Quick Summary
• Engineering and manufacturing company GKN Aerospace has partnered with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), committing $8.4 million to a new initiative called Titanium Industrialization and Technology Advancement for Near-net Additive Manufacturing (TITAN-AM). The program is designed to utilize wire-based laser metal deposition (LMD-w) for real-world aerospace production, with a particular focus on building…
Additional Context
Engineering and manufacturing company GKN Aerospace has partnered with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), committing $8.4 million to a new initiative called Titanium Industrialization and Technology Advancement for Near-net Additive Manufacturing (TITAN-AM).
The program is designed to utilize wire-based laser metal deposition (LMD-w) for real-world aerospace production, with a particular focus on building the large structural components that next-generation aircraft demand.
Five Pillars Driving the Program
TITAN-AM is structured around five interconnected priorities. The first is scaling LMD-w processes to handle oversized titanium structural parts. The second involves building comprehensive material performance databases to guarantee structural integrity.
Third, the team w