The commissioning of a new multi-metal 3D printer in Melbourne, Australia, as part of the iLAuNCH Trailblazer initiative aims to make space missions more affordable and efficient by creating lighter, faster and more robust aerospace components.
The Nikon SLM-280 (Selective laser melting). CSIRO’s Lab22 facility prints metals side by side in one continuous print. The technology is ideally suited to aerospace, where high-performance and lightweight materials are the fundamental drivers of designs, giving engineers the design freedom to consolidate parts to reduce mass and cost and ultimately make strategic weight decisions when necessary.
Rocket engines typically flow liquid oxygen and fuel under extremely high pressure through the engine, which are then injected into the combustion chamber. Particularly on the oxygen side, significant protection of the metal surfaces against oxidative attacks on the metal must be guaranteed.
This multi-metal printer enables the production of the oxidatively resistant layer in one operation with the structural metal, speeding up production times and ultimately reducing the cost of the resulting structure. Although rocket engines themselves are typically high-performance heat exchangers, this technology is also applicable to heat exchangers used in aircraft and high-performance ground vehicles such as Formula 1 and other racing cars. Because low weight, high strength and high heat exchanger efficiency are critical in racing, aerospace and defense, this technology and its advanced manufacturing capabilities will enable the development of novel aerospace products that are of high value to the entire ecosystem are worth.
The multi-metal version of the SLM-280 significantly expands the already internationally proven standard model:
- A monolithic thrust chamber for a rocket engine with a unique lattice structure with CellCore GmbH, an engineering firm from Berlin.
- A hydraulic valve block with the VTT Technical Research Center from Finland and achieved a size reduction of 66% and a weight reduction of 76%.
- A gooseneck mount provides a reduced buy-to-fly ratio from 17 to 1.5 and a 31% weight reduction ASCOa Belgian aerospace company.
This multi-material 3D printer is the only one of its kind in Australia and offers users a real advantage in additive manufacturing design. For iLAuNCH Trailblazer projects, SLM 280 technology will make potential space missions more affordable and efficient by creating lighter, faster and more robust space components.
iLAuNCH is building sovereign capabilities and an R&D ecosystem that is critical for technology manufacturers in Australia to send their subsystems into space that drive better outcomes. The company’s aim is to help Australian businesses compete on a global scale and capitalize on commercial opportunities.
“This capability is the first of its kind as a manufacturing machine in Australia, more specifically in the Southern Hemisphere, and iLAuNCH is excited to open up new manufacturing opportunities for locally manufactured products,” said iLAuNCH Trailblazer Chief Technology Officer Dr. Joni Sytsma. “Australian companies producing satellites and rockets now have a real advantage in being able to optimize their designs and improve performance – all with shorter lead times here in Melbourne. We anticipate that the additional capabilities of this technology may also produce novel superalloys capable of maintaining ultra-high strength at the ultra-high temperatures that hypersonic vehicles require to survive, with an eye toward hypersonic air travel in the future.”
“We warmly welcome Australian researchers and industry to access this technology for ultra-high performance applications at CSIRO’s Lab22 Innovation Centre, one of Australia’s leading centers for metallic additive manufacturing at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria,” he said CSIRO’s Chief Research Scientist, Dr. Cherry Chen. “Other possible applications to be considered include satellite structures and components, as well as the development of novel radiation shields with alloys, which are being developed in the various laboratories as part of the iLAuNCH Trailblazer.”
“For decades, the technology used to join dissimilar metals together was primarily through hot isostatic pressure (HIP), or the actual welding or brazing of two unique metals into one component,” he said Nikon SLM Solutions, Global Director, Aerospace and Defense Business Development, Donald Godfrey. “The delivery of laser powder bed fusion technology to create a truly functionally graded material component to CSIRO is the first time the technology has been brought out of Germany. This technology sets a new foundation for what is possible in the aerospace, defense and space industries.”
