3D printing the future

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) is one of the most advanced 3D printing labs in the world. The MDF chemists, metallurgists and engineers are redefining the possibilities of large-scale additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing. Established in 2012, the lab is a user facility, working in partnership with companies around the world to develop next-generation projects. Many of the main collaborators come from the aerospace industry – such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman – where the rewards from incremental gains are so high they are willing to explore cutting-edge technology. The MDF’s main workshop, taking up the majority of its one hectare area, resembles a large aircraft hangar with an open plan floorspace occupied by everything from machine tools to CT scanners and electron microscopes – and, of course, 3D printers. These range from small-scale devices on workbenches up to the two-storey Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) unit – which printed a submersible for the US Navy in 2017.