NASA uses 3D printing technology to create components for boosters

3D printing technology has shifted from technical research departments to households, and it is now beginning to encroach into space. NASA has just experimented with details in rocket engines made of 3D printing technology at extremely high temperature and pressure conditions, and compared to the traditionally made details. With faster advantages and cheaper prices, 3D printing details have the potential to promote a revolution in the composition of rocket engines and save both time and money for agencies. Space.

Obviously, reliability is a prerequisite for applying 3D printing technology to the engine of a space rocket, so engineers of the Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA have tested two taps. 3D-printed inkjet printers are small in size and compare their performance with the traditional type. In 11 tests under different conditions, two NASA test nozzles were "tested fire" at a temperature of about 3,316 degrees Celsius for a total of 45 seconds.

Sandra Elam Greene, a rocket engineer, who manages all of the tests, said: "We don't see any difference in the performance of printing details with 3D printing technology compared to things made according to the traditional method ". 3D printed details are good for tests, so engineers of the Marshall Space Flight Center will continue to do other tests in the future.

Marshall Center engineers only spend about 3 weeks and cost less than US $ 5,000 to build small-sized nozzles as a component in boosters, thanks to the synthesis of Inconel steel powder using 3D printers. advanced. By comparison, traditional small-size rocket nozzles are made up of 4 parts and usually take about 6 months to fabricate, weld, and cost over $ 10,000.

Ken Cooper, a material engineer at Marshall, who was involved in the fabrication of nozzle parts with 3D printing technology, explains: "It took us about 40 hours from start to finish. Good to create a nozzle thanks to 3D printing technology called selective fusion laser, and a few weeks to polish and check the details ".

Previously NASA also tested the details created by 3D printing technology. The J-2X engine exhaust is the first detail created by 3D printing technology and tested under test conditions with hot air, in 2012, but the list of details uses 3D printing technology. has grown rapidly.

"The missile engine is a complex machine, with hundreds of separate parts manufactured and assembled by many different suppliers, so testing a detail created by a new technology Help us clarify whether it could be something that could be applied to missiles in the future, " said Chris Singer, technical director of the Marshall Center.

3D printing technology is showing that it is a promising technology in the future, not only for everyday life but also for making things superior. Obviously, with 3D printing technology, creativity only depends on human imagination.