Swedish company Freemelt has received an order worth SEK 28 million from the European Spallation Source. It will manufacture and deliver 7,000 tungsten components for the facility’s target wheel system. The announcement came on October 22, 2026. Deliveries will span 14 months, mainly during 2027.
The announcement follows Freemelt’s recent entry into the Alpha Alliance. There, the company will help deliver 3D-printed tungsten components for Proxima Fusion’s net-energy stellarator.
ESS is one of Europe’s largest research infrastructures. Freemelt’s components will go into its target wheel system. The facility’s accelerator sends a proton beam onto the tungsten, releasing neutrons on impact. Researchers then use those neutrons to examine materials at the atomic level.
Why tungsten in particular?
Freemelt now operates two business lines. Production Systems serves customers building their own AM capacity, while Manufacturing delivers finished metal components. The latter will fulfill the ESS order with established partners across the value chain.
According to the company, tungsten melts at extremely high temperatures and conducts heat well. It also withstands heat, mechanical loads and radiation. However, wear creates a need to replace parts periodically. Freemelt therefore sees long-term demand for new production and possibly future business.
“The order from ESS is an important validation of Freemelt’s expanded strategy and demonstrates that our combination of E-PBF technology, tungsten expertise and industrial delivery capabilities meets the demanding requirements of advanced research infrastructure,” says Daniel Gidlund, CEO of Freemelt.
In September, Fusion for Energy (F4E) ordered 33,000 tungsten components for the JT-60SA fusion programme. That order has a base value of SEK 55 million. Then, on November 4, Freemelt added a SEK 3.3 million order from Alsymex, an ALCEN subsidiary and ITER supplier. This order aims to qualify tungsten components for future ITER applications. Together, these represent three orders in two months, all for components.
The company is thus progressing toward its ambition to build a stronger, more resilient and recurring business. It also aims to establish a European platform for metal additive manufacturing.
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