By Michael Niedzinski, Constellium. Introduction Friction stir welding (FSW) of Airware 2050 was investigated as a method for making custom blanks for spin forming large, single-piece flight articles. The objective of this study was to evaluate the behavior of 2050 parent material in addition to the FSW regions after spin forming and subsequent heat treatment. […]
NASA recently built and tested an additively manufactured rocket engine nozzle made of aluminum as part of the Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (RAMFIRE) project. By implementing 3D printing, the innovative design is able to be comprised of a single piece, which reduces manufacturing time and makes the nozzle lighter than conventional […]
Airbus and Oerlikon AM have successfully industrialized the additive manufacturing (AM) process for complex serial production of 3D-printed aluminum components. These antenna clusters will be used in communication satellites, which will soon be orbiting the earth. This achievement has resulted in a €3.8 million contract to additively manufacture these satellite components. Advanced technologies like additive manufacturing […]
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) signed an agreement with Gulf Extrusions and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) to send CelestiAL aluminum produced from solar power into space. The metal will be used to produce extruded components for MBRSC’s MBZ-SAT, the region’s most advanced commercial satellite in the field of high-resolution satellite imagery. “At EGA, we […]
Relativity Space, a company dedicated to building humanity’s multi-planetary future, revealed plans for the Terran R, a reusable medium-to-heavy lift orbital launch vehicle made from 3D-printed aluminum. This development builds on the company’s seven years of experience developing its Terran 1 program — the world’s first 3D-printed aluminum rocket to fly and reach space. “Our […]
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On November 16, 2022, NASA kicked off its Artemis I mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, FL, with the lift off of its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the uncrewed Orion spacecraft. The Orion craft completed its journey around the moon and successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December […]
Aluminum- and metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) has a need for collaboration between hardware equipment manufacturers and material providers to address customer problems. In order to solve these challenges, Elementum 3D and SLM Solutions have agreed to collaborate on the design of exclusive aluminum alloys on SLM® technology. In this way, both companies are teaming up […]
On April 19, NASA announced that the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter achieved a successful first test flight from the surface of Mars — making it the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. In its initial autonomous flight, the helicopter achieved a maximum altitude of 10 ft (3 m) and […]
The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Each Mars mission is part of a continuing chain of innovation, relying on past missions for proven technologies and contributing its own technical developments to future missions. As with previous missions, aluminum […]
