SPEE3D’s Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing technology to be installed at US Naval Postgraduate School
August 24, 2023
SPEE3D, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, has partnered with CAMRE (Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education) at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA, to bring its Cold Spray metal Additive Manufacturing technology to the Tri-State Maritime forces in the US, including the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The US Naval Postgraduate School’s XSPEE3D metal AM machine will be utilised by military graduate students, PhD candidates, as well as research and development professionals.
CAMRE plans to leverage the XSPEE3D machine and its proprietary Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) technology to explore its role in Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) for ships, vessels (both surface and undersea), aircraft, and ground equipment. The technology will be tested and evaluated during contested military trials and exercises, both on the ground and onboard an amphibious warfare ship.
“The Naval Postgraduate School chose the XSPEE3D metal 3D printer because of its expeditionary nature that allows it to be contained inside a rugged and deployable metal container and deployed anywhere, including harsh field conditions. Uniquely, it runs on heated compressed air and does not require inert gasses or lasers, reducing risk to the operator. We were also impressed with its capabilities relating to build speeds and maximum part size and its lineup of current and future materials,” shared Chris Curran, Program Manager for CAMRE.
This announcement follows the successful field trial of SPEE3D technology at the Marine Corps Annual Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 4-23 where SPEE3D participated alongside CAMRE to deploy WarpSPEE3D in order to manufacture crucial parts that ere either broken or unavailable from ground support. SPEE3D was the only AM company invited to the exercise.
Warfighters and maintainers need technology that can quickly produce metal repair and replacement parts on-demand, minimising downtime and keeping them in the fight. XSPEE3D offers a containerised, ruggedised, and deployable Additive Manufacturing capability that can function in austere environments, even when exposed to the elements. While the WarpSPEE3D is not containerised, it is reportedly well-suited to shop or depot use and has been proven to be expeditionary capable in field trials with the Australian, US, and UK militaries.
“We’re thrilled to partner with CAMRE to bring access to our CSAM technology that allows them to integrate efforts with our company further, as well as with NAVSEA and Penn State University’s Applied Research Lab,” added Chris Harris, SPEE3D Vice President of Defense, Americas.
