AI searched 100 million possibilities and found a cheaper way to 3D-print a NASA rocket alloy - Date: - August 27, 2026 - Source: - Washington State University - Summary: - Researchers used AI to search through more than 100 million possible settings for 3D-printing a high-performance NASA alloy. After only 40 experiments, the system identified six successful configurations, including one that worked at a record-low 500 watts. That could allow GRCop-42, currently difficult and expensive to print, to be made with much more widely available equipment. - Share: Washington State University researchers have used artificial intelligence to identify a faster and less costly way to 3D print a high-performance metal alloy, avoiding the need to manually test more than 100 million possible printing configurations. The advance could eventually make the alloy, which is widely used in aerospace applications and may have uses in other industries, printable on more common commercial equipment. The AI strategy developed by the team could also be useful for other scientific problems involving enormous numbers of possible experiments, including drug discovery. Researchers from WSU's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering published the work in the Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The project also received the Innovative Deployed Application Award at the organization's annual conference. "Ninety percent of commercial printers cannot print this metal alloy, so given that we were able to find these feasible process parameters, it allows us to use those commercial printers, and we are essentially democratizing the printing of this alloy," said Jana Doppa, Huie-Rogers Endowed Chair Professor of Computer Science and Berry Distinguished Professor in Engineering who led the research. A NASA Alloy Built for Extreme Heat The material, GRCop-42, is an alloy made from copper, chromium, and niobium.