Titomic signs Materials Science Testing agreement with Fincantieri Australia
June 28, 2018
With twenty shipyards across four continents, Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups (Courtesy Fincantieri S.p.A)
Metal Additive Manufacturing company, Titomic Limited, Melbourne, Australia, has signed a Materials Science Testing (MST) agreement with shipbuilder Fincantieri Australia, PTY LTD, Adelaide, Australia. This MST agreement follows the May 2018 announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the companies and is said to be the first step in a ‘defined roadmap’ to evaluate the potential for Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion Additive Manufacturing process to be used in Fincantieri’s manufacturing activities.
Under the MST agreement, Titomic will perform a series of Additive Manufacturing tests on a Fincantieri specified alloy in accordance with ASTM International Standards to achieve desired mechanical and chemical properties. The tests will include hardness, strength, porosity and chemistry analysis.
The outcome of these tests will provide Fincantieri with valuable technical information on the material properties, performance, strength, durability and cost efficiencies offered by Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion process. The analysis will take into account Australian manufacturing capabilities as well as a component redesign to enhance its material characteristics.
Jeff Lang, Titomic CTO, commented, “We are pleased to kick off this first project with Fincantieri as part of our MoU. We will be producing test samples at our new state of the art facility in Melbourne in order to conduct the stringent tests required. This is the first step towards manufacturing large marine parts on our metal 3D printers of limitless scale.”
As part of the MOU, members of Titomic’s technology and operational team reported that they recently visited Fincantieri at Riva Trigoso Shipyard, Italy, to gain an in-depth understanding of the shipbuilder’s mechanical components, which are designed, developed and manufactured on-site.
“The activities between Fincantieri and Titomic evaluate the benefits of applying the proprietary Titomic Kinetic Fusion technology to manufacture mechanical components for naval and merchant ships,” stated Dario Deste, Chairman of Fincantieri Australia. “With over one hundred ships on order around the world, Fincantieri has the size and strength to bring new technology to market.”
