NASA uses SLM to create bespoke rocket parts
NASA is using selective laser melting (SLM) to create complex metal parts for its next generation Space Launch System – a rocket designed to take humans, equipment and experiments beyond low Earth orbit to nearby asteroids and eventually Mars.
The agency procured Concept Laser's M2 Cusing machine to build parts for the flagship rocket more affordably and efficiently.
The M2 is similar in principle to other 3D printers, but instead of causing polymers to set, it works in stainless steel, hot worked steel, aluminum, titanium and nickel alloy, by means of a 200W fibre laser.
"Basically, the machine takes metal powder and uses a high energy laser to melt it in a designed pattern," said Ken Cooper, advanced manufacturing team leader at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Alabama. "The laser will layer the melted dust to fuse whatever part we need from the ground up, creating intricate designs. The process produces parts with complex geometries and precise mechanical properties from a 3D CAD file."
According to Cooper, the process has reduced the time required to produce parts from months to weeks, and brought about significant improvements in affordability. "Also, since we're not welding parts together, the parts are structurally stronger and more reliable, which creates an overall safer vehicle," he noted.
NASA plans to use the M2 to print engine parts for the J-2X engine, which is intended for the upper stage of the Space Launch System.
Some of the printed engine parts will be structurally tested and used in hot fire tests later this year. The first unmanned developmental flight is targeted for the end of 2017.
