Pratt & Whitney acquires Velo3D’s Sapphire XC to evaluate production of jet engine components
Velo3D, Inc., headquartered in Campbell, California, USA, reports that Pratt & Whitney, a Raytheon Technologies business, headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA, has acquired a Sapphire XC Additive Manufacturing machine in order to evaluate the production of additively manufactured jet engine components.
This is the first Sapphire machine to be located at Pratt & Whitney following the company’s previous utilisation of Velo3D’s contract manufacturer network to produce additively manufactured and finished parts. The Sapphire XC is calibrated to additively manufacture Inconel 718, a nickel-base superalloy suitable for extreme temperatures.
The Raytheon Technologies Research Center is the company’s central innovation hub where engineers, scientists and researchers explore and develop new, transformative technologies. The centre provides the company’s businesses with innovations and solutions to critical customer problems in a range of research areas, including complex integrated systems, advanced materials and manufacturing, autonomy-enabling technologies, electrification, and sustainability.
Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon Technologies are experienced users of Additive Manufacturing technologies and the latter is also a launch participant of President Biden’s recently announced AM Forward initiative, a new programme encouraging companies to explore the use of AM to transform supply chains and drive innovation.
“Metal Additive Manufacturing can transform aviation and space systems by delivering unprecedented part consolidation, lighter weight components, and more efficient systems,” stated Benny Buller, Velo3D founder and CEO. “We’re pleased to see Pratt & Whitney move forward with their own Sapphire XC printer. We’re eager to see how they innovate their most mission-critical designs using the end-to-end solution and how the economies of scale of an in-house system help increase addressable use-cases.”
Jesse Boyer, fellow, Additive Manufacturing, Pratt & Whitney, commented, “Pratt & Whitney looks forward to future applications using the Sapphire XC printer, and collaborations with other potential suppliers with the Velo3D capability, for Pratt & Whitney GTF™ and advanced engine programs.”
