ITAMCO Wins Air Force Contract for 3D Printed Runway Mats
May 23, 2019Comments
Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies (ITAMCO), Plymouth, MI, has announced a contract with the United States Air Force to develop 3D printed runway mats, a critical component of expeditionary airfields (EAFs), portable airfields constructed, used and broken down after a mission, and moved to another site for re-use. The mats must be easy to install and store, yet capable of withstanding the stresses of repeated take-offs and landings of aircraft and the impact from arresting hooks.
Fabricated PXCM material enable the mats to change from one stable configuration to another and back again. An article in the Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research explains that the PXCM geometry allows for the absorption of energy while remaining reusable since the phase transformation is reversible without inducing permanent deformation into the base material. This means the new runway mat can heal itself, resulting in a longer lifespan. Prototypes made on ITAMCO’s EOS M290 3Dprinter are made of 316L stainless steel powder.
See also: EOS of North America, Inc.
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