Refractory metal’s exceptional high temperature handling capability and high damage tolerance have made it one of the essential materials for extreme environment applications, such as rocket engines combustion devices, hypersonic vehicles and engines, spacecraft reaction control system. Currently, there is a demand surge for refractory materials for defense and commercial space applications. However, the traditional refractory manufacturing’s high cost, limited availability, long delivery cycle have hampered applications for this material. Additive manufacturing on the other hand has demonstrated rapid net shape printing capability along with significant cost reduction in structural refractory fabrication and increased design space capabilities. The promise of superior materials performance, cost reduction, and significant schedule improvement led to multiple government agencies funding for technology maturation. In this work, comprehensive metallurgical process evaluation, materials characterization, and broad properties testing are conducted, examined compared to its wrought equivalent. Significant materials properties improvement through additive manufacturing is achieved and newly developed Nb C103 derivative, the Super C103 is presented. Effective and efficient Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) technology was also developed for ensuring the AM refractory metal’s quality. Case studies of AM refractory hardware in extreme environment application will also be presented.

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