Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 4

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Why are Aerospace & Defense
Companies Embracing
Additive Manufacturing?
I
t's no longer a question of when metal
additive manufacturing (AM)-and
particularly metal laser powder-bed
fusion (LPBF)-will become an
accepted, reliable production technology,
particularly in aerospace and defense.
This is already the case now. Over the
past 18 months a host of aerospace leaders,
OEMs, startups, and contract manufacturers
(CMs) alike have purchased,
or begun outsourcing work to, advanced
AM systems. They're confidently producing
end-use, 3D-printed parts-and
sometimes entire rocket engines.
In a quarterly study of revenue growth
of leading AM system-makers, published
in the summer of 2022, the industrial
sector was reported to have grown 19
percent compared to the same period in
2021. This was cited as proof that companies
and users are looking to invest in
the larger, more powerful industrial AM
solutions that offer greater efficiency
and productivity.
Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin,
SpaceX, Honeywell, and others, for
example, have clearly come to the realization
that the technology is capable
of delivering mission-critical products.
SpaceX in particular is on a fast track
with additive, with more than 10 systems
installed.
And it's not just the biggest names buying
into AM; " New Space " startups like
Launcher and Aerojet Rocketdyne are
finding that they can purchase a machine
or two, develop proprietary designs, and
deliver competitive rocketry in astoundingly
short periods of time. What's more,
many CMs that serve aerospace and
defense customers-including Wagner
Machine, Vertex, Hartech Group, and
Knust-Godwin-have also been actively
integrating AM systems into their
machine shops in response to customer
demands for highly sophisticated parts
that can't be made any other way.
Many items on the wish-lists of the
aerospace and defense industry are
now being particularly well-served by
advanced additive systems: Lightweighting
through part consolidation using an
ever-widening selection of superalloy
powders qualified for 3D printing. The
4
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022

Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Intro
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Sponsor
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Cov1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Cov2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 4
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 5
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 6
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 7
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 8
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 9
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 10
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 11
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 12
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 13
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 14
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 15
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 16
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 17
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 18
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 19
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 20
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 21
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 22
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 23
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 24
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 25
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 26
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 27
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 28
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 29
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 30
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 31
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 32
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 33
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 34
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 35
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 36
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 37
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 38
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 39
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - 40
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Cov3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - December 2022 - Cov4
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