Aircraft companies are using metal 3D printing to save money, cut lead times, and reduce the environmental impact of flying. To find out more about how this technology is changing the industry, we spoke to three experts in this field.
Airbus Services subsidiary Satair recently supplied what it “believes,” to be the first certified, metal 3D-printed flying spare part for an airline. This part replaced a traditional part made from several different alloys.
Efficient Production
With 3D printing, a new prototype or model can be created in minutes instead of days or weeks. This drastically reduces production costs and allows engineering and aerodynamics teams to test, analyze, and make changes before investing in full-cost metal components. This is particularly helpful when creating parts that will bare load, such as wingtips or engine cowlings.
The ability to produce a part directly from CAD data removes tooling restraints and allows designers to create complex, intricate designs that can be difficult or impossible to build using conventional manufacturing methods. Streamlining production can help aerospace companies to reduce the weight of an aircraft or rocket, reducing fuel consumption and emissions, while also saving time and money on assembly.
While 3D printing can significantly cut production time and costs, there are some challenges that aerospace companies must overcome when working with the technology. For one, the process produces parts that have anisotropic mechanical properties. That means that parts printed on a flat surface will be stronger in the direction of travel, while parts that are tilted at an angle may be weaker in that direction. To counter this, manufacturers need to ensure that the correct support structures are placed to prevent warping.
Fortunately, progress is being made to address these issues. For example, Siemens has developed a monitoring system called LENS that can observe the process in real-time and alert engineers if there are any issues. This enables them to fix the problem immediately and ensure that the finished part is accurate.
Lightweight Design
Metal 3D printing offers a number of advantages for aerospace applications, especially in terms of weight. Aside from the fact that it allows for a wide range of materials to be printed, including high-performance alloys such as titanium and nickel, it also provides significant opportunities for designing lighter components through interlayer structures, hollow sections and gradient transition arrangements.
As a result, parts can be designed to be more lightweight than their conventional counterparts without sacrificing strength or resistance. Additionally, the layer-by-layer nature of the printing process means that the geometry of a part can be optimized to achieve specific mechanical properties, such as higher bending stiffness and strength or improved fatigue resistance.
Additionally, a range of different metals are available in powder form for printing through metal additive manufacturing, including titanium, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, cobalt chrome, tungsten and nickel-based alloys. These can be used to create both functional and structural components.
In terms of printing, the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) method eliminates the need for machining and casting processes, which in turn reduces both the fabrication time and cost of a part. Furthermore, because the lasers are directed at precisely where the part is being built, there’s no waste material generated during the printing process.
Moreover, the lack of machining or casting requires no post-processing steps, further reducing costs. Additionally, because the sintering process results in a high degree of purity and strength, it is possible to achieve a very high density with metal AM, which translates to superior durability and ductility.
Reliability
When it comes to aerospace, a part's reliability is everything. That's why 3D metal printers are ideal for specialized production parts like fuel pumps, engine components, and ducting systems. Printed parts can be made more quickly, more reliably, and at a lower cost than traditional manufacturing methods like casting or forging, which often involve melting metal and resolidifying it to shape the final product.
Printing in metal also yields stronger, more durable parts than machining and other conventional fabrication techniques. This is largely due to the fact that the metal powder fused during the printing process is much denser than the granular material that makes up most of the bulk metal, which gives the finished parts more structural integrity and durability.
Moreover, unlike traditional fabrication, which starts with a solid block of material and cuts, grinds, or mills it away to create the desired part, additive manufacturing adds material layer by layer to build a final product. That reduces the likelihood of errors in complex engineering designs, which can be more difficult to accomplish with traditional fabrication methods.
A growing number of manufacturers are using additive manufacturing to produce mission-critical parts for aircraft. For instance, the Air Force is working with ExOne to qualify AF-9628, high-strength steel, for use in 3D metal printing, and Rolls Royce has begun testing titanium parts on their plane engines to reduce weight and improve performance.
Customization
The use of 3D printing in aerospace offers a wide variety of opportunities. For example, the ability to print complex and innovative tooling fixtures can save time and resources compared with traditional manufacturing processes. Additionally, the technology is highly customizable. For example, the choice of materials and build size can make or break a project, depending on how the part is designed to function. In addition, the ability to quickly and easily build a model or prototype of an aerospace component in a lighter and less costly material can help engineers improve product quality before investing in a full-cost metal component.
The flexibility of metal 3D printers also means they can be used to create parts that are difficult or impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods. This is especially important for aircraft manufacturers, who must meet stringent specifications and safety requirements in order to be approved for air transportation. For example, the aerospace industry is working to develop a titanium alloy that can be used for 3D-printed jet engine components, which would reduce the weight of these critical parts and enhance performance.
While there are a few challenges that must be overcome before metal additive manufacturing becomes widely adopted in the aerospace industry, the future of this technology is promising. Those who are willing to embrace it and work with specialists in the field can enjoy the advantages that this technology has to offer.
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