News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Carnegie Mellon has been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to lead a research team dedicated to examining new ways to build and power aircraft of the future, through NASA’s University Leadership Initiative. As part of the Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program, Carnegie Mellon will help solve the nation’s most pressing problems in aviation.
The very niche subsegment of 3D bioprinting in space has had a development that we’re excited to report: Swedish bioprinting company CELLINK recently announced that it sent 3D bioprinted stem cells into space. The initiative, brought to fruition through a partnership with scientists from Uppsala University, aims to accelerate the development of a 3D neural stem cell system in order to provide vital insight on how changes in gravity effect cellular properties.
The Paris Air Show was a huge success for the largest aerospace players and for many innovative aerospace 3D printing companies. The aviation and space industries are rocketing toward booming growth with no slow down anywhere on the horizon. While additive manufacturing is still just a tiny – to use a euphemism – segment of aerospace manufacturing, all leading companies in aerospace are very much invested in developing it. The reason may be found in one of the largest deals ever closed during the show: the $55 billion in orders that CFM – a joint venture between GE and Safran – received for its LEAP engine. The LEAP engine is super efficient and is enabling a new generation of single-aisle jets – such as the Airbus321neo flown by French operator Le Compagnie in its new all-business flights – to make trips across the Atlantic on a single tank of fuel.
VELO3D, a specialist in support-free metal 3D printing, has announced a new partnership with Colorado-based aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic. Together, the companies will leverage VELO3D’s Intelligent Fusion additive manufacturing technology to produce metal components for the XB-1, Boom Supersonic’s Mach-2.2 supersonic demonstrator aircraft.
Carpenter Technology Corporation and Belgium-based BMT Aerospace are cooperating in the development of an additively manufactured (AM) aerospace pinion, using Carpenter Technology’s Custom 465 Stainless. The collaboration was announced at the ongoing Paris Air Show.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced this week that it has chosen Siemens Digital Industries Software to develop aerospace design applications for metal additive manufacturing. The collaboration, to be carried out through the two-year Design4AM project, will leverage Siemens’ end-to-end software solution for industrial AM and be supported by Sonaca, a specialist in aerospace structures.
GE Additive today announced at the Paris Air Show that GE Aviation has made a significant investment in its electron beam melting (EBM) technology, with the purchase of an additional 17 A2X systems and 10 Spectra H systems. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
GE Additive confirmed at the Paris Air Show that Toulouse-based FusiA Aeroadditive – part of the French group Freyssinet AeroEquipment and the Canadian FusiA Group – will invest in its first GE Additive Concept M2 multilaser system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Prodways Rapid Additive Forging (RAF) technology dedicated to the 3D printing of large dimension titanium parts for aeronautics applications is attracting interest from other industrial sectors. As part of a development project, MBDA, one of the global leaders in defense, has chosen Prodways RAF technology to produce massive titanium parts.
Dedienne Multiplasturgy Group, a French company specialized in the design and manufacture of high-performance plastic and composite technical parts for metal replacement is the first French manufacturer – on one of the very first in the world – to install an EOS P 810 laser sintering system for EOS HT-23 material (based on Kepstan PEKK, the extreme polymer from Arkema, reinforced with carbon fibers.