Christopher J Smith

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER J SMITH

I\'ve always been fascinated with aviation and aerospace technology which led me to study for my masters in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Manchester. After graduating, I enrolled on a PhD revolving around the use of metal additive manufacturing and topology optimisation for producing minimal structures, particularly relevant for aerospace. It was during this time that I fully appreciated that the design freedoms and greater choice of materials offered by additive manufacturing, was not only potentially game-changing for aerospace, but a whole host of industries. And one technology in particular, electron beam powder bed fusion (E-PBF), really stood out as having huge untapped potential.After my PhD I carried on my research as a Research Associate, now focusing a lot more on trying to unlock the potential of E-PBF. During this time I was approached by Reliance Precision Engineering who had, in conjunction with the University of Huddersfield, developed a novel charge neutralisation technology that addresses one of the key limitations of E-PBF. They recruited me to help develop a prototype E-PBF machine around this technology. A few years later, and with VC funding, we spun out into Wayland Additive Ltd, now with the task of developing a commercial platform. Two years after that we launched Calibur3, our first commercial E-PBF platform, which has now been shipped to customers.