Development and Implementation of Laser Metal Wire Deposition at GKN Additive

GKN Additive has its sights set on flying Ti 6Al 4V aerostructure components for their laser-based wire-fed metallic additive manufacturing technology. The technical development status and future plans, including nondestructive evaluation and path to certification will be discussed. To accelerate the program, GKN is partnered with the experts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on topics such as in-situ thermal management and real-time process control automation. GKN Aerospace, an aerospace Tier 1 supplier, is currently flying additively manufactured components on seven major platforms, including those made with multiple deposition technologies and materials. A few of those case studies will be presented.