3D Printing in Aviation

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Some of the earliest uses of three-dimensional (3D) printing within the aviation industry involved creating shop aids, tool mock-ups, and visualization models in order to allow researchers, aviation employees, and their customers to take a more dynamic look at the complexity of their aircraft.

While aviation giant Boeing Airlines has looked at how 3D printing technology could revolutionize their business as early as May of 2012, their latest step forward in progressing this development is becoming more of a reality since their patent has just recently been approved to allow for the production of 3D printed aircraft parts¹.

In collaboration with Norsk Titanium AS, a leading supplier of 3D manufactured products, Boeing is looking to continue the innovative nature of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft in providing effective aircraft replacement parts.

By utilizing a virtual library of 3D part designs that describes the specific measurement requirements for each part to be printed, Boeing and Norsk Titanium will have immediate access to produce necessary replacement parts at significantly reduced cost and faster production speed².

Traditional titanium-based aircraft parts were constructed from large titanium blocks, in which the specific aircraft parts would be constructed within these blocks, which would often lead to a large amount of waste to be produced from these manufacturing processes.

In addition to the waste production aspect, the costs of aircraft manufacturing would also rise as a result of greater materials required to sustain the need for aviation industry³. Titanium, a relatively light metal, is often utilized as the main component for aviation purposes because of its impressive ability to withstand pressures high altitudes, while simultaneously maintaining a superior strength in relation to the overall weight of the aircraft and all of its containing parts.

As the only company that has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to 3D print titanium parts for aircraft, Norsk Titanium eliminates these negative aspects of titanium production for aircraft through their use of 3D printing plasma-deposition technology.

During this process, thin titanium wires will be arranged on top of each other in accordance with the computer-aided design (CAD), and subsequently fused in an inert environment created by the presence of argon gas, by the use of computer controlled plasma torches².

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3D printed titanium parts are brought together layer by layer until the final product is achieved, which will then undergo very little finishing processes until it can be applied for aviation purposes. With a single machine capable of producing approximately 20 metric tons of airspace components in a single year, the Norsk’s 3D printing technology has been estimated to save Boeing Airlines up to $3 million in aircraft parts per plane.

General Electric (GE) Aviation has also looked towards how 3D printing technologies could advance their aircraft by creating ordinarily complex parts in a much easier, more efficient, and faster method.

Through their use of a direct metal laser sintering process, the shape of the CAD is split into two-dimensional (2D) slices that will be printed has metal particles that lay on top of the substrate will be specifically melted by a laser application in order to form the final solid product⁴.

With a specific focus on 3D printing fuel nozzles and other components for the GE9X engine, which is expected to be the largest jet engine ever built, in Boeing’s 777X aircraft, GE Aviation expects their nozzle design to protect the device’s delicate sensors while they are present within the aircraft.

By simultaneously reducing the time required for engineers to develop a design for such a product, the 3D printing technology has advanced this process in such a rapid and precise manner that was previously thought to be impossible.

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References and Further Reading

1. “Boeing Embraces the 23D [Printing Technology” – 3D Printing.com
2. “Boeing Set to Use 3D Printed Titanium Parts for 787” – 3D Printing.com
3. “Why Titanium is Used in the Aircraft Industry” – Industrial Talks
4. “GE Additive creating world’s largest laser-powder additive machine” – Business Wire