The Orion spacecraft docking hatch door was 3D printed with Stratasys Antero 800NA.
Stratasys is making the baseline material qualification data for its Antero 840CN03 3D printing filament public in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and Metropolitan State University of Denver.
This data will support manufacturers in producing aerospace parts using Stratasys’ FDM 3D printing systems. Lockheed Martin has previously leaned on Stratasys’ 3D printing offering to produce parts for NASA’s deep-space Orion spacecraft.
Antero 840CN03 is a blended and functionalised PEKK-based ESD thermoplastic composite material that has been developed for Stratasys’ production grade FDM 3D printers. It meets ESD performance and NASA outgassing requirements, while also exceeding flame, smoke and toxicity (FST) characteristics required for many aviation applications. During the first phase of qualification, a baseline set of data was collected from 280 test coupons which were printed by Stratasys Direct Manufacturing and Lockheed Martin on Fortus F900 machines. The data collected is said to have confirmed the material’s high performance, consistent mechanical properties, and tensile strength. Further tests will expand the assessment to other relevant properties and, by applying the material to other part types and environments, provide engineers with additional data to work with.
“We want to demonstrate a new model for how industry, manufacturers and academia can collaborate to gather and release material qualification data that helps accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing across the aerospace industry,” commented Foster Ferguson, Director of Aerospace for Stratasys. “Through our collaboration with Lockheed Martin and MSU Denver, we hope to provide confidence in our preferred materials, demonstrate the repeatability of the F900 3D printer and deliver process documentation that supports qualification specifications for flight applications.”
“We are continually looking for ways to drive innovation for flight-qualified materials and additive manufacturing is key to that endeavour,” added Cris Robertson, Associate Manager of Advanced Manufacturing at Lockheed Martin Space. “Through our collaboration with Stratasys and MSU Denver, we have collected the data necessary to qualify Antero 840CN03 for flight parts and we are now able to expand our use of the material beyond our initial application on the Orion vehicle.”
This publication of qualification data is the second time Stratasys and Lockheed Martin have partnered to release material characteristics information. In 2018, the companies released allowable data for SABIC ULTEM 9085 resin printed on a Stratasys Fortus 900mc machine.
