Protecting our armed forces with 3D printing
Case study from HiETA Technologies Limited who pitched their ideas to industry and investors at the CDE Marketplace on 5 February 2015.
HiETA Technologies Limited, which is based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, specialises in additive manufacturing – a way of making 3-dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
It has received funding from CDE for 3 separate projects since 2012.
One project is looking at ways to increase the survivability of military vehicles, using the company’s expertise in lattice structures, heat exchangers, fluid dynamics and additive manufacturing.
For the second project the company is developing an integrated computational tool for the analysis and design of lightweight cellular structures. The proposal includes analysing the process, materials, structures (lattice topology), properties (thermal/mechanical) and performance.
HiETA’s third CDE project is centred on protecting military platforms. It is looking at how to integrate energy absorbing and protection concepts, which are a mix of bio-inspired and conventional concepts, via multi-material additive manufacturing.
Director Mike Adams says the support from CDE has allowed the company to grow:
From 2012 we have gone from 1 full-time employee to 11 and the CDE funding has been a significant enabler for this rapid growth.
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