Chemistry:Software defined manufacturing
Software defined manufacturing is the use of software controlled tools to construct parts and other objects, and to the use of 3D printers to create tools. One of the advantages of software defined manufacturing is the rapid prototyping of parts in experimental and high-technology applications, or developing single item fabrication and just-in-time manufacturing.
Use in rocketry
An example which has been given is the construction of a rocket in 60 days, as opposed to the usual 18 months to five years, depending on the use for the rocket.[1] One way to accomplish this is to use 3D printing of parts as opposed to metal casting, machining, or welding of pieces into a sub-assembly, then attaching the sub-assemblies together using common methods, such as use of bolts, glues, and/or welding.
One of the parts in a rocket which has been constructed using this method is the fuel nozzle. Fuel, typically hydrogen, must be sprayed in a fine mist to ignite it to provide thrust to propel the rocket. The problem being that the heat from combustion at 5,500 °F (3,040 °C; 3,310 K) exceeds the melting point of light-weight metals such as aluminum at 1,221 °F (661 °C; 934 K). A solution to this is to cool the nozzle by passing the liquid hydrogen at −423.17 °F (−252.87 °C; 20.28 K), along with liquid oxygen at −297 °F (−182.8 °C; 90.4 K), through the sides of the nozzle using hundreds of small tubes. While this solves the overheating problem, the production of a nozzle with hundreds of embedded pipes can take months. Building the nozzle as a single piece of 3D printed aluminum, using alloy wire fused using one or more lasers, reduces construction time to days or weeks, with the advantage that instead of a nozzle constructed from over 2000 parts, the nozzle consists of a single piece of 3D printed aluminum.[2]
References
 |
