Under a new initiative announced today, US Air Force-sponsored research will look at how 3D printing can be used in the aircraft maintenance supply chain. The participants intend to explore how the Figure 4 system can be used to 3D print aircraft components across a range of older planes. Dr. Tim Osborn, research scientist: additive manufacturing, multiscale composites and polymer division, University of Dayton Research Institute said, “We were pleased with the speed, resolution, surface finish, and scalability that we achieved utilizing 3D Systems’ solution.” Our goal is to further explore this technology and establish a clear development, vetting, and transition pathway for the emerging DLP technology in the Figure 4 machine for transition to the U.S. Air Force. MAMLS is now moving to Phase III. 3D Systems has participated in previous phases, although this is the first time the Air Force has deployed, “Digital Light Processing technology,” for 3D printing low criticality components. Continuing Hull added, “We are pleased to support the Air Force in its effort to reduce production costs and delivery times through Figure 4, our novel additive manufacturing technology. We look forward to our continued collaboration with UDRI and other partners – helping expand their arsenal of Figure 4 applications.” 3D Systems describes the Figure 4 as yielding, “The world’s fastest additive manufacturing throughput and time-to-part” and cite this as a primary factor in the selection of the technology for testing by the research team.

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