Huntington Ingalls Industries partners with 3D Systems to accelerate adoption of 3-D printing

Left to right: Chuck Hull, 3D Systems co-founder; Kevin McAlea, 3D Systems executive VP/GM, metals and healthcare; and Charles Southall, Newport News VP of engineering and design. Photo by John Whalen/HII.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has partnered with 3D Systems to develop additive manufacturing (AM) technologies expected to accelerate the adoption of metal 3-D printing in the naval shipbuilding industry.The joint effort is expected to support future qualification and certification programs necessary to implement advanced manufacturing technology for the U.S. Navy and further revolutionize how shipbuilders build the next generation of warships. It also is part of a significant technological transformation underway at Newport News called integrated Digital Shipbuilding (iDS).

“This is a game-changing and disruptive technology for our industry,” said Charles Southall, Newport News’ vice president of engineering and design. “In addition to our ongoing digital shipbuilding efforts, 3-D printing could transform our design standards, and this technology has the potential to be one of the most significant manufacturing innovations in our industry since we began building nuclear-powered ships in the 1950s.”

As part of the joint development agreement, 3D Systems delivered and installed the ProX DMP 320 high-performance metal AM system at Newport News. The machine can make 3-D, marine-based, alloy parts for castings or other fabricated parts, such as valves, housings, and brackets.