The aerospace arm of British multinational GKN has signed an agreement with US research facility Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The five-year agreement will focus on additive manufacturing with the aim of developing large-scale titanium parts for the aerospace industry.
The partnership is centered on GKN Aerospaces additive manufacturing process which combines metal wire feedstock with a laser, mounted to a robotic arm. The process is known as Laser Metal Deposition with wire (LMD-w).
With this partnership with ORNL, GKN Aerospace will hope to incorporate its own structural 3D printed parts into aircraft.