$5M Navy Contract Goes to UMaine and Navatek to Advance Maritime 3D Printing

From 3DPrint.com

What’s particularly interesting is the approach with materials that is being taken for large-scale additive manufacturing in boat building. While typical molds are expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, this 3D printed is focused on producing large-scale structures using thermoplastics combined with bio-based (cellulose nanofibers (CNF), or wood cellulose) materials.

These materials would provide comparable strength to metals such as aluminum, while making manufacturing recyclable and more economical than before. In May last year, ORNL and UMaine had been awarded $20 million from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office for collaborative research into bio-based materials and applications.