Origin, Stress Engineering Services and nTopology collaborate together to address an aerospace technical challenge
Origin, the manufacturer of open 3D Printers has been chosen to take part in the U.S. Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office’s (RSO) inaugural Advanced Manufacturing Olympics. The free of charge virtual event comprises five Technical Challenges that feature additive manufacturing and reverse engineering. Origin will compete in the Approval Sprints Technical Challenge.
For the project they will defend during the event, Origin’s engineers have worked alongside engineering software company nTopology, and the consulting engineering company Stress Engineering Services.
The project consists in developing an F-16 hydraulic line clamp, of which the Air Force has thousands of unique clamps across its fleet. The requirements for the challenge were complex and looked at dimensional accuracy, stresses/loads, flammability compliance, temperature ratings (low and high), jet fuel exposure, vibration tolerance, hydraulic fluid exposure, and engine oil exposure. Origin tested a number of different materials, printed test fixtures, and conducted multi-material printing. The part submitted by the team for this challenge was designed on nTopology, uses Loctite 3955, a flame-retardant chemically-resistant material from Henkel, is manufactured on the Origin One 3D printer, and validated by Stress Engineering Services.
“There is a pressing need to rapidly deploy engineering solutions for US Air Force fleet and infrastructure sustainment,” said Ian Muceus, Director of Government Programs at Origin. “We are excited to be one of the companies selected to participate in this challenge and use our advanced additive manufacturing technology to help with these obsolescence and sustainment challenges by identifying innovative strategies for rapidly designing, qualifying, and deploying solutions that leverage new manufacturing processes, materials, and components.”
The top component design that meets the minimum specified requirements will be eligible for installation and a one-time flight on an F-16 during the Additive Manufacturing Olympics.
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