Facility develops technologies for new methods of production
KNOXVILLE — In 2015, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory reproduced a classic 1962 Shelby Cobra by printing the 1,400-pound carbon-fiber car in just 24 hours on the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine, which can manufacture strong, lightweight composite parts without the need for tooling.
When former President Barrack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden saw the car here before its was shipped to the North American Auto Show in Detroit, the president had to hold back his vice president from trying to take the cobra for a spin.
“Biden started pulling out his aviator glasses and we had to explain to him, you don’t get to drive on this trip,” Obama said at the time. “Besides being a cool car, it’s a great example of how a hub like this operates.”
Such additive, or 3D printing, is revolutioniz
ing how and where products are made and assembled. The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility here, which is a part of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is playing a key development and testing role for the new production manufacturing technology at a number of companies, including Branch Technology in Chattanooga and its work in additive manufacturing of buildings.
Four years after printing the heralded Cobra model, researchers here have an even more ambitious project they call their Moon shot. Even in a place that first harnessed the power of the atom for military and then peaceful purposes more than a half century ago, it’s an audacious undertaking.
Oak Ridge researchers are trying to use additive manufacturing to print a nuclear reactor, or at least a micro-reactor. The prototype, which lab director Thomas Zacharia has pledged to build within two years, would be about the size of a trash can. But the micro-reactor could offer huge payoffs for America’s nuclear power industry.
The lab has a goal of taking the new printed, small reactor critical and producing power within four years to meet the electric demands of about 1,000 homes.
“This is a very aggressive time schedule, but this is what this national lab is known for through its history with nuclear development,” said Lonnie Love, leader of ORNL’s Manufacturing Systems Research group.
REVIVING
THE NUCLEAR OPTION
Kurt Terrani, the technical director for the Transformational Challenge Reactor project, said he hopes the “printed” reactor can pave the way for America to revive the building of nuclear power plants, which has largely stalled over the past three decades due to construction cost overruns.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is the only U.S. utility to complete any new commercial nuclear reactors in the past three decades with the new units it finished at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in 1996 and in 2017. Southern Nuclear is building two new reactors at Plant Vogle in Georgia. But, similar to Watts Bar, those new reactors are years behind schedule and are costing billions of dollars more than orginally forecast.
Terrani said additive manufacturing could provide a quicker and more cost-effective method of producing the reactor core for new reactors and, through its customized layered additions, offer a better way to ensure the quality and safety of the reactor components.
“Given the complexity and demanding nature of parts in a reactor core and in a nuclear plant, additive manufacturing allows us to approach component design and production for a specific part completely differently,” Terrani said. “It allows us to significantly reduce the time lines and costs associated with manufacturing complex components. It’s additive, layer-by-layer, production nature can be exploited to monitor the build process, and that information can then be used for the certification and qualification of those parts.”
Love said such additive manufacturing was already used at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility here this year to make the carbon fiber wing tips for Boeing’s 777X twin-engine jet. Working with a half-dozen companies, the lab developed a process to print the wing tip molds in 30 hours at a fraction of the normal cost for such molds.
ORNL also worked last year to make molds for seat backs used by Volkswagen.
“We try to work at the pace of industry and respond to their needs,” Love said while walking through the MDF complex here. “This place is constantly changing with new equipment and new projects.”
BREAKING THE MOLD
Most manufacturing is done by reductive machining, which cuts steel or lumber to make and assemble parts. But additive manufacturing uses computer designed molding to make each product from scratch by additive or printing-like technologies. Such 3-D printing reduces waste and improves both the efficiency and versatility of the production process.
In 2013, the lab developed its Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine, which can print parts 500 to 1,000 times faster than other industrial 3D printers. The BAAM machine received an upgrade after it was used to create the world’s first 3D-printed car in 2014. The “Strati” was designed by Local Motors and developed by ORNL. The car contained just 40 parts and took 44 hours to print.
The Demonstration Manufacturing Facility here has hosted more than 6,000 visitors since it began operation in 2012. The lab works with original-equipment manufacturers to use additive manufacturing to make molds, works with end users on products and also tries to discover and advance new technologies.
“The best way to transfer technology is working side by side with industry, letting them get their hands on our equipment and see what is possible.” Love said. “By working with hundreds of businesses, we see what industry has needs and what new technologies are needed in the marketplace. Manufacturing provides economic and national security for America and our mission is to be laser focused on helping us lead the world in manufacturing technology.”