Oerlikon Additive Manufacturing has delivered its 25,000th 3D printed suppressor.
The manufacturing milestone was hit on the firm’s Huntersville, North Carolina facility the place it’s utilizing laser powder mattress fusion expertise to provide high-performance steel elements for vital defence functions. The one-piece, low-back-pressure suppressors have been printed in Oerlikon MetcoAdd nickel powder and are stated to have emerged as a standout AM use case, based on an Oerlikon assertion.
“In contrast to conventional suppressors that require complicated, multi-part assemblies and sometimes generate excessive again stress, the 3D printed suppressors we manufacture are single-piece designs with considerably decrease again stress,” stated Dan Haller, Head of Business at Oerlikon AM.
Oerlikon’s additively manufactured firearms and suppressors are designed to cut back fuel blowback, minimise operator publicity to dangerous gases like carbon monoxide and lead, and decrease the chance of listening to loss and mind accidents brought on by repeated muzzle blasts. They’re additionally stated to be extraordinarily sturdy, enhancing reliability and longevity within the subject. This milestone, based on Oerlikon, cements its give attention to defence functions, even past additive manufacturing, with a broad portfolio of high-performance supplies and coating options.
Again in 2023, Oerlikon introduced plans to ‘strategically realign’ its German additive manufacturing enterprise and consolidate its AM manufacturing in america in a bid to be nearer to US progress sectors, such because the semiconductor business. That very same yr, Oerlikon signed a multi-year, 3.8 million EUR contract with Airbus for the additive manufacture of satellite tv for pc antenna clusters, persevering with a decade lengthy collaboration with a number of elements co-developed between the 2 already in orbit. It additionally expanded its place as a provider of serial 3D printed elements for house in a partnership with ArianeGroup for the manufacturing of 3D printed warmth exchangers for its Ariane 6 rocket launcher.
