3D printingThe start-up company Origin was selected to participate in the first Advanced Manufacturing Olympics (AM Olympics) held by the Rapid Maintenance Office (RSO) of the United States Air Force (USAF). The event is already in progress and will be held at a virtual exhibition held from October 20 to 23 to test the limitations of innovative new manufacturing technologies that can provide faster maintenance turnover and cheaper maintenance of aircraft . Specifically, the Origin engineer team will participate in a challenge to quickly manufacture F-16 fighter parts that can be used for flight and obtain flight certification.
As part of the AM Olympics, RSO and its partners “hope to chase the world’s top athletes in the pursuit of airworthiness3D printingThe new standard for aircraft parts can deliver the speed and accuracy of 60 teams. “According to China3D printingNet understands that a total of 64 teams from industry, government, and academia will compete for a prize of $1 million. This prize will solve five technical challenges involving additive manufacturing and reverse engineering to solve some of the most important issues for the Air Force. Maintenance issues.
Use nTopology’s nTop platform to optimize the stress of the fixture.
San Francisco-based Origin worked with engineering software company nTopology and consulting engineering company Stress Engineering Services to participate in the Approval Sprints technical challenge. The joint team of engineers will compete with other capable teams that will compete to design, analyze and provide alternative solutions for polymer additive manufacturing to rapidly deploy designated F-16 aircraft components. The deliverables include sample components, technical data packages, and accelerated identification strategies for full approval of the proposed materials, machines and complete component series.
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Of fixtures are fire tested” alt=”
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The fixture has been fire tested” width=”620″ height=”347″ />
3D printingThe fixtures are fire tested.
Relying on manufacturing technologies that can produce quickly to maintain production capacity is critical to the Air Force’s fleet and infrastructure. However, it will be difficult to use these functions if the U.S. Air Force’s certification methods and the approval schedule for new materials, new processes, and new parts are not completely improved.
“There is an urgent need for rapid deployment of engineering solutions for the maintenance of the U.S. Air Force fleet and infrastructure,” said Ian Muceus, Origin’s government program director. “We are very pleased to be one of the companies selected to participate in this challenge and use our advanced additive manufacturing technology to help cope with these by identifying innovative strategies that can quickly design, identify, and deploy solutions that utilize new manufacturing processes. Obsolete and persistent challenges, materials and components.”
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The fixture has been frozen test” width=”620″ height=”347″ />
3D printingThe fixtures have undergone freezing tests.
For the upcoming challenges, Origin engineers have cooperated remotely with stress engineering and nTopology to provide feasible solutions for solving aerospace problems in just three weeks. Particular challenges included the development of hydraulic line clamps for the F-16 Fighting F, which is considered the world’s most successful multi-role fighter with proven combat effectiveness. Aircraft uses a variety of fixtures, especially the Air Force has thousands of unique fixtures in its fleet.
An F-16 Fighter F of the 36th Fighter Squadron is located at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. Image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force/Technology. Sergeant Dave Ahlschwede (Dave Ahlschwede).
According to Origin, the requirements of the challenge are very complex and focus on dimensional accuracy, stress/load, flammability, temperature ratings (low and high), jet fuel exposure, vibration tolerance, hydraulic oil exposure, and engine oil exposure. Origin has tested many different materials, printed test fixtures, and performed multi-material printing. Finally, the part submitted by the team for this challenge was designed on the nTopology platform; using Henkel’s flame-retardant and chemical-resistant material Loctite 3955; by Origin One 3D printingMachine manufacturing, and verified by Stress Engineering Services.
Print heating origin one.
Origin’s manufacturing grade3D printingThe machine uses programmable photopolymerization technology to precisely control light, heat, force, and other variables to produce parts with excellent accuracy and consistency. The San Francisco-based company pioneered the concept of open additive manufacturing, a new method of building based on open materials, scalable software, and modular hardware. To meet this challenge, Origin’s technology is combined with nTopology’s engineering design tools for advanced manufacturing, which seamlessly integrates synthesized geometry and simulation results into fine-tuned manufacturing models.
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3D printingThe fixtures are cured after UV
The challenge rules determined that the top-level component designs that meet the minimum specified requirements will be eligible to be installed during the AM Olympics and fly on an F-16 fighter jet. But before that, a panel of judges from the military and private sectors will evaluate the results of each test. To select the final winner.
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