The Naval Post Graduate School Additive Manufacturing Research and Education Consortium (CAMRE) to be installed in California SPEED3D’s Containerized XSPEE3D metal 3D printing system after the organizations announced a partnership.
With this installation, CAMRE aims to accelerate the adoption of metal additive manufacturing in support of the United States’ tri-service naval forces, which includes the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The machine will be used by graduate students, graduate students and research and development professionals from the US Naval Postgraduate School.
CAMRE intends to use the XSPEE3D cold spray metal 3D printing system to support maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations for ships and watercraft (above and below water), as well as aircraft and ground equipment. As part of controversial military tests and exercises, they will test and evaluate SPEE3D’s cold spray additive manufacturing capabilities on the ground and aboard an amphibious warship.
Combat aircraft and maintenance personnel need on-demand technology to quickly produce metal repair and replacement parts where they are needed, reducing downtime. XSPEE3D was designed as a containerized and robust solution that can be easily transported, helping users produce parts in “harsh, remote military conditions” in minutes.
“The Naval Postgraduate School chose the XSPEE3D metal 3D printer for its expeditionary nature, which allows it to be housed in a rugged and deployable metal container and used anywhere, even in harsh field conditions,” commented Chris Curran, program manager for CAMRE. “What is unique is that it uses heated compressed air and does not require inert gases or lasers, reducing operator risk. We were also impressed with its capabilities in terms of build speeds and maximum part size, as well as its range of current and future materials.”
“We are extremely excited to partner with CAMRE to provide access to our CSAM technology, which will enable them to further integrate their efforts within our organization, as well as with NAVSEA and Penn State University’s Applied Research Lab,” added Chris Harris, Vice President of Defense at Americas at SPEE3D.
The partnership with CAMRE is the latest in a series of agreements between SPEE3D and defense organizations. This year alone, the company printed parts for the US Marine Corps on demand in a live ammunition exercise, was selected by the US Navy to develop low-security manufacturing materials using metal cold spray 3D printing, and became a winner of the competition, Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology (OSD ManTech) named it a “Point of Need Challenge” for solutions to support forward-looking forces in harsh environments.
