The US Navy patrol boat 3Dirigo boasts two Guiness World Records: being the largest 3D printed ship in the world and also the largest 3D printed object in the world. The 7.62 m long and 2,268 kg ship was printed in 72 hours by the world’s largest 3D printer. The center responsible for its manufacture, the Center for Structures and Advanced Composites at the University of Maine, also received a third Guinness for the world’s largest polymer 3D printer prototype, thus adding three world records for the same ship.
3Dirigo passed all tests at the Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory, an offshore model testing facility equipped with a high-performance wind machine over multi-directional waves.
The largest 3D printed ship was unveiled at a ceremony attended by more than 250 among senior federal and state officials, executives and members of the University of Maine. “I was delighted to join the UMaine celebration that unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer and the largest 3D printed object,” said Senator Susan Collins. “The future of the Composites Center is bright, thanks to the excellent working relationship between UMaine, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and many other federal agencies, which will support the next generation of large-scale additive manufacturing with bio-based thermoplastics.”
“Maine is the most forested state in the nation, and we now have a 3D printer large enough to make use of this abundant resource,” said Senator Angus King. “Today marks the latest innovative investment in Maine’s forest economy, which will serve to increase sustainability, advance the future of biologics manufacturing, and diversify our forest products industry.”
“As we saw today, the University of Maine Composites Center does award-winning, cutting-edge research that makes Maine proud and will bring jobs to our state,” said Rep. Jared Golden. “His work, like the ship and the 3D printer that we are here to see, has impressive potential to change the way we do things with all kinds of materials, including Maine wood grain. Today is about three Guinness World Records, but also about celebrating the innovation that will help protect and create high-paying jobs in Maine in forest products and manufacturing. “
The new 3D printer is designed to print objects up to 100 feet long (about 30 meters) by 22 feet wide (about 6.7 meters) by 10 feet high (3 meters) and can print at 500 pounds per hour ( 227 kilos, approximately). The one-of-a-kind printer will support several ambitious initiatives, including the development of biological raw materials using cellulose derived from wood resources, and the rapid prototyping of civil, defense and infrastructure applications.
A $ 20 million research collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the United States Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory, will support fundamental research in key technical areas in biobased additive manufacturing. big scale. The partnership between UMaine and ORNL will drive efforts to produce new biobased materials that enable 3D printing of large, structurally demanding systems. Research will focus on cellulose nanofiber (CNF) production, drying, functionalization and compounding with thermoplastics, leveraging UMaine’s leadership in CNF technology and extrusion research. By placing CNF of wood in thermoplastics, bio-derived recyclable material systems can be developed with properties that can rival traditional materials, possibly even metals.
“This is an exciting achievement in our partnership with the University of Maine,” said Moe Khaleel, associate director of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences laboratory. “This new team will accelerate the application and integration of our foundational materials science, plant genomics, and manufacturing research for the development of new sustainable bio-derived compounds, creating an economic opportunity for the Maine forest products industry and the nation.” .
Bio-based raw materials are recyclable and inexpensive, providing competitive advantages to Maine’s manufacturing industries, including shipbuilding. The UMaine Composites Center received $ 500,000 from the Maine Institute of Technology (MTI) to form a technology group to help Maine shipbuilders explore how large-scale 3D printing using inexpensive wood-filled plastics can provide give the industry a competitive advantage.
The group brings together the expertise of UMaine researchers and marine industry leaders to further develop and commercialize 3D printing for the benefit of the state’s shipbuilders. By 3D printing plastics with 50% wood, boat parts and molds can be produced much faster and are cheaper than today’s traditional methods.
To demonstrate the capabilities of the new printer, UMaine 3D printed this 25-foot patrol boat in a hull shape developed by Navatek, a leader in ship design and industrial partner of the UMaine Composites Center. The 5,000-pound ship went to print in 72 hours. The printer, with precise additive and subtractive manufacturing capabilities, enables rapid prototyping for defense and civil applications.
UMaine also displayed a 12-foot-long, 3D-printed US Army communications shelter. The new printer will support the programs of the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (CCDC) Soldier Center and its mission to develop rapid deployment shelter systems for soldiers. Other areas of use include concealment applications, structural shelters, and high temperature fire retardant materials for vehicle mounted shelters.
“The innovation we have witnessed here at the University of Maine will revolutionize the way the Army designs and manufactures shelters, vehicles and other large systems,” said Col. Frank Moore, military deputy for the CCDC Soldiers Center. “The lighter, but stronger, 3D-printed systems will advance the state of the art in additive manufacturing, shaping the future of IAW expedition equipment with the Army’s new policy on advanced manufacturing.”
Working with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the 3D printer will further advance UMaine’s groundbreaking innovations in low-logistics, rapid-deployment infrastructure systems. This includes a 5,000-pound (approximately 2,268 kg), 21-foot-long (6.4-meter) 3D-printed mold for a new 76-foot-long (23-meter) composite bridge girder. The girder has been commissioned from a UMaine spin-off, Advanced Infrastructure Technology, which is in the process of manufacturing girders for a bridge to be built in Hampden, Maine. In addition, the rapid production of concrete formwork on site is a potential solution for infrastructure construction and coastal resilience applications.
“The US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is proud of the achievements of long-standing collaboration with the University of Maine on military engineering,” said David Horner, director of the ERDC Information Technology Laboratory. “The large capacity of the 3D printer will greatly support research in applications for both military engineering and the national civil works infrastructure.” This unique facility, along with high-performance computing applications, will help advance the DoD’s rapid prototyping capabilities. “
Bartley Durst, director of ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structural Laboratory, noted, “This ability to produce large bio-based prototypes through advanced high performance additive manufacturing capabilities will provide critical technology development of solutions in force projection and protection of strength for our nation’s war fighters ”.
“We anticipate that this capability will foster the development of force-on-demand projection nodes, shoreline logistics solutions, as well as natural disaster response and recovery capabilities, globally,” Durst said. “In addition, this large 3D printing capability supports the development of rapidly building site, repair and rehabilitation transportation infrastructure for this critical need of our nation. USACE ERDC looks forward to the continued and productive collaborative partnership with UMaine. ”.
“We are truly honored to work with leaders in the Maine shipbuilding industry, the Maine forest products industry, the national construction industry, the Maine Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Bureau of Advanced Manufacturing of the United States Department of Energy, the United States Office of Naval Research, the United States Army and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, ”said Habib Dagher, executive director of the Center for UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites. “With this great printer, we will be able to accelerate innovation and prototype development in both the civil and military sectors.”
“This 3D printer is the result of research that we have been doing for 15 years in combining nano and cellulosic microfibers with thermoplastic materials,” said Dagher. “Our goal is to print 50% wood products at 500 pounds per hour, and achieve properties similar to those of aluminum. We thank our congressional delegation for their support ”.