Manufacturers and contractors from around the world have taken the opportunity to demonstrate that 3D printing-based innovation is alive and well in the aerospace sector at this week’sFarnborough International Airshow（FIA）。
Despite the UK sizzling in record temperatures of up to 104F (40oC), global aerospace firms have descended on the town of Farnborough to showcase their latest technological achievements. Due to COVID-19, the event marks the first FIA in four years. As such, the show has acted as a meeting place for those in aviation, space, and defense to reconnect and establish cross-industry partnerships.
That said, this year’s FIA hasn’t just been about multimillion-dollar business deals; it has also seen MELD, GKN Aerospace, Burloak Technologies, Skyrora, and more open up on cutting-edge 3D printing advances. In one such case, MELD CEO Nanci Hardwick told 3D Printing Industry’s Paul Hanaphy, who attended the event early in the week, about how her firm uses 3D printing to meet US defense needs.
“You may know that the US Army is currently building the world’s largest metal 3D printer with MELD technology,” said Hardwick. “The motivation of the Army is to be able to create entire tank hulls that have a monolithic structure. So, no weldments, no weaknesses, due to melting metal, because this is the place of most weakness and therefore most threatening for soldiers’ lives inside the vehicle.”
“If we can create a monolithic structure with forged properties like MELD is capable of printing, then we increase warfighter safety.”
MELD 3D printing called into action
在弗吉尼亚州克里斯蒂安堡（Christiansburg）的基础上工作，是一种独特的固态3D打印方法的开发商，其中材料在沉积过程中不需要熔化。与传统的金属3D打印不同，这个Additive Friction Stir Depositionprocess takes place below melting temperature and sees a rod of material pushed through a hollow rotating tool, in a way that ‘smears’ it onto a substrate below.
虽然该技术的旋转工具具有加热材料的作用，并且使其柔软，以使其如此严重的变形发生，但原料永远不会加热到融化点。鉴于此过程，然后将饲料抬起并推回去以启用分层沉积，而不需要在受控的大气室内进行，因此也可以解锁新的大幅面可能性。
“这[我们的技术]带来了很多机会，”哈德威克解释说。“因为我们保持在熔体温度以下，所以我们可以从字面上打印任何金属，而且我没有其他技术可以在这个规模上说出这一点。当我们在开放的气氛中打印时，尺寸也没有限制。”
以及通过将其技术拟合到10 x 6.5 x 4米的构建体积来促进整体印刷品的创建Ingersoll Machine Toolssystem for the美国军队, Hardwick adds that the firm’s technology has extensive repair application potential.
“Let’s say you’re in a forward operating situation, and you have a very large piece of turbomachinery equipment,” she says. “Our machines can be taken to that facility, operated in open air, and carry out repairs. In many cases, parts must be replaced because there is no existing repair technology. Now you can repair with the original material and satisfy concerns about repair [technologies] in that way.”
GKN issues DED innovation update
While MELD is primarily focused on the development of its 3D printing offering, GKN Aerospace operates mainly in the aerospace field. However, not wishing to miss out on the technology’s potential in the sector, the firm continues to contribute to many related R&D programs, which revolve around laser metal deposition by wire (LMD-w) or powder-based directed-energy deposition (DED) 3D printing.
Speaking to 3D Printing Industry at FIA 2022, Henrik Runnemalm VP of the firm’s Swedish Global Technology Centre, explained that since the early-2000s, it has been successful in adopting both technologies, with parts produced via the processes “out there flying today,” but it “continues to push the limit.”
One way GKN Aerospace is attempting to do so is by working as part of initiatives in the US, UK, and Sweden to hone different technical elements of DED, ranging from control systems to data acquisition. In doing so, Runnemalm says the company aims to build a portfolio that allows it to achieve “the holy grail of bringing certified products to market.”
Runnemalm补充说：“我们的DED旅程已经进行了。”“另一方面，我们探索了不同的技术，包括激光和电子束熔化。提出所有必要的步骤来证明这些类型的技术已经有点困难了，但是我们正在推动它们前进。我们的野心是到达零缺失[零件]，我们将3D打印朝那个方向推动。”
Skyrora and Burloak reach for the stars
与此同时，在国际汽联的太空区域，英国的火箭制造商Skyrorawas exhibiting just days after announcing that its new engine test facility in Scotland has opened its doors. At the show, the company’s Business Communications Officer Nickie Finnegan explained why it chose to develop itsSkyprint 23D printer,并将其部署在构建中Skyrora XLrocket在那里组装。
“We did so for a few reasons,” said Finnegan. “We have sustainability as one of our core objectives. So it uses a lot less resources when produced through additive manufacturing, and we can also localize our supply chain by having that 3D printer on-site. Which is also good for economic purposes. As far as the actual design of the vehicles go, the materials we use are a lot more efficient in terms of weight.”
“We’re looking to reuse components in the future and we’re trying to find materials that are more robust to water, so there’s quite a few reasons for us using additive manufacturing.”
在活动的其他地方，加拿大生产服务提供商Burloak Technologies也很乐意在高级空间空间组件的背景下谈论3D打印。在2020年期间，该公司透露它已与MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates(MDA) to developdurable 3D printed satellite parts，通过其激光粉末床融合，电子束和DED机器的机队。
In an interview with 3D Printing Industry, Burloak Technologies’ VP and GM Jason Ball, provided a deep-dive into how adopting 3D printing in such builds helps clients realize lightweighting and part consolidation opportunities.
“您可以采取传统上加工的零件，并使它们显着更轻，这确实有助于航空航天，” Ball阐述了。“您可以在组装过程中将零件一起加入，然后将它们全部打印成一部分。我们还可以使用外来材料，例如热稳定材料Invar来生产卫星的光学组件。因此，我们可以做很多利基市场来帮助客户。”
“I think additive [manufacturing] is at the beginning of a journey if it’s going to be a disruptive technology,” he added. “People are going to learn how to design parts to take advantage of it. We’re going to see the portfolio grow as we go and consolidate more and more parts, and design them very differently to how we do today.”
Boom, Pratt & Whitney in aviation advances
Lastly, in civil aviation, it was announced thatPratt & Whitney安装了一个velo3d蓝宝石system in the run-up to FIA 2022. Although the firm’s team had nothing to add on the subject at the event, it has a storied history of using the technology, having previously3D printed turbofan engine parts与GKN航空航天一起，并与诺斯克钛到3D打印一个整体叶片的转子。
Ahead of the event, the company’s CEO Benny Buller said that he was eager to see how Pratt & Whitney “innovates its most mission-critical designs,” and “how the economies of scale of an in-house system help increase addressable use-cases.”
在国际汽联2022年的第二天，Boom Supersonicalso unveiled a revamped design of its upcoming Overture supersonic commercial airliner. Following 26 million hours of simulated software designs, five wind tunnel tests, and 51 iterations, the revised aircraft now features a contoured fuselage and gull wings, designed to improve its drag and fuel efficiency, as well as its subsonic and transonic handling.
At the company’s press conference, its CEO Blake Scholl suggested that “state of the art technologies” were used to develop “every component and every system” in the new Overture, without specifying what these were. However, given that the craft’sXB-1 demonstrator includes 21 3D printed parts，这些设计的变化也涉及一定层次的技术。
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Featured image shows an F-16C fighter jet on display at the Farnborough International Airshow. Photo by Paul Hanaphy.
