Velo3D and Aurelia to consolidate turbine parts with Sapphire XC
Velo3D and Aurelia are using Sapphire XC to cut turbine assemblies down to fewer parts. The phased push starts with feasibility and ends at low-rate production.
Consolidating a turbine into fewer printed parts is the real story here. Velo3D and Aurelia Technologies said they are using Sapphire XC to rethink small gas turbine components for data centers and industrial power, aiming to trim part count, cut failure points, and move faster from design into production.
The two companies announced a phased additive manufacturing program that begins with component feasibility, then moves into material and process development, qualification, and finally low-rate initial production. That sequence matters because it ties additive manufacturing to the full hardware pipeline, not just a one-off prototype. Aurelia said the work fits its broader continuous-improvement strategy built around design consolidation, faster iteration, supply chain resilience, and long-term cost reduction.
Karol Hricisak, PE, Aurelia’s director of technology, said additive manufacturing lets the company simplify designs, reduce failure points, and move faster while staying grounded in turbomachinery fundamentals and materials science. Velo3D said the collaboration will evaluate where additive can improve performance, lead time, and manufacturability across select turbine components and high-performance alloys. For a hardware stack like this, that means less time spent juggling interfaces and more time refining geometry, flow paths, and material behavior.
Aurelia describes itself as a developer of highly efficient, fuel-flexible small-scale gas turbines for industrial, municipal, and data center applications. Its A400 and A800 turbine packages are aimed at edge and regional data centers, with native DC power output, combined heat and power capability, and fuel flexibility across natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen blends. Business Finland says Aurelia Turbines was established in 2013 and is based in Lappeenranta, Finland, and notes that its small gas turbines deliver 400 kW of electrical output with efficiency above 40%.
Velo3D is bringing Sapphire XC to the table as the production-focused machine in the mix. Introduced in October 2020, the large-format metal printer was pitched with up to 5X higher throughput and up to 75% lower cost per part than the company’s earlier Sapphire system. Velo3D says Sapphire XC uses eight 1 kW lasers, a 600 mm by 550 mm build volume, and its Flow and Assure software stack.
That is the broader lesson in this partnership: the same additive logic that helps a desktop printer user combine assemblies, reduce fasteners, and open up internal channels is now being pushed into turbine hardware. If Aurelia and Velo3D can carry that consolidation path all the way from feasibility to low-rate initial production, the payoff is not just a different part. It is a simpler machine with fewer weak points and more room to iterate.
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