Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc., a manufacturer of aerospace and defense systems, acquired 3D Material Technologies (3DMT) — an additive manufacturing (AM, or 3D printing) business to aerospace, defense, medical and industrial markets. According to Aerojet, the purchase complements its established capabilities for developing and producing metal alloy AM parts for aerospace propulsion and power systems.
3DMT produces AM parts by various production technologies, including metal-laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, multi-jet printing, and structured-light 3D scanning.
“The addition of 3DMT’s capacity and expertise in metal-alloy additive manufacturing expands our range of products and services in the space and defense markets,” stated Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. CEO and president Eileen Drake. “As we look to the future, additive manufacturing will continue to play an important role in lowering costs and production timelines.”
Aerojet Rocketdyne already has qualified AM parts for the RL10 and RS-25 liquid rocket engines, and indicates it identifies "growth opportunities for these complex, high value systems." (Both are liquid-fuel cryogenic systems for launching rocket and/or space shuttle systems.)
Also, Aerojet noted its defense business is developing AM applications for hypersonic propulsion systems.
The seller of 3D MT is ARC Group Worldwide, a manufacturing holding company with operations in metal injection molding, plastic injection molding, metal stamping, thixomolding, and rapid and conforming tooling.
The value of the transaction was not reported.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, of El Segundo, Calif., indicated that 3DMT will continue to operate at its plant in Daytona Beach, Fla.
