Aerospace takes to additive manufacturing

When the Flying Test Bed A380 aircraft from Airbus hits the skies later this year, it will mark a major milestone in aerospace manufacturing.

That is because the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engine powering the aircraft will be equipped with the largest civil aero-engine component ever built using 3D-printing techniques.

The component, a front-bearing housing measuring 1.5m across, contains 48 aerofoil-shaped vane components, each of which was produced by 3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it is also known.

Additive manufacturing is an umbrella term that covers a range of processes designed to build up components layer by layer from powdered materials. The technology was initially used by the industry to rapidly produce prototype parts, but it is increasingly being applied to build in-flight production components for aircraft.

Later this year, for example, GE will begin printing fuel nozzles for the LEAP engine it is developing in partnership with Snecma.

The 3D-printed nozzles will be 25 per cent lighter and five times more durable than the existing nozzles they will replace, which have 20 different parts. They will be produced at a US$50m facility in Alabama, which the company claims will be the first plant in the world to mass-produce 3D-printed aero-engine components.