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Optomec’s ALSS Development Earns NASA SBIR Contract 3D Printing Processes

by Aerospace

Optomec, a leading global supplier of production-grade additive manufacturing systems for 3D printed electronics and 3D printed metals, today announced that the company was awarded a NASA SBIR contract for the further development of an Adaptive Laser Sintering System (ALSS) The success of this endeavor will enable electronic circuitry to be printed onto a wider variety of temperature sensitive substrates expanding its use for production applications. The fully automated system will also enable printed circuitry to be repaired or manufactured with minimal human intervention paving the way for its use in long duration NASA space missions.

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GE Additive’s New One Cubic Meter ATLAS Metal AM System to Be Presented at Formnext 3D Printer Hardware

by Aerospace

Additive machines fuse together fine layers of powdered metal with a laser beam and print three-dimensional objects directly from a computer file. With few limits on the final shape, the method gives engineers new freedoms and eliminates the need for factories filled with specialized machines or expensive tooling. “This is an engineer’s dream,” Ehteshami says.

Project T.O.S.T Wins 3D Pioneers Challenge with Metal 3D Printed Skateboard Trucks 3D Printing Events

by Consumer

Christian and Simone Völkner organized the 3D Pioneers Challenge to give young companies and students the possibility to win cash prizes for exploring new and innovative applications of 3D printing. With over 30 finalist submissions the contest was a success and the winning design, Project T.O.S.T. – which I helped to select as part of the jury – clearly demonstrates that more and more people are starting to grasp the new possibilities offered by AM technologies.

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GKN delivers 3D printed Ariane 6 nozzle to Airbus Safran Launchers Aerospace

by Aerospace

GKN Aerospace has delivered the first advanced Ariane 6 nozzle (SWAN) to Airbus Safran Launchers in France for the Vulcain 2.1 engine. The new state of the art nozzle, which measures 2.5m in diameter incorporates innovative technologies with higher performance, lower lead times and substantial cost reduction. Large scale use of laser welding and laser metal deposition (additive manufacturing) for key structural features resulted in a 90% reduction of component parts, taking it down from approximately 1000 parts to 100 parts.

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GKN Aerospace and ORNL Sign Five Year AM Research Deal 3D Printing Processes

by Aerospace

GKN Aerospace and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have signed a five-year research agreement focused on additive manufacturing. Utilizing the DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, this $17.8 million USD cooperative research and development agreement will advance the family of hugely promising additive manufacturing processes, supporting progress towards their use in the manufacture of major, structural components for aircraft.

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APWORKS and Dassault Systèmes Collaborate to Advance Large Scale AM AM Industry

by Design

Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, and Airbus APWorks GmbH, a subsidiary of Airbus and specialist in metal 3D printing, have announced that they have entered into a collaborative partnership to advance the use of additive manufacturing for large-scale production in the aerospace and defense industry. The collaboration will leverage Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and APWorks’ consulting, engineering and production expertise for new developments in the virtual validation of the additive manufacturing process.