Overview
Scaling Up 3D Printed Steel Castings (2018-454-013)
General Dynamics NASSCO, Huntington Ingalls Industries - Ingalls Shipbuilding, MELD Manufacturing,
American Bureau of Shipbuilding (ABS), Altair
Feb 2022 – August 2023
INDUSTRY INVESTMENT: $335K | NSRP ASE INVESTMENT $778K
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the Scaling Up of 3D Printed Steel Castings Project is to establish the MELD process for steel and demonstrate that the material properties of the printed coupons are adequate by NAVSEA standards. Various studies will occur throughout this project; such as: determining the metallic alloy material for the nozzles used during the printing process based upon the material properties of the feed stock, conducting higher yield material experiments to determine the parameters of achieving higher yield deposition, and analyzing the coupons printed to understand their material characteristics. Altair will also collect information from MELD to determine the areas within their software that they may need to improve upon before attempting to simulate the MELD process in a potential future project.
SUMMARY
U.S. shipyards are looking for areas to implement cost-saving additive manufacturing technologies on a large scale and Classification Society rules are in the beginning stages of being developed to address the design and use of additive manufacturing on commercial and Navy vessels. In order for the U.S. Navy to benefit from additive manufacturing, further research is required to determine the feasibility of the MELD Manufacturing Corporation additive manufacturing process and evaluate how it may be used in Naval applications.
NASSCO worked with Navy Technical Warrant Holders (TWH) for Additive Manufacturing (AM) and MELD Manufacturing Company in the first steps of developing a leading edge AM process on a previous project to increase the deposition rate to achieve printing larger parts in a shorter timeframe. During the project, an increased deposition rate was achieved, allowing larger parts to be printed in a shorter timeframe (a major goal of AM applications in shipbuilding). The findings in that project will be extended in this project and will target steel specifically.
POINT OF CONTACT: Kolby Pearson | NASSCO | [email protected]
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