Abstract
Existing Metal Additive Manufacturing processes are fast approaching a matured stage in which a wide range of possibilities are available for the incorporation of the rapid fabrication technology to current industrial practices. In terms of design conventions, the limitless geometrical freedom allows complex structures including cellular internal grids and lattices to be formed without additional tooling. Repair parts and leveraging components can also be produced on demand when required especially for military assets where large volume of inventory is constantly maintained to ensure operational readiness. In this exemplary work, a feasibility study on using stainless steel material with integrated cellular design to manufacture a guide bracket found on a military vehicle via Selective Laser Melting process was conducted. The results showed appreciably better mechanical performance in using a stainless steel honeycomb as compared to the aluminum alloy used for the original component together with a faster production route through SLM.
Highlights
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques such as the Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Direct Energy Deposition (DED) are known to create functional metallic components suitable for diverse industrial utilisations which possess high geometrical complexity and are difficult to produce using conventional means
The relevance of additive technology to military activities was recently tested on forward deployments with the introduction of Expeditionary Lab Mobile (ELM) in Afghanistan by the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) from the U.S Army to print components for immediate usage which have largely decreased logistic footprint as well as the load carried by maintenance forces [5]
To reiterate on the beneficial effects of additive manufacturing adoption, the paper presents a case study on the feasibility of using an alternative material with proposed design modification to fabricate existing guide brackets found on a M3G military vehicle via the SLM process
Summary
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques such as the Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Direct Energy Deposition (DED) are known to create functional metallic components suitable for diverse industrial utilisations which possess high geometrical complexity and are difficult to produce using conventional means. The relevance of additive technology to military activities was recently tested on forward deployments with the introduction of Expeditionary Lab Mobile (ELM) (refer to Figure 1) in Afghanistan by the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) from the U.S Army to print components for immediate usage which have largely decreased logistic footprint as well as the load carried by maintenance forces [5] In view of such initiatives, the current holding inventory of military spare assets worth over USD 90 billion could be significantly reduced in the near future through increasing utilisation of additive manufacturing [6]. To reiterate on the beneficial effects of additive manufacturing adoption, the paper presents a case study on the feasibility of using an alternative material with proposed design modification to fabricate existing guide brackets found on a M3G military vehicle via the SLM process
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