What does the tank market look like after the Russian-Ukrainian war?

[sunday]

3 hours ago, kokovi said:

I have not looked top deep into that field but it seems that parts with high and/or multidirectional and/or dynamic mechanical loads are not suited to 3D printing. It is very good for parts with complicated geometry which experience mostly thermal or chemical loads.

It is a complex, and sophisticated field. See this, for example:

Quote

Recently, Siemens designed newer turbine blades to be manufactured using DMLS technology [3,84]. In collaboration with Material Solutions, the turbine blades were successfully 3D printed on an Eosint DMLS machine using a nickel super-alloy powder. The 3D printed blades were tested on a 13-megawatt SGT-400-type industrial gas turbine under full-load conditions. The blades were found to withstand extreme pressures and temperatures of about 1250 °C at 13,000 rpm. With the adoption of AM, the design and development of the blade went from component design to testing in just 18 months, which otherwise would have consumed six months. These blades had improved internal cooling geometry, which was possible because of the design flexibility of AM. The 3D printed turbine blade made up of a Ni-based super alloy developed by Siemens is shown in Figure 8.

A turbine blade, however, is one of the parts that fulfills pretty well the conditions you outlined.

Edited November 2, 2023 by sunday

[Mikel2]

On 10/31/2023 at 8:23 AM, sunday said:

There are 3D printers that work with metals. See here, for instance. I am not sure about cost-effectiveness of printing large parts in armor steel. Then there is the heat treating.

 

We use lots of 3D printed metal parts.  Most popular alloys are available these days.   Material is not very homogeneous and often machining is required to obtain necessary tolerances and surface finishes.

[DB]

On 10/31/2023 at 12:23 PM, sunday said:

There are 3D printers that work with metals. See here, for instance. I am not sure about cost-effectiveness of printing large parts in armor steel. Then there is the heat treating.

I think that most metal 3d printing methods produce parts that are broadly equivalent to some sintered parts, so that would be the start of a basis for suitability. Good old fashioned "subtractive manufacturing" is probably cheaper and might be quicker for structural stuff with very low volumes. There are also a few videos floating about the internet showing that manual machines can be quicker and more effective than CNC machines, which should be fairly obvious for very low production "job shop" stuff. These would, however, be "bespoke" fit parts that would likely need fettling.

Where 3d printing can also work well is in the production of replacement patterns for (smaller) cast parts, which would enable custom foundry shops to make replacements. Usually achieved by laser scanning original parts, so you have to hope you've got a mid-tolerance prototype to work from.

[sunday]

1 hour ago, DB said:

I think that most metal 3d printing methods produce parts that are broadly equivalent to some sintered parts, so that would be the start of a basis for suitability. Good old fashioned "subtractive manufacturing" is probably cheaper and might be quicker for structural stuff with very low volumes. There are also a few videos floating about the internet showing that manual machines can be quicker and more effective than CNC machines, which should be fairly obvious for very low production "job shop" stuff. These would, however, be "bespoke" fit parts that would likely need fettling.

Where 3d printing can also work well is in the production of replacement patterns for (smaller) cast parts, which would enable custom foundry shops to make replacements. Usually achieved by laser scanning original parts, so you have to hope you've got a mid-tolerance prototype to work from.

Quite agree, but when there are techniques to manufacture monocrystalline turbine blades, perhaps there are some 3D printing processes for parts that could not be made by powder metalurgy. Or the cooling techniques enabled by 3D printing could make monocrystalline blades not needed.