Metal 3D Printer installed on USS Bataan > Naval Sea Systems Command
ONBOARD USS BATAAN — In November 3, the Navy installed the first permanent metal 3D printer aboard a naval vessel. This was to help improve self-sufficiency of deployed ships and crews, and reduce supply chain lead time.
“The introduction of Additive Manufacturing (AM) into naval operations supports readiness and self-sufficiency,” said Rear Adm. Brendan McLane, commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
Additive manufacturing (AM) – more commonly known as 3D printing – is the process of joining materials to make parts from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing and formative manufacturing methodologies. AM allows for the creation of a high-quality item or a complex machine part. AM is a time- and resource-efficient way to produce parts at the point of need.
The equipment was assembled by Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, and Naval Sea Systems Command Technology Office. It includes the Phillips Additive Hybrid, which incorporates a Meltio3D metal wire depositionhead on a Haas TM-1 machine numerical control mill. The Haas TM-1 platform has been tested in an afloat environment on several aircraft carriers. The Haas TM-1’s integration of the Meltio3D melt-in head with the Haas TM-1 allows for additive and subtractive manufacturing, which increases efficiency and reduces waste compared with traditional machining.
The Phillips Additive Hybrid system prints 316L Stainless Steel, which is used in many U.S. Navy ship systems. While stainless steel additive manufacturing onboard naval vessels is new, it also provides Sailors with an industrial-level manufacturing capability to print individual parts of systems that previously were not readily available. The 3D printer’s benefits are twofold – it works to maximize operational availability and reduces the demand on traditional and Navy-specific supply chains. NAVSEA engineers also installed a second 3D printing machine to make polymer (plastic) parts onboard Bataan. This printer enables the ship’s crew to print any of the NAVSEA developed 300+ AM Technical Data Packages that define the required design configuration and procedures to manufacture a part and ensure it performs properly.
“These printers have the ability to help the Navy overcome both obsolescence issues for ships and systems that have service lives measured in decades and directly contribute to enhanced operational availability of our systems and ships,” said NAVSEA Chief Engineer Rear Adm. Jason Lloyd.
The Navy’s efforts to leverage AM illustrate enterprise-wide business process reform and innovation. NAVSEA subject-matter experts and industry partners work together to test and evaluate the most advanced AM technologies in order to improve readiness, increase capabilities, and to field them, as demonstrated on USS Bataan.
Bataan, a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship, carries more than 2,500 Sailors and Marines when fully embarked, and is the fifth ship of the Navy’s Wasp-class ships. She was commissioned Sept. 20, 1997 and is the second U.S. Navy warship to bear this name. CVL-29, a small aircraft carrier of Independence-class design, was commissioned in November 43. CVL-29 served in both World War II as the Korean conflict and was decommissioned in 1954.
NAVSEA is the largest command in the Navy’s six systems commands. It is responsible for building, purchasing and maintaining U.S. Navy ships, submarines and other systems. NAVSEA’s Technology Office is leading multiple areas of research and development in evaluation of AM equipment, using data not only from deployed assets, but also shore side lab activities, to gain a critical understanding of how the equipment will perform under shipboard conditions. These evaluations will ensure that current and future shipboard applications of this equipment are able to produce parts repeatedly and reliably. This will allow Sailors the ability to address a growing number of applications.
