Sciaky partners on Metallic Advanced Materials for Aeronautics project

Sciaky Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries Inc. (PSI) and metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions provider, has entered a research and development (R&D) initiative with Aubert & Duval, Airbus, and the Saint Exupéry Institute for Research in Technology (IRT). The Production Engineering laboratory of the National School of Engineering in Tarbes, France, will serve as an academic partner for this project, also known as the Metallic Advanced Materials for Aeronautics (MAMA) project.

The goal is to couple traditional metallurgy – high-power closed die forging – with emerging wire-fed metal 3D printing techniques, in this case, Sciaky’s Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) process, to develop new processes for manufacturing titanium alloy aircraft parts. In this first phase, the project has a global funding of $4.8 million, of which 50% are supported by the French State as part of the “Investing in the Future” program (Programme Investissement d’Avenir, or PIA), the other 50% being funded by its industrial partners.

“Sciaky is proud to work with the Saint Exupéry IRT, Aubert & Duval, and Airbus on this exciting project,” said Scott Phillips, president and CEO of Sciaky Inc. “Industrial metal additive manufacturing technology continues to break new ground every day, and Sciaky is committed to keeping EBAM at the forefront of this movement.”

Sciaky’s EBAM systems can produce parts ranging from 8" (203mm) to 19ft (5.79m) long. EBAM offers gross deposition rates up to 25 lb (11.34kg) of metal per hour. EBAM’s Interlayer Real-time Imaging and Sensing System (IRISS) can sense and digitally self-adjust metal deposition with precision and repeatability for consistent part geometry, mechanical properties, microstructure, and metal chemistry.