Velo3D Inc, a leading additive manufacturing (AM) company for mission-critical metal parts, and
Linde AMT, formerly known as Praxair Surface Technologies and a specialist in metal powders and coatings, have signed an agreement to supply domestically produced CuNi (70-30 copper-nickel) powder in support of the US Navy and the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) Programme that will provide a fully US-based solution for producing corrosion-resistant copper-nickel components used in naval systems.
The agreement will ‘leverage’ Linde AMT’s powder-manufacturing facility for additive metal powders (based in Indianapolis, Indiana) and Velo3D’s Sapphire XC large-format 3-D printer, the aim being to ‘strengthen national manufacturing resiliency while enabling faster production of key parts for shipbuilding and fleet readiness’.
The signing follows the recent award to Velo3D by the US Navy to develop, qualify, and print CuNi components for ‘shipbuilding modernisation’. Under this agreement, Velo3D will operate a dedicated Sapphire XC printer using Linde AMT’s US-made CuNi powder to support year-round production at no cost to participating Navy and MIB stakeholders.
Andy Shives, Linde AMT’s global director of sales, said: “This collaboration with Velo3D ensures a vertically integrated, US-made solution of powder, 3-D printers, and parts — all produced domestically. Our Indiana powder facility has completed another atomisation expansion and is primed to scale high quality powder production to meet current and future defence demands.”
This new agreement enables the US Navy to tap into a distributed, scalable additive network, leveraging Linde AMT’s powder capacity and Velo3D’s nationwide installed systems.