Officials with Norsk Titanium (Norsk) announce today a contract award from Airbus for the Qualification and Serial Production of the first parts to be manufactured utilizing wire-based Direct Energy Deposition (DED) additive manufacturing technology.

"We have worked closely with Airbus over several years to demonstrate the technological maturity and the industrial readiness of our Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process," said Norsk President and CEO Michael Canario. "This contract award is structured to enable long-term, serial production immediately following qualification. Our Plattsburgh, New York facility, with the assistance of Airbus technical leadership, has been preparing for this moment and is eager to demonstrate a 21st century advanced additive manufacturing capability."

This qualification of Airbus parts will demonstrate the suitability of the DED additive manufacturing process for aircraft structural parts. It will formalize the process by which individual parts are produced, to improve competitiveness compared to traditional manufacturing techniques, while improving the material buy-to-fly ratio which reduces waste.