Thursday, August 28, 2014

3d Printing's Implications for Military Maintenance, Repar and Procurements

An AV-8B Harrier aircraft damaged during a hard landing on board a US Navy amphibious assault ship has been rapidly repaired and returned to service using additive manufacturing (AM) technology, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

Technicians at Fleet Readiness Centre East (FRCE), part of the US Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, employed AM techniques - otherwise known as 3-D printing - to create the forming tools that were required to shape metal repair parts for the Harrier's nose cone.

Constructed by a process of fused deposition modelling, polymer form blocks were used to produce sheet metal reinforcements, or doublers, for the aircraft.

No comments: