Smart Fusion NextGen
A New Milestone in Intelligent Process Control for Metal AM
FEBRUARY 02, 2026 | Reading time: 3 min
Smart Fusion is already well established in the metal AM market as a proven technology that stabilizes heat input, reduces support structures, and enables more reliable builds. Manufacturers across industries rely on Smart Fusion to manage thermal variations during the LPBF process and ensure stable, high‑quality production outcomes. By automatically adjusting laser power in real time, Smart Fusion transformed additive manufacturing from a static process into an adaptive one.
With the latest EOS Software Release V24, we are taking this innovation one decisive step further.
Introducing Smart Fusion NextGen
Smart Fusion NextGen extends intelligent heat management and laser power control to an even broader range of applications and materials. It delivers enhanced buildability across all released materials (In718, Ti64, and AlSi10Mg), and now also EOS MaragingSteel: MS1 and EOS StainlessSteel: 316L. This marks the broadest material coverage Smart Fusion has ever offered.
What’s New: Higher Quality, Better Accuracy, More Confidence
Building on years of process expertise and customer feedback, Smart Fusion NextGen introduces three major advancements:
- Improved Downskin Surface Roughness
An optimized algorithm reduces downskin surface roughness, resulting in smoother, more consistent part surfaces, even in challenging geometries. - Higher Downskin Accuracy
Refined, localized heat control leads to noticeably improved dimensional accuracy on downskin and overhanging features by reducing overheating distortion. - Reduces Pores
In overhangs below 15°, Smart Fusion NextGen significantly minimizes pores in downskin. It has been documented that SF1 led to a “false ceiling” in some instances. Now with SF NG extreme low angles are built smoother and without these large pores.
The Next Chapter in Smart Fusion
For the first time, Smart Fusion supports not only high‑demand aerospace‑grade materials, but also widely used industrial alloys such as MS1 and 316L. This makes advanced, in‑situ thermal control accessible to an even wider set of applications and industries.
Smart Fusion NextGen delivers reliable, repeatable, and high‑quality results across more geometries, materials, and use cases than ever before representing another major milestone on the path toward fully autonomous, self‑optimizing metal 3D printing.
Available Now: Smart Fusion NextGen is included in the new EOS Software Release V24 and is available immediately to all customers with compatible EOS systems.
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Smart Fusion: Smarter Heat Control for Metal Additive Manufacturing
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Smart Fusion enables intelligent, real-time heat management in metal additive manufacturing, helping manufacturers achieve higher build stability, consistent part quality, and greater production efficiency at industrial scale.
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Real-time thermal control ensures consistent quality and reliable builds
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Support reduction lowers material use, post-processing effort, and costs
Metal 3D Printing with EOS Smart Fusion
EOS Software
EOS Smart Fusion is our software innovation to significantly reduce cost, increase efficiency and quality in metal 3D printing. It is available with the EOS Smart Monitoring software plan and requires an OT camera system to enable advanced thermal management. This not only accelerates the additive manufacturing process of metal components, but also optimizes it by reducing support structures.
