufacturing
13:20 – Adjacent markets including energy, cooling, batteries, and nuclear applications
14:42 – Qualification cost, duplicated testing, and industrializing new materials for production
16:00 – Custom materials, product standardization, business model, and ideal recurring customers
19:22 – Partnerships, government adoption barriers, standards, and additive ecosystem gaps
24:41 – Reshoring, U.S. supply, tungsten applications, and radiation shielding use cases
27:40 – R&D culture, faster print speeds, founder advice, MMPDS qualification, AI design, and cold spray
37:16 – Legacy alloy adoption, GRX810, ODS materials, Colorado ecosystem, and future copper alloy roadmap
43:24 – Founder lessons on investor alignment and closing remarks
