Metal 3D printer ensures dominance

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWCPC), Fla., has acquired a new metal 3D printer for its Additive Manufacturing Laboratory (AML) that will allow the command to quickly produce parts and prototypes to “ensure war-fighting dominance.” There are major advantages to having a metal 3D printer, says Chuck Self, AML director, including “reduction in time to complete prints, reproducibility, and the complexity of parts available for print.” The Navy is heavily investing in 3D printing. In 2018, the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) allocated $2.6M for the introduction of metal additive manufactured parts. The Marines have set up an Advanced Manufacturing Operations Cell to provide 24/7 3D printing support, and the Navy has been applying the technology to upgrade various ships in its fleet. This latest metal 3D printer added is an EOS M290 Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) system, which has been used to make products like portable runway mats and hydraulic components. It features a 250 x 250 x 325mm build volume and uses a 400-watt fiber laser inside a nitrogen atmosphere to make accurate, complex, and fully dense parts out of powdered metal. Halie Cameron, NSWCPC mechanical engineer says: “The printer is capable of building highly complex geometries that are unable to be fabricated by traditional machining.” (Source: 3D Printing Industry 06/13/19) NSWCPC conducts research on naval warfare and its disciplines that include optics, acoustics, mine warfare and robotics.