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Pratt & Whitney opens additive manufacturing facility at UConn

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Core Tip:Paul Adams, COO of Pratt & Whitney, speaks at the Pratt & Whitney and UConn Additive Manufacturing Event in the
Pratt  Whitney opens additive manufacturing facility at UConn

Paul Adams, COO of Pratt & Whitney, speaks at the Pratt & Whitney and UConn Additive Manufacturing Event in the Information Technologies Engineering Building on April 5, 2013. (Photo: Ariel Dowski/UConn)

The University of Connecticut and Pratt & Whitney have announced the opening of a new additive manufacturing laboratory.

The facility, called the Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn, is located at the university’s campus in Storrs, Connecticut.

The centre is a collaborative effort to study additive manufacturing research and development and is the first additive manufacturing facility in the U.S.s Northeast area to work with metals rather than plastics.

Another feature of the facility will be the efforts to train a new generation of engineers and designers in the latest advancements in manufacturing technology.

RELATED: Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney cuts 350 jobs including 25 in Canadian unit

“The new Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center will allow us to push into new frontiers of manufacturing and materials science while training a new generation of engineers in some of the worlds most sophisticated manufacturing technology,” said UConn President Susan Herbst.

The centre, which uses some of the latest in 3-D manufacturing equipment and rapid prototyping technologies, is also going to feature into the university’s curriculum. The school is developing new degree concentrations and a new curriculum associated with additive manufacturing.

Both company engineers and the university’s faculty and students will use the facility’s resources to develop advanced fabrication techniques for parts that are in high demand in aerospace, biomedical science, among other industries.

“Additive manufacturing is complimentary to traditional methods by enabling new innovation in design, speed and affordability, and is necessary to build the next generation of jet engines,” said Paul Adams, Pratt & Whitneys Chief Operating Officer.

“We are currently using additive manufacturing to build complex components with extreme precision for the flight-proven PurePower commercial jet engine.”

Pratt & Whitney invested more than $4.5 million in the centre and will invest an additional $3.5 million in the facility over the next five years.

The facility uses advanced powder bed manufacturing technologies and high-powered electron beams and lasers to repeatedly melt fine layers of powdered metals like titanium into one piece.

Additive manufacturing can be used for a wide range of products such as turbine components for jet engines to personalized prosthetic implants.

In 2010, Pratt & Whitney established a research Center of Excellence at the University of Connecticut. That research centre focuses on fundamental and applied research initiatives that support the design and development of more efficient gas turbine engines.


 
 
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