GE Add ORNL
GE Additive has partnered with the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to drive the industrial adoption of additive manufacturing.
The organisations have signed a five-year cooperative research and development agreement which will focus on processes, materials and software. It overwrites an existing cooperative research alliance between ORNL and GE Additive’s Arcam division, which sought to encourage the adoption and application of Electron Beam Melting (EBM) since 2012.
That agreement came subsequent to ORNL’s purchasing of an EBM platform in 2009 and looked to enhance the repeatability of the process by implementing in-situ process monitoring and closed loop control. They also placed a focus on materials accessibility, working to validate the microstructure and properties of materials like Titanium Ti-6AI-4V.
ORNL describe that R&D work as ‘essential to resolving scientific challenges in advanced metals manufacturing using new electron beam methods’, but this superseding work will broaden the focus across all GE Additive equipment. They will build on existing research into process simulation, in-situ monitoring and quality control on EBM and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), look to develop new materials and concentrate on the industrialisation and commercialisation of new equipment and processes.
“By collaborating with industry partners such as GE Additive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory brings its multi-disciplinary expertise and capabilities to bear on real-world challenges and moves technologies into the marketplace where they will have the greatest economic impact,” commented Daniel R. Simmons, Assistant Secretary for Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
“We’re really looking forward to applying the collective brainpower and expertise from both organisations to addressing the challenges around industrialisation, but we also have an eye on the future,” added Josh Mook, Innovation Leader at GE Additive. “The next wave of additive technology is already upon us – whether that’s binder jet or rapid advances in software – so, we’re excited to see where the next five years will take us.”
