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Naval Research Interested In Bringing 3D Printing To Large Scale For Ships
coondoggie writes: The Navy this month will outline what it is looking for from additive manufacturing or 3D printing technology as way to bolster what it terms "fleet readiness." The Office of Naval Research will on July 15 detail its Quality Metal Additive Manufacturing (Quality MADE) program that will aim to "develop and integrate the suite of additive manufacturing software and hardware tools required to ensure that critical metallic components can be consistently produced and rapidly qualified in a cost effective manner."
I can see a ships hull being printed in one piece but a lot of plane parts are made from drop forged metal because it's the only way they can be made both strong enough and light enough to fly, I assume jet engines have a lot of drop forged parts for similar reasons, 3D printers are not going to replace drop forges any day soon. Also the skin of an aircraft is not like the skin of a car, commercial aircraft use a laminated skin to make it more resistant to tearing when the skin is broken at high speed.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Other components -such as gas turbine engine blades - are required to made from a single crystal of metal, for strength and resistance against thermal creep. If I recall correctly, the crystal is essential "grown" in the manufacturing process. It's unlikely that 3d printing will ever suffice for certain components. That said, there are thousands of components that could benefit from 3d printing.