 [ad_1]
<br><div id="post-237259">&#13;
									<div class="single-featured"><img src="https://newsjosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ORNL-Manufacturing-—-Printing-in-the-wind-–-India-Education.png" width="458" height="110" alt=""/></div>&#13;
																		&#13;
											&#13;
											<div class="entry-content clearfix single-post-content">
										<p>Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently used large-scale metal-based additive manufacturing to produce a full-strength steel component for a wind turbine, showing that the technique is a viable alternative to conventional welding approaches.</p><p>The adoption of wind energy in the United States is highly dependent on the industry's ability to manufacture large and complex structures.  Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, could lower costs and increase production efficiency compared to traditional methods.</p><p>In a demonstration, polymer and metal-based 3D printing processes were implemented to fabricate the turbine skeleton node, which serves as a load-bearing joint between the structural beams.  The research team compared throughput and total cost of production and determined that while the short-term costs of 3D printing were still similar to those of welding, the long-term projected future costs turned out to be favorable.</p><p>“The metal additive enables advanced designs and lightweight components not feasible with traditional processes,” said ORNL's Brian Post.  "This technology could enable the rapid printing of large-scale, recyclable metal wind turbine structures."</p> 									</div>&#13;
										
		&#13;
										</div>
<br>[ad_2]