News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Aerospace giant Safran is bringing all of its additive manufacturing activities under one roof at a new site called the Safran Additive Manufacturing Campus. Construction of this Factory of the Future began in March and is on track to host as many as 50 production-grade 3D printers working with metallic powder or other feedstock, melted by a laser beam or other means.
One of Australia’s leading metal additive manufacturing companies Titomic has announced a partnership agreement with Ascent Aerospace, a U.S.-based provider of production and automated assembly systems for the aerospace, defense and space sectors. The companies will work together to bring Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion (TKF) additive process to Ascent’s associated aerospace customers.
Relativity Space, one of the few tech-media-darling 3D printing companies, has moved into a new headquarters located at 3500 E Burnett, Long Beach. The California company employs robotic deposition metal DED additive manufacturing to build an entire launch vehicle: the new 120,000 sq. ft. space will house both business operations and an unprecedented manufacturing facility. Relativity integrates machine learning, software, and robotics with metal additive manufacturing technology and is working to produce its first Terran 1 3D printed rocket, at the Long Beach facility.
American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and Singapore-based engineering company ST Engineering have announced the industrialization of a process for 3D printing aero-engine components for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of commercial engines. The partners also unveiled the first application using the process, an aero-engine part that is expected to be fully integrated into the repair process by mid-2020 at Component Aerospace Singapore, Pratt & Whitney’s repair specialist in the region.
VELO3D has just announced a partnership with Honeywell Aerospace to qualify its Sapphire metal 3D ...
France-based company STELIA Aerospace has announced a new research project in collaboration with Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier. The project, which will be carried out by Bombardier and STELIA Aerospace’s two Canadian subsidiaries, will be focused on exploring advanced manufacturing processes such as 3D printing for the development of intelligent and lightweight wings for more efficient aircraft.
Over 400 kilometers from Earth, advances are being achieved in the field of bioprinting. In November, the 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF) was delivered to the International Space Station, where it is being used to test how bioinks and printed human cells react in a microgravity environment. As it turns out, the bioprinter’s output isn’t the only thing being evaluated: the performance of 3D printed ceramic components for bioprinting applications is also being tested.
Biomedical researchers from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso and the University of Texas at El Paso are working on a joint project to send miniature 3D bioprinted hearts to space. The research project, which has received backing from the National Science Foundation (NSF), seeks to understand how a microgravity environment affects the function of the human heart.
Additive manufacturing history was made with the first flight of the Boeing 777X aircraft. That’s because each of the two GE9X engines powering the aircraft is built using over 300 3D printed parts (of which about 80% are the titanium alumide engine blades). These parts were produced by GE teams at Avio Aero in Cameri, Italy and GE’s Additive Technology Center (ATC) in West Chester, Ohio.
Made In Space Inc., the company responsible for sending the first 3D printer to sp ...