{"id":49903,"date":"2023-09-27T16:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=49903"},"modified":"2023-09-27T14:15:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T12:15:55","slug":"us-navy-to-use-3d-printed-components-in-nuclear-subs-270920235","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/us-navy-to-use-3d-printed-components-in-nuclear-subs-270920235\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Navy to Use 3D Printed Components in New Nuclear Subs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Navy stretches around the world as one of the farthest-reaching branches of the North American superpower. It demands the most cutting-edge technology to enhance its operational effectiveness as it patrols the oceans of the world. To fill that role, additive manufacturing<\/a> has been increasingly in the news as the Navy turns to 3D printing<\/a> to meet its demand and develop transformative new approaches to its submarine<\/a> manufacturing in particular. Now, HII Newport News Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat have announced that they will implement additive manufacturing on the fleet’s new Virginia-class nuclear submarines, an icon of the U.S. Navy. Thanks to 3D printing they hope to speed up the construction of ships<\/a>, reduce supply chain reliance and make faster deliveries.<\/p>\n

HII and General Dynamics have become part of the Virginia-class submarine production team. These new submarines feature advanced intelligence equipment, battle group support and mine warfare capabilities. The goal of this project is to design a submarine whose production times are shorter and is more advanced in materials and capabilities than the contemporary model it is planned to replace, the Los Angeles-class. For its manufacture, marine alloys such as copper-nickel are being implemented as an alternative building material to the traditional metals that have been used in shipbuilding for years. This particular alloy, copper-nickel, is slated for use in the 3D printed manufacturing of deck drains.<\/p>\n

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The 3D printed pieces for use in the subs (Photo credits: HII)<\/p><\/div>\n

The key part targeted for 3D printing on the Virginia-class submarine is the deck drains – ducts whose function is to move water from one specific location to another aboard the sub. AMMCON, a manufacturing supplier, in collaboration with naval specialists HII and General Dynamics Electric Boat, tested the drains. The result was a success, demonstrating the parts’ strength and the overall cost-effectiveness of 3D printing the pieces. These drains have since been installed on the Virginia-class USS Oklahoma (SSN-802), which is currently under construction. It is believed that the Oklahoma could be a model to be implemented in the production of the rest of the Virginia-class submarines. Its quick and easy fabrication and low cost make the 3D printed drainage system the ideal choice for the Navy.<\/p>

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Newport News Shipbuilding Vice President of Engineering and Design Dave Bolcar said, “As a leader in additive manufacturing for shipbuilding, we are aggressively looking for opportunities to find ways to incorporate this technology into mainstream shipbuilding”.<\/em> To carry out the project, the Navy has approved a series of proposals to streamline the requirements necessary to approve more ‘low-risk’ 3D-designed parts for use in their vessels. Efforts to install parts created with additive manufacturing on submarines demonstrate the technology’s potential to dramatically reduce lead times for critical components.<\/p>\n

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Construction underway on the USS New Jersey, a Virginia-class submarine (Photo credits: Huntington Ingalls)<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you think of the U.S. Navy’s latest 3D printed addition to its shipbuilding process? Let us know in a comment below or on our\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>, and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0pages! Don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly\u00a0Newsletter here<\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on our\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/p>\n

*Cover Photo Credits: General Dynamics<\/em><\/p>\n

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The U.S. Navy stretches around the world as one of the farthest-reaching branches of the North American superpower. It demands the most cutting-edge technology to enhance its operational effectiveness as it patrols the oceans of the world. To fill that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6104,"featured_media":49904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49912,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions\/49912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}