Case Study: Atos achieves 66% lighter titanium satellite inserts with Materialise's Metal 3D Printing

Titanium Inserts for Spacecraft 66% Lighter with Metal 3D Printing

Atos, the global digital-services company, asked Materialise to help redesign a titanium insert used as a high-load mounting point in satellites. The challenge was extreme weight optimisation—every kilogram launched costs roughly $20,000—without compromising stiffness, strength or resistance to thermo-elastic stresses introduced during composite curing. Materialise addressed the problem using Metal 3D Printing and advanced design tools.

Materialise applied topology optimisation and lattice-structured interior design and produced the part in Ti-6Al-4V at its Metal 3D Printing Factory in Bremen, cutting the insert’s mass from 1,454 g to 500 g (≈66% lighter). The new design also reduced thermo-elastic vulnerability, improved load distribution and lifetime, enables more useful payload per launch and delivers significant cost savings, demonstrating Materialise’s fast, production-ready metal additive capabilities for aerospace.

Atos

Marta García-Cosío

Mechanical Engineering Director