Colibrium Additive offers on-site support at Purdue hypersonics center
GE Aerospace company sends two full-time engineers as additive manufacturing SMEs
Colibrium Additive, formerly GE Additive, has deployed two full-time engineers to support the Hypersonics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (HAMTC) at Purdue University’s Applied Research Institute (PARI). The engineers, Nate Humbert and Ryan Saucier, will function as additive manufacturing subject matter experts, supporting faculty, students and staff as they leverage 3D printing for hypersonic development and innovations.
Purdue’s HAMTC has the distinction of being the United States’ only hypersonics center that carries out design, manufacturing, joining and testing capabilities. As Mark Lewis, President and CEO of Purdue Applied Research Institute, says: “We established HAMTC with the very ambitious goal of creating a one-stop shop for industry partners to collaborate with our own researchers on hypersonic materials and manufacturing innovations.”
Colibrium Additive has been one of these industry partners, supplying additive manufacturing equipment that researchers have used in the study of high-temperature materials and hypersonics development. For example, this past March, the center leveraged additive manufacturing to produce a full-scale functional prototype of a supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet), an engine capable of traveling at speeds beyond Mach 5.
By providing on-site support to the center in the form of two full-time engineers, Colibrium Additive is deepening its collaboration with the university. The aim is for the AM experts to support researchers and allow them to more efficiently develop hypersonic technologies that will ultimately be applied in the defense sector. “These engineers from Colibrium Additive provide insights that move our research along further and more rapidly than if we had to reach out via email or collaborate virtually,” said David Bretz, PARI’s senior project manager. “We hope to create the model that other industry partners can replicate for other areas of expertise.”
Nate Humbert himself is a Purdue alum, having earned a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics there. He and Ryan Saucier both have PARI credentials and will be completely integrated into Purdue’s system. On the ground, they will be wearing multiple hats, so to speak, helping to maintain the center’s everyday operations as well as offering guidance in other areas, like standard operating procedures, equipment layout and safety. On a more granular level, they will be offering their expertise by checking part designs, overseeing print process monitoring and processing the printed components (i.e. removing excess powder and the part from the build plate, and conducting heat treatments). The HAMTC currently operates two Colibrium Additive machines: the M2 and X Line 2000 laser powder bed fusion systems.
“Because HAMTC as a facility is such a new concept, there is a knowledge gap,” Saucier said. “That’s why we’re here, to help fill those gaps and do our best to support the entire team using our background in additive manufacturing.”
