UTC Aerospace Systems Opens 3D Printing Materials Lab

UTC Aerospace Systems, a company designing, manufacturing and servicing integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defence industries, has opened its Materials and Process Engineering (MPE) laboratory in Connecticut.

The lab will support research, engineering and production and use  additive manufacturing technologies to produce metal and plastic engineering development parts. Moreover, the MPE lab will develop high-temperature composites including carbon-carbon and silicon carbide-based composites, which are used for aircraft brakes and nano materials to develop light-weight metal matrix and polymer composites for a variety of aerospace applications.

United Technologies Corp. invested $ 8 million into the 20,000 square-foot facility for their UTC Aerospace Systems unit.

Additionally, the company will also establish a Materials Engineering Center of Excellence at the University of Connecticut (UCONN). The agreement includes a five-year, $1 million commitment to work with UCONN in the areas of additive manufacturing, high-temperature composites, thermoplastics and other advanced materials. UTC Aerospace Systems will provide opportunities to rising UCONN sophomores and juniors to work in the new MPE lab and learn alongside UTC Aerospace Systems engineers and scientists in the areas of materials and manufacturing technologies for future aircraft.