In additive manufacturing (AM), there are many potential benefits for cost savings, among them being • integration of many conventional components into a single AM build; • complex shapes and orientations; • product volume control (short runs for sustainment vs. longer runs for new production); and • limited post-build [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Brentwood, TN, October 10, 2022 – The United States Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (USAF RSO) has signed-on for a yearlong Phase III program with VEXTEC Corporation. The Phase III program will deploy VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO computational predictive software to USAF engineering teams at the forefront of [...]
In this America Makes TRX Webinar, VEXTEC and a special guest from the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center discuss Qualification & Certification (Q&C) challenges facing the widespread adoption of metal AM in critical industries like aerospace, automotive, and medical devices. […]
If you took apart a brand new aircraft piece by piece, you’d likely find numerous items created through additive manufacturing: cabin parts, engine components, air ducting, brackets, and many more. Manufacturers already use 3D printing and various types of additive manufacturing (AM) to expedite the design and build process [...]
Designers employ the additive manufacturing process and 3D printers for rapid prototyping — to turn ideas into objects as soon as possible. They don’t use them for much else, though, particularly in terms of production. Why is that? To answer that question, one only needs to look at the [...]
Not long ago, additive manufacturing was just a concept — and 3D printers mainly took up space in university laboratories. But take a look now. Additive manufacturing technologies are now priority investments for Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers. There is still work to do before these approaches “transform” [...]
If you haven’t been tracking the state of the additive manufacturing (AM) industry closely, you may have missed some exciting recent developments. Additive manufacturing applications and the technologies that power them have come so far so fast, that Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers across several industries are now [...]
The average metal part requires a lengthy series of “normal” and “special” processing steps. Materials must go through machining or casting to take on their shape (normal processes) before potentially undergoing heat treating, chemical milling, non-destructive inspection, shot peening, or coating (special processes). Finally, parts must be certified to [...]
The transformation of additive manufacturing (AM) from the fringe to a proven application has happened in a matter of years. Along the way, the factories deploying the method have also transformed to open up new possibilities for production. At this point, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Tier 1 [...]
Most people probably remember the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. One of the more popular “police procedural” television franchises in the recent past, CSI: (and its similarly named spin-off shows) differentiated itself by giving the crime scene’s evidence the starring role. Much of [...]