Repairing Navy Destroyers with 3D Printing... Parts Replacement Reduced from 3 Months to One Day

Production Technology Institute Develops Repair Technology for Core Components of Gwanggaeto Daewang-class Destroyer

"The parts repair period that used to take 3 months was completed in one day!"

South Korea has attracted attention by successfully repairing broken parts of an old 3,200-ton class naval destroyer, which has been in service for over 20 years, using 3D printing technology.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology announced on the 10th that it succeeded in restoring damaged diesel engine parts of the Navy's 3,200-ton class destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great using metal wire 3D printing technology. The Gwanggaeto the Great was the first Korean-made destroyer deployed in 1998. After upgrading its performance with the latest combat system in 2021, it has been playing a central role as the fleet command ship.

The Gwanggaeto the Great, the first multipurpose destroyer, was launched on October 28, 1996.

The damaged part was the diesel engine clutch locking device, which functions as a reducer in the engine. Due to contact and friction with surrounding parts caused by engine rotation, the surface was worn and needed replacement. However, when procured through a made-to-order production method, it took more than three months from order to delivery. As an alternative, emergency repairs were attempted, but the damaged area was narrow and thin, making it difficult to repair the part without deformation using existing welding technology.

After receiving a repair request for the part from the Navy Logistics Command Maintenance Depot, Dr. Lee Hyup’s research team at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology applied metal wire 3D printing technology and successfully solved the problem. This technology uses a robotic arm equipped with a metal wire feeder and laser to melt and bond the wire with a laser beam, creating a three-dimensional shape. The research team developed this technology for the first time in Korea.

The conventional welding repair method carries the risk of excessive heat accumulation in the part, causing shape distortion. The metal wire 3D printing technology developed by the research team precisely controls the laser beam to restore the shape, thereby suppressing thermal deformation of the part. The part quickly repaired using metal wire 3D printing technology was transferred to the Navy Maintenance Depot, where it underwent post-processing, diesel engine assembly, and test run evaluation, successfully completing maintenance. The time taken for this repair was only one day. The 3D printing technology effectively prevented the naval power gap that inevitably occurs during the three-month parts procurement, manufacturing, and delivery period.

Previously, since July 2018, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology has been cooperating to introduce metal 3D printing technology in the defense sector. In October last year, they signed a ‘Defense Parts 3D Printing Technology Development Agreement’ and have been expanding the application of 3D printing technology to the Navy Maintenance Depot.

Dr. Lee said, "With the aging of military weapon systems, the demand for regeneration and maintenance of defense parts is increasing," and added, "3D printing technology has strengths in rapid manufacturing of various items and will establish itself as a core technology to meet the urgent demand for regeneration and maintenance of defense parts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.