Home-MX3D Completes PIONEER Project, Proving Hybrid WAAM Ready for Civil Engineering at Scale
MX3D, a Dutch company specializing in robotic Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), has announced the conclusion of thePIONEER project, an EU Horizon-funded initiative in which the company served as a pilot line leader within a broader European consortium. The effort centered on industrializing automated design, fabrication, and certification workflows for structurally optimized, load-bearing hybrid steel components targeting the civil engineering sector.
A central partner in the project wasImperial College London, specifically the structural engineering department led by Professor Leroy Gardner, an institution that has maintained an ongoing collaboration with MX3D since 2016, beginning with the landmark MX3D Bridge and continuing through the EU Horizon 2020 Integradde initiative. Equipped with one of the most advanced MX3D MX Systems in the world, Imperial College contributed structural design expertise, experimental testing, and component validation under realistic loading conditions throughout the project.
Optimization support was also provided by UK-based engineering software companyLimitstate, whose module was specifically calibrated for WAAM connector geometries.
Hybrid Design Delivers Outsized Structural Gains
The PIONEER pilot line introduced a new manufacturing approach that merges conventional rolled steelwork with parametrically designed WAAM elements. Rather than replacing standard profiles, the method reinforces them by depositing printed material only at structurally critical points, reducing overall steel consumption and embodied carbon by as much as 50–75% in select applications.
Validation through Imperial College’s testing program confirmed several structural achievements. Applying WAAM directly to standard square hollow section profiles delivered an average capacity improvement of 300% while using only double the original material. Targeted deposition on high-stress zones in I-beams increased load-carrying capacity by 35% to 84% for a mass increase of just 5% to 16%. The project’s culminating demonstration brought all of this together in the assembly of 22 first-time-right WAAM-printed nodes into a 10-meter load-bearing truss.
Voices from the project underscored the transition from experimental concept to deployable industrial solution.
“The PIONEER project demonstrates that hybrid WAAM is not just an innovative idea, but a structurally viable solution,” said Pinelopi Kyvelou, Assistant Professor in Structural Engineering at Imperial College London. “By systematically testing components and full-scale systems, we have been able to demonstrate not only performance gains, but also consistency and reliability, both of which are essential for real-world implementation in structural engineering.”
Filippo Gilardi, R&D Manager at MX3D, reflected on what the project signals for the broader industry: “From our side at MX3D, PIONEER showed that WAAM can fit into real production environments for hybrid infrastructure, and that it’s ready to move from pilot projects into broader industrial use, especially as our integrated digital workflows, 3D scanning and smarter toolpath planning have come together in a practical way”, said Filippo Gilardi, R&D Manager at MX3D.
Source: 3D Printing Industry
