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Titomic, a Melbourne-based advanced manufacturing company, has delivered the biggest ever titanium unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
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The UAV measures over 1.8 metres in diameter and was manufactured in Titomic's R&D bureau in Melbourne, which houses the world's biggest and fastest metal 3D printer, the TKF 9000.
The printer, which measures 9 x 3 x 1.5 metres, incorporates Titomic’s patented additive manufacturing (3D printing) technology, Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF).
Using titanium provides the UAV with a strong, lightweight, rugged design with ballistics protection, which Titomic said will "provide durability for reliable in-field use by military and law enforcement and is well-suited for deployment in live combat situations".
"We're excited to be working with the global defence industry to combine Australian resources, manufacturing and innovation, which will increase our sovereign capability to provide further modern technology for Australia and its Defence Force," Titomic managing director Jeff Lang said.
TKF is co-developed and licensed from the CSIRO, and is a "patented metal AM process utilising supersonic deposition of metal powders to digitally manufacture metal parts and complex surface coatings of super alloys and dissimilar metals such as nickel, copper, scandium and alloys such as stainless steel, inconel, and tungsten carbide".
"With the unique ability to fuse dissimilar metals and materials, Titomic has unlocked opportunity to create unique materials and engineer parts and surface coatings that are unobtainable via other manufacturing methods," a release from the Melbourne-based company said.
"With ability to incorporate multiple metal alloys and materials into single, heterogenous parts, TKF enables the production of parts which exploit the mechanical benefits of multiple high-performance alloys concurrently."
