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Update on Additive Manufacturing

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Update on AM: A lot can happen in four years!

• Agenda • Who needs a quick overview of AM ?• Where it is used in the DOD supply chain• Standards in AM • AM Processes and materials• Design for AM

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What is the state of AM in the DOD supply chian?

• A mixed bag—some are still learning about AM, while others are already using AM – NSWC Carderock MAKE Lab – Airbus has more than 1000 AM parts flying on its A351 body

• In DOD:– Can be used for select parts – Is being tested for use by deployed troops– DLA is exploring which obsolete parts could be AM candidates

• According to the Wohlers Report 2016, the AM industry surpassed $5 billion in 2015 and is expected to balloon to more than $26 billion by 2021.

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NSWC MAKE Lab

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Where is AM in the DOD supply chain?

• Army: used AM to prototype aspects of a Joint Service Aircrew Mask to test a design change that both saved thousands of dollars in design development and provided potential combat capability improvements.

• Air Force is researching the potential to improve performance by embedding devices such as antennas within helmets through additive manufacturing

• Navy additively manufactured circuit card clips for servers on submarines, as needed, because the original equipment manufacturer no longer produced these items.

• DLA has taken steps to implement the technology by additively manufacturing the casting cores for blades and vanes used on gas turbine engines. Equipment manufacturer no longer produced these items

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Where is AM in the DOD supply chain? • Boeing using AM on a case-by-case basis:

– Filed a patent in 2013 for its process for 3D-printed replacement aircraft partso “A method and apparatus is presented. The apparatus comprises a parts library, a database, and a parts management

system. The parts library is configured to store a plurality of part definition files. The database is configured to store entries identifying a printing of parts using the plurality of part definition files. The parts management system is configured to receive a request for a part definition file in the parts library, identify the part definition file in the plurality of part definition files in the parts library, receive an indication of a printing of a part using the part definitionfile, and store an entry identifying the printing of the part using the part definition file in the database.”

– Currently around 20,000 (primarily non-metallic) 3D printed parts on board the company's fleet.– Tooling: Created the world’s “largest solid 3-D printed item,” (certified by Guinness

World Records) with ORNL. The wing trim and drill tool is 17.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall used on the 777X airplane.

– Boeing V-22 Osprey with crucial 3D printed parts was test-flown in June 2016.

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Where is AM in the DOD supply chain?

• Lockheed– Has 100 3D Printers and 5 AM Innovation Centers in the U.S. – A spacecraft fuel tank made out of titanium took Lockheed Martin 18 to 20

months to manufacture in the past; using a huge Sciaky EBAM (electron beam additive manufacturing) printer, the tank is realized in two weeks using titanium powder inside a vacuum-atmosphere printing chamber

– Joint Strike Fighter price reduction due to using additive manufacturing to fabricate canopy bowframes (saves $31.5 million across the program); a new forging method for the rudder spar should result in a total program savings of $204.8 million.

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Where is AM in the DOD supply chain?

• Raytheon uses 3D printing for components of some weapons already in production, such as the Excalibur precision-guided artillery shell– Earlier, used AM for tooling, prototyping and early production; explored potential

for design of aerospace systems• AM is commonly used for thermal solutions: cooling channels built using AM

allows more complex geometries (helixes, etc.) and built-in in one manufacturing step.

• Building a vacuum brazed cold wall unit takes months, whereas with AM, an equivalent-functioning part can be built in less than a week.

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Standards in AM

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Standards in AM MIL_STD 3049

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Standards in AM MIL-STD 3049

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Standards in AM – *Note* all are under development

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Standards in AM: SAE

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AM Processes

• Material extrusion: material is selectively dispense through a nozzle or orifice • Material jetting: “inkjet” printing heads deposit droplets of build material• Binder jetting: similar to above, with bonding agent jetted on to powder bed • Sheet lamination: sheets of wood-like, or metal or foil tape laminated to form a part • Vat photopolymerization: a vat of liquid photpolymer is selectively cured by light-activated

polymerization• Powder bed fusion—examples: selective laser sintering, selective laser melting, direct metal

laser sintering and electron beam melting • Directed energy deposition: focused thermal energy melts material as it is being deposited;

examples: blown powder AM and laser cladding

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AM Materials

• Polymers– Thermoplastic and thermoset; One thermoplastic popular in Aero industry ULTEM

9085 provides high S/W ratio, good flame, smote and toxicity properties

• Metals– Tool steels, stainless, commericially pure titanium, titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, nickel-

based alloys, cobalt-chromium alloys, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and tantalum

• Ceramics and Cermets (ceramic/metal hybrids)

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Materials and processes

Material

Process

Material Extrusion

MaterialJetting

Binder Jetting

Vat photopo-lymerization

Sheet lamination

Powder bed fusion

Directed energy

depositionPolymers X X X X X XComposites X X X X XMetals X X X XHybrids X XCeramics X X XInvestmentcasting patterns

XX X X

Sand molds X X XPaper X

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RESOURCES • Wohlers Associates – https://wohlersassociates.com/

– Annual report = ~ $500

• America Makes - https://www.americamakes.us/news-events/events

• DAU’s Interest group: Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

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DAU Interest group

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Questions and discussion

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