Melbourne, Australia 26 Jun, 2018: Australian metal additive manufacturing company, Titomic Limited (ASX: TTT) (“Titomic” or “the Company”) today announces it has signed its first Material Science Testing (“MST”) agreement with Fincantieri Australia PTY LTD (“Fincantieri”), the Australian division of Fincantieri S.p.A. (BIT: FCT) – one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups.
This MST agreement follows the ASX announcement on 14 May of Titomic’s Memorandum of Understanding with Fincantieri as the first step in the defined roadmap to evaluate the potential for the Company’s additive manufacturing process, Titomic Kinetic Fusion, to be used in Fincantieri’s manufacturing activities.
The MST agreement will see Titomic perform a series of tests on a Fincantieri specified alloy, in accordance with International Standards of ASTM to achieve desired mechanical and chemical properties. The testing capabilities will include hardness, strength, porosity and chemistry analysis.
The outcome of the tests will provide Fincantieri with valuable technical information on material properties, performance, strength, durability and cost efficiencies of Titomic’s additive manufacturing process, Titomic Kinetic Fusion. This analysis takes into account Australian capabilities for manufacturing processes as well as component redesign to enhance material characteristics with the new process.
Jeff Lang, CTO of Titomic commented:
“We are pleased to kick off this first project with Fincantieri as part of our MoU. We will be producing test samples at our new state of the art facility in Melbourne in order to conduct the stringent tests required. This is the first step towards manufacturing large marine parts on our metal 3D printers of limitless scale.”
As part of the MOU, members of Titomic’s technology and operational team have also recently completed a visit to Riva Trigoso Shipyard in Italy, to have an in-depth understanding of Fincantieri mechanical components which are designed, developed and manufactured on-site as the first phase of marine technology transfer to Australia.
Dario Deste, Chairman of Fincantieri Australia said:
“The activities between Fincantieri and Titomic evaluate the benefits of applying the proprietary Titomic Kinetic Fusion technology to manufacture mechanical components for Naval and Merchant Ships. With over 100 ships on order around the world, Fincantieri has the size and strength to bring new technology to market.”
Sean Costello, Director at Fincantieri Australia said:
“Titomic’s technology combined with Fincantieri’s technology transfer program to Australia creates the potential to return Australia’s capability in mechanical componentry. Our aim is to return high-value jobs to Australia, reduce costs and become sovereign as a shipbuilding nation.”
With 20 shipyards across four continents, Fincantieri S.p.A is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and number one by diversification and innovation. It is the leader in cruise ship design and construction, and a reference player in all high-tech shipbuilding industry sectors – from naval to offshore vessels, from high-complexity special vessels and ferries to mega-yachts, ship repairs and conversions, systems and equipment production, and after-sales services. Fincantieri also carries out maintenance and refurbishment of cruise ships – a major and growing international industry. Fincantieri is one of the shortlisted bidders for The Future Frigates SEA 5000 program.