Visser Precision, a Denver-based contract manufacturer serving industries including aerospace, purchased and received two metal 3D printers from Velo3D to expand its 3D-printing capabilities. One of the printers delivered is the first Sapphire printer calibrated for Haynes 214, a nickel-based superalloy that is now available as a powder option. The other Sapphire printer is calibrated for Inconel 718, which is commonly used in many aerospace and industrial applications for its high strength and corrosion resistance. Visser Precision purchased the metal 3D printers after a mutual aerospace customer sought to leverage Velo3D’s additive-manufacturing technology for components in its rocket engines.

According to the Reshoring Initiative’s 2022 data report, reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) job announcements in 2022 were at the highest rate ever recorded. There was 364,000 reshoring and FDI jobs announced for 2022, which was up 53% from 2021’s record number. Fourth-quarter announcements accelerated even more than anticipated due to the Chips and Infrastructure Acts and deglobalization trends. In addition, 2022 brought the total number of job announcements since 2010 to nearly 1.6 million.

Sintavia LLC, a designer and additive manufacturer of complex mechanical systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries, has been awarded a contract from Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. to develop a dedicated additive-manufacturing (AM) facility in support of the United States Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The vertically integrated facility will develop and additively manufacture advanced nuclear propulsion systems for both in-production and in-development submarine programs of the Navy, including the next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine. The facility, located in Hollywood, Fla., is expected to open in the second quarter of 2023.
“As the U.S. Navy looks to develop advanced submarine platforms, it is imperative that additive technology plays a central role in that development. We are committed to the success of these Navy programs,” said Brian Neff, Sintavia’s founder and CEO.

Keeping the electricity grid up and running through summer heat waves and winter deep freezes is an ongoing balancing act. Power lines that stretch for miles are vulnerable to wind and fire. 

If you’re at all like me, you wonder which articles get the most attention on our website. Every year we publish over 40 feature articles, and at the end of the year we gather statistics to see which ones get the most page views. So, without further ado, here are the five most-viewed articles on www.industrialheating.com based on page views in 2022. This ranking applies only to articles published in 2022.

A non-explosible aluminum alloy feedstock for additive manufacturing (AM) has been developed that reduces the hazards associated with day-to-day handling of materials for 3D printing.

MELD Manufacturing Corp. spun off a new business, MELD PrintWorks Corp., which will utilize MELD’s patented 3D-printing technology as an additive service addressing the needs of multiple industries that struggle to get forgings, castings and other metal parts. MELD Manufacturing will continue its focus on delivery of technology through machines, training and certification. MELD PrintWorks will have a singular focus on serving customer demand for printed parts made with MELD technology. The new company, which is an independent organization with separate management and operating teams, launched in a Virginia facility separate from MELD Manufacturing’s current factory.

Fabrisonic LLC, a manufacturer specializing in 3D metal ultrasonic additive manufacturing and 3D-printing applications, moved to a 30,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Lewis Center, Ohio. Fabrisonic has been incubated by EWI at its facility in Columbus on the campus of The Ohio State University since 2011. Business growth has driven the need for additional space to expand and make room for more employees, machines and expanded parts production. Fabrisonic also upgraded its entire IT infrastructure to a higher-security platform that meets government-sensitive data requirements.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Sintavia LLC announced a collaboration to expand research of metal additive manufacturing (AM) opportunities as an alternative to castings and forgings. According to the companies, AM, also known as 3D printing, has the capability to improve efficiencies in existing castings and forgings supply chains and provide parts with a higher level of detail and greater design opportunities. Sintavia is an AM supplier to Lockheed Martin, supporting several programs in the manufacture and production of metal additive parts. The collaboration will explore additional AM technology areas, including laser powder-bed fusion, electron-beam-directed energy deposition and friction-stir AM.

High-temperature sintering has been proven to provide achievable increases in material properties when applied to conventional powder-metallurgy (PM) applications. As material properties and strength requirements increase, some thermal processors are transitioning from traditional sintering furnaces to high-temperature models. However, not all high-temperature sintering furnaces are created equal.