Dalhousie on cutting edge of 3D printing for marine defence sector

From the Springboard Content Lab and Dalhousie University

Dalhousie’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub is supporting the Canadian defence sector in a research collaboration using 3D-printing technology to keep Canada’s aging fleet of submarines operational for several more years.

The Dalhousie Faculty of Engineering was awarded $3.7 million grant by NSERC, the CFI, Defense Research and Development Canada, and other industry partners. This project is advancing additive manufacturing technologies (3D-printing) for copper alloys, materials used to strengthen operational readiness for the country’s navy.

Dalhousie engineers are using metal additive manufacturing to develop critical submarine parts that will manufacture of critical submarine replacement parts on demand.

They are using advanced infrastructure installed in the Faculty’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub, a research facility dedicated to the 3D printing of metallic and ceramic materials. 

Dr. Paul Bishop leading 3D-printing research collaboration

Dalhousie Engineering researcher, Dr. Paul Bishop has overseen the setup of new infrastructure within the facility that now houses some of the most prestigious equipment in Canada. This includes systems for printing metallic materials, a broad suite of equipment for material characterization, and a pilot scale gas atomizer for the production of customized metal powder feedstocks such as copper alloys.

In 2023, Dr. Bishop was appointed Dalhousie’s C.D. Howe Research Chair in 3D Printing of Advanced Structural Alloys.

Highly specialized equipment in the hub allows researchers to identify the alloys, convert them into powder form using a process called gas atomization, and then process the powder through the advanced printers to produce a finished component. 
 

“The gas atomizer is key. With it, we avoid the need to outsource powder production, which necessitates months of lead time and costs tens of thousands of dollars. Having our own atomizer in-house, we can safely convert an alloy of interest into high-quality powder in a matter of hours and at a fraction of the normal cost. This dramatically reduces the time needed to devise printing parameters for a prescribed alloy as we can get the powder we need on demand.” 

Dr. Paul Bishop is Dalhousie’s C.D. Howe Research Chair in 3D Printing of Advanced Structural Alloys

Pushing the boundaries of additive manufacturing

Dalhousie is the only university in the country that is equipped with a pilot-scale gas atomizer. Various grades of aluminum bronze and nickel-copper ‘Monels’ are examples of copper alloys which have long been standard materials for naval defence vessels. Bishop and his team will now explore the response of these copper alloys to an array of metal additive manufacturing technologies. 

Bishop’s team is producing and printing various copper alloy powders. “We’re making good progress and we’re moving in the right direction,” he says. 
 
He adds that the opportunities are both promising and widespread. As his team continues to explore and test new alloy powders, their use could span far beyond the marine sector.

The federal government of Canada announced its plan to procure a dozen new submarines to replace an aging fleet of Victoria-class subs used by the Royal Canadian Navy. This existing fleet, built in the 1980s, must however remain operational until the new submarines are ready in the mid 2030s.

Dalhousie University is a member of the Springboard Network of 19 post-secondary institutions. The Network promotes research commercialization, industry collaborations and made-in-Canada IP.