PERFORMING TO ITS POTENTIAL

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is delivering on its promise of transforming aero engine design and production.

- ATUL CHANDRA reports

Additive-manufactured parts are stronger and lighter than those produced using traditional manufacturing methods such as casting and forging, with the added benefit of reduced wastage, making the former a more sustainable manufacturing method.

As an example, the first GEnx engines used brackets made with traditional methods, such as milling and by the time the finished product was ready, more than half of the original block of material had been milled away. With 3D printing of the same part, as much as ninety per cent of the waste was reduced, and small design tweaks had also reduced the bracket's weight by ten per cent.

The ability of 3D printing to rapidly prototype engine designs and configurations allows the quicker adoption of the most efficient design, accelerating the flexibility of design and the speed of innovation. While earlier, designers were trapped by the manufacturing methods available to them, with the emergence of additive manufacturing, they can now design what is best for the engine, instead of what is best for manufacturing.

The production of low-cost rapid tooling for injection moulding, thermoforming and jigs and fixtures also allows for tooling to be quickly manufactured at a low cost, delivering production components for quantities up to 5,000 to 10,000 parts.

NEW GEN APPROACH