US Navy
carriers might one day be equipped with additive
manufacturing capabilities.
Fox News
reports that there were concerns around safety and the “dynamic environment” of
a ship, but the technology would be of great potential use, according to
officials.
“The powder that’s used in the aluminum or titanium is highly
flammable,” said Lt. Ben Kohlman, Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid
Innovation Cell, said at this week’s Sea-Air-Space expo in Maryland when discussing safety
considerations
The lack of
stability on a ship was another concern, said Tyson
Weinert, a Coast Guard commander.
“They can’t be subjected to the pitch, the roll, the yaw [of a
ship], so now you’ve got those forces acting on a printer,” he
said.
“What is the tolerance for that, how will the printer itself
react to those other forces? You can try to manage the center of gravity as
best you can, try and get the safest sot with the minimal amount of movement,
but what is the trade off? What is on the ship already … versus where will
the printers have to go? So that is a whole design process in itself.”
The possibility of eventually using additive manufacturing to create
replacement organs for injured soldiers or sailors was also raised.
“As opposed to rushing a soldier, or war
fighter, or sailor to [a land-based hospital] if you have an emergency,
just print the organ right on the ship, do the surgery right on the ship,
save the human’s life and not have to disrupt the service,” offered Thomas Campbell
from Virginia Polytechnic, citing Organovo, which hopes to create an artificial liver for clinical tests this year.