DRDO and IIT Hyderabad Demonstrate Large Area Additive Manufacturing System
The DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) at IIT Hyderabad has demonstrated a Large Area Additive Manufacturing (LAAM) system for fabricating rocket components. The system utilizes powder-based Directed Energy Deposition technology and has been developed through collaboration between IIT Hyderabad, DRDO’s Defence Research & Development Laboratory, Hyderabad, and industry partners.
The LAAM system features a build volume of 1m x 1m x 3m, making it one of the largest metal additive manufacturing machines in India. It employs a laser and blown-powder-based Direct Energy Deposition process with dual heads for thermal balancing and enhanced speed.
A recent milestone in the project included the fabrication of a component measuring one meter in height, demonstrating its capability to produce large-sized metal parts using additive manufacturing.
Samir V Kamat, Secretary of the Department of Defence R&D and Chairman of DRDO, acknowledged the efforts of DIA-CoE, IIT Hyderabad, in the development and demonstration of the LAAM system, stating that it could facilitate large-scale production of metal components.