Video: Additive Manufacturing in Extreme Application
NASA’s test of a rocket engine fuel injector made through selective laser melting illustrates an additively produced part’s capacity to perform at high temperature and pressure.
This video shows NASA’s test of a rocket engine fuel injector made through selective laser melting, an additive manufacturing process. The part in this test withstood 1,400 pounds per square inch of pressure at nearly 6,000°F, and performed "flawlessly," according to NASA. Because of additive manufacturing’s freedom to produce complex geometries, the injector was made in just two pieces, where a previous injector design was an assembly consisting of 115 pieces. The additively produced injector in this test was made by Directed Manufacturing, a Texas additive manufacturing specialist we’ve written about.
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