3D Systems announced on March 18, 2021, that it is cooperating with Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News shipbuilding division to develop copper-nickel (CuNi) and nickel-copper (NiCu) alloy powder bed fusion additive manufacturing plans. Both CuNi and NiCu are corrosion resistant materials, which are very suitable for marine applications. The new material is expected to enable the Newport News shipyard to use additive manufacturing technology to replace traditional parts processing, which is expected to shorten the delivery time by 75%, thereby improving the efficiency of the supply chain. This plan can greatly expand the application of additive manufacturing technology in the maritime field.
The use of 3D printing technology to develop parts is cost-effective and shortens delivery time. Therefore, manufacturers in more and more fields are beginning to use AM instead of traditional casting methods. However, the main obstacle in many applications is the limited materials available. This cooperation will take a big step forward in the production of maritime parts. As we all know, CuNi and NiCu have high strength and toughness at various temperatures and can be used in many fields. However, the delivery time using traditional casting methods is very long, sometimes even more than 12 months, which facilitated the cooperation between 3D Systems and Newport News Shipbuilding. In this cooperation, the two parties will be committed to selecting alloy compositions, designing process parameter experiments, and appraising parts including tensile and other material tests. With these new materials, Newport News Shipyard will be able to use metal additive manufacturing technology to produce castings and replacement parts for valves, housings and brackets. By successfully demonstrating the use of these materials, 3DSystems expects to add these materials to the company's material portfolio to solve metal corrosive problems in more areas, such as oil and gas production and refining, and public energy production.
3D Systems has provided additive manufacturing expertise to the US Navy for decades, and related technologies are used in everything from aircraft parts to diving components. In 2018, 3D Systems and Newport News Shipbuilding signed a joint development agreement to make metal additive manufacturing technology qualified to build naval warships. At that time, 3D Systems' ProX DMP 320 (the predecessor of DMP Flex 350) was used to build ships (Antarctic Bear Global 3D Printing Product Library https://product.nanjixiong.com/ has included this 3D printer, welcome to consult) . 3D printing technology provides an economical, efficient, and fast way to replace damaged parts, and can increase the production speed of high-precision parts, while reducing waste and reducing costs.
Copper-nickel alloy and nickel-copper alloy
At high temperatures, metallic nickel and copper can dissolve each other in any ratio, and form a solid solution after cooling. Simply put, after melting, "more copper and less nickel" are called copper-nickel, and vice versa, it is called nickel-copper. The higher the nickel content in the solid solution, the whiter the alloy color, but as long as the nickel content does not exceed 70%, the naked eye usually sees the yellow color of copper.
Common copper-nickel alloys are also commonly known as cupronickel. Compared with pure copper, copper-nickel alloys can significantly improve metal strength, corrosion resistance, hardness and conductivity. The mechanical and physical properties of cupronickel are very good, good ductility, high hardness, beautiful color, corrosion resistance, and deep drawing performance. It is widely used in shipbuilding, petrochemical industry, electrical appliances, instruments, medical equipment, daily necessities, handicrafts, etc. Field, and is still an important resistance and thermocouple alloy. The disadvantage of copper-nickel alloy is that the main added element-nickel is a scarce strategic material, and the price is relatively expensive. The nickel-copper alloy has good room temperature mechanical properties and high temperature strength, corrosion resistance, high wear resistance, easy processing, non-magnetic, and is a good structural material for manufacturing traveling wave tubes and other electronic tubes. It can also be used as a structural material for aero engines.