CSIR gives assurance that its Aeroswift 3D Printer project is still alive

12th June 2020 By: Rebecca Campbell - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

CSIR gives assurance that its Aeroswift 3D Printer project is still alive

Photo by: CSIR

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has confirmed to Engineering News that the Aeroswift additive manufacturing project remains “a key focus” for it.

The project was originally established in 2011 in cooperation with the then Aerosud group. The Aeroswift machine, based on the CSIR campus in Pretoria, is a process development platform, and was built from the ground up in South Africa, using a mix of commercial and locally-developed components. It can manufacture parts with dimensions of up to 600 mm x 600 mm x 2 000 mm and was funded by the then Department of Science and Technology (now the Department of Science and Innovation ).

The form of additive manufacturing used in the Aeroswift machine is called powder bed fusion-selective laser melting. That is, powder is laid down and then melted by a laser, the part being built up, layer by layer. Aeroswift remains one of the biggest 3D printers in the world.

Engineering News had received information, from a source that will remain confidential, that the Aeroswift project was “in tatters” and that it had been “allowed to collapse”. It was also stated that the “Aeroswift system itself has not been operational in almost a year”. Furthermore, “[t]he Aerosud component of the consortium disintegrated to the extent that it was liquidated in March 2020”.

“[T]here are no plans to shut it [Aeroswift] down in the foreseeable future,” CSIR group manager: strategic communication Tendani Tsedu has assured. “The Aeroswift research platform team is currently preparing for new builds and has undertaken upgrades to the mechanical and software systems before the nationwide lockdown. The CSIR is also actively looking for new projects and clients at this stage in order to assist the South African industry with unlocking the massive growth potential of additive manufacturing.”

Regarding Aeroswift’s original industrial partner, private sector group Aerosud, that had comprised Aerosud (Aviation), the Aerosud Innovation and Training Centre (Aerosud ITC) and Aerosud Aerospace. But in 2014 the group was “unbundled” (broken up), the three divisions becoming legally separate entities. The aviation company, which retained the name Aerosud, has had no practical involvement with Aeroswift since then, although it has remained in contact with the CSIR and has often taken visitors to see the Aeroswift machine.

Aerosud Aerospace became Aerosud Aerospace Systems and was subsequently taken over by the Paramount group to become Paramount Aerospace. It was Aerosud ITC that had been the CSIR’s industrial partner in Aeroswift. Aerosud ITC became the Aerosud Innovation Centre and then part of the Aerospace Development Corporation, which was placed in business rescue in 2019 and appears to have been taken over by Paramount Aerospace.