Spray forming technology for military applications

Over the past five years, the Annapolis Detachment, Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (formerly David Taylor Research Center) has established a state- of- the- art spray forming facility for the study and exploitation of this near net shape manufacturing process. Spray forming is a single step gas atomization/deposition process which yields ferrous and nonferrous, near final shape, near fully dense preforms that has proven to be a viable and cost effective alternative to conventional metalworking technology for the production of material preforms with properties surpassing those of their cast and wrought counterparts. Current programs at Carderock Divison Naval Surface Warfare Center are aimed at optimization of the process, certification of the spray formed products and industrialization of the technology.