LabAM24 has been awarded a supply contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to produce three large-scale rocket nozzles in niobium C-103 using laser-wire DED.
C-103 is a benchmark material for high-temperature propulsion, valued for retaining strength and creep resistance well above 1,400°C at a lower density than competing refractory metals. Those same properties make it notoriously difficult to process: the alloy is highly reactive at elevated temperatures, and even minimal oxygen pickup degrades its strength and ductility. That reactivity is precisely why C-103 work has traditionally depended on sealed vacuum or chamber environments.
Producing these nozzles in open air with Morphing Shield Technology puts our process directly against one of the most demanding applications in aerospace. Holding oxygen below 20 ppm at the melt zone without a chamber means we can build flight-relevant C-103 applications at scale, unrestricted from the size constraints a sealed enclosure imposes. The contract is a meaningful step in validating our approach for the components that sit at the hottest, highest-stress points of a launch system.
