Additive manufacturing advances in metal 3D printing and maritime technology

AMCM, a subsidiary of EOS GmbH, has opened a new large-format metal additive manufacturing assembly facility in Weilheim, Germany. Developed in collaboration with the Bauer Group, the site is designed to increase production capacity for systems such as the AMCM M 450, M 4K, and M 8K. These machines are used in the aerospace, energy, and research sectors to produce complex components like rocket parts and heat exchangers.

In a separate development in the maritime sector, UNIST and the startup 3DFactory have been selected for a South Korean government-funded project to develop 5-meter-class ship propellers using metal additive manufacturing. The 11 billion won project aims to use wire arc additive manufacturing to replace traditional sand casting, which is often slow and wasteful.

The technology is being developed with applications for the U.S. Navy’s vessel maintenance, repair, and overhaul market. The project also incorporates artificial intelligence to predict and correct thermal deformation during the printing process, potentially serving as a model for Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation.