FasTech and University of North Dakota Explore Wire-DED Technology for Space Applications

Many of the parts needed for space missions are Aluminum, Titanium, and Steel. This is one of the main reasons why NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken the initiative of forging a new era of space exploration by partnering with small businesses and universities to develop metal printing capabilities for the International Space Station (ISS) and future missions, utilizing these materials.

As a result of this, the University of North Dakota (UND) has won a grant funded by NASA to investigate the potential of metal additive manufacturing (AM) to print Aluminum components for future lunar exploration. Dr. Sougata Roy leads this effort at UND and selected Fastech LLC . to print these components.?

FasTech, headquartered in Danville, VA, is a manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS) company that has additive, subtractive, and inspection systems under one roof. As opposed to using powder as the feedstock, FasTech applies conventional welding wires to print small to medium to large-scale metal components using their Directed Energy Deposition (DED) systems (see image below).

Dr. Roy selected Aluminum 6061 as the printing alloy due to its high strength-to-weight ratio and is also heat treatable. Therefore, FasTech recommended Arc-DED (commonly known as WAAM) process to print defect-free aluminum components with superior mechanical properties.

As a starting point, FasTech successfully printed an Aluminum 6061 block (Image 2), so Dr. Roy’s research team can extract coupons for testing and evaluation. The below block was printed at a deposition rate of 3.3 lbs/h (1.5 kg/h), which also includes the inter-layer cooling time. In parallel, samples from Al 6061 powder are being printed using Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) process at UND. Subsequently, the lunar dust tolerant capability of fabricated parts via different AM techniques will be investigated.?

FasTech and UND plan to apply this technology and expand their partnership to manufacture aluminum alloys for different engineering sectors.

To learn more about this project email:

Yash Bandari –?[email protected],

Sougata Roy – [email protected]