Zooming In on 3D-Printed Metals
Benzing said he spends most of his time analyzing metals created by additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, although he also studies metals used in processes like welding and hot rolling. He works on NIST’s Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture project, which aims to enable the use of 3D-printed metal in critical applications. Manufacturers are really scared to use 3D-printed metals in critical applications because they don’t have confidence in the reliability of those parts yet, he said. An example of a critical application would be a jet engine.
“If you have like a critical component in a jet engine and it breaks, the engine blows up and takes out the whole wing with it, the plane’s going down,” Benzing said. “So right now, aerospace companies are only using 3D-printed metals in like areas of the plane that aren’t going to be critical if that part were to break.”
Increasing the confidence that aerospace companies have in the use of 3D-printed metals for critical applications could change a lot of things, though. According to Benzing, aerospace companies would probably save a lot of money and fuel. This would also trickle down to all of us via lower costs and a greener environment.
