Meltio has received its third approval of its metal 3D printing technology from the French Navy, after the successful installation of a Meltio solution on board a US military vessel.
The Spanish Army currently utilizes Meltio 3D printing solutions to manufacture and repair metal parts, and has already validated this technology. The French Navy also validated the technology recently, after conducting experimental use of a Meltio metal 3D printer during military maneuvers at the end of May and passing the adoption tests for its unique metal 3D printing technology over the last few months.
The French Ministry of Defense has made this milestone public by assessing the effectiveness of the solution and confirming it continues to validate the Meltio solution. Reportedly the French Navy is already considering including it in upcoming real-life maneuvers and may even incorporate it on board ships in its fleet in the future.
The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle has been experimentally using a metal 3D printing solution provided by Meltio. In May 2024, as part of the “Ursa Minor” exercise – a high-intensity operational maintenance naval exercise organized by the Fleet Support Service (FSS) – a special breakdown repair experiment was carried out in the workshops of the Navy’s logistics department in Toulon. Meltio’s technological solution is installed on shore at the Toulon arsenal and is receiving requests for the manufacture and repair of metal parts from the aircraft carrier.
Another aspect of the technological challenge faced by the French engineering team was that the part to be manufactured had to be made of metal, a first for the department, which had never used this manufacturing process before. Meltio’s technology works by Direct Energy Deposition (DED), i.e. the stacking of welding wires on top of each other, in the form of wire introduced into a molten bath generated by a laser. It is based on digital modeling of the replacement, which is an essential prerequisite for production.
The use of metal 3D printing makes it possible to supply fully dense parts for various industrial applications. These parts are manufactured at a low production cost per cubic centimeter. Moreover, the speed of execution and efficiency are such that production is more competitive than with traditional manufacturing methods, such as boilermaking, forging and others.
Jean-Marc Quenez, director of innovation at the French Ministry of Defense’s Fleet Support Service (SSF), says of the Meltio experience, “We are at an initial point of use of the Meltio M450 for the Marine Nationale. Its state of use is experimental. The French Navy uses the Meltio M450 on land. The machine is installed at our naval base, located in the city of Toulon.
“After months of previous testing at our technology center in Toulouse (DGA/Techniques Aéronautiques), South of France, to test Meltio’s DED wire-laser technology, the printer was approved for transfer to Toulon. The main objective of this transfer is to test this machine for the needs of the Marine ships that are sailing with their repair and manufacturing needs in different metallic materials, mainly stainless steels and inconel, for which the Meltio M450 seems efficient in the result of the parts obtained.
“Last May 2024, we carried out the Ursa Minor 2024 offshore exercise, in which the French Navy Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier simulated a request to us to repair metal parts. We produced the metal parts with les Meltio450 onshore and send the parts to the aircraft-carrier. The exercise was a success. We plan to carry out more exercises of this type in the coming months and, in the future, the French Navy is considering the possibility of incorporating a 3D metal printer on board to be tested on board.
“We have chosen the Meltio M450 for this first step in metal 3D printing because it allows us to repair easily existing metal parts and with this machine we produce test parts with DED technology, not final parts, which we then post-process and machine according to our needs. The Meltio M450 meets our expectations for reliability and is very easy for our engineers to use. We anticipate this metal 3D printer to remain functional and be part of our pilot program for additive manufacturing use.“
