From fuel nozzles to drones, these are 3D printing’s killer apps for aerospace.
Few industries have made as much productive use of additive manufacturing (AM) as aerospace. The combination of constraints aerospace engineers face in design and manufacturing are almost perfectly complemented by the capabilities enabled with 3D printing technology. This is exemplified not only in the sheer number of aerospace parts being produced with AM, but also in the variety of AM parts that can be found in flight today. Here are five of the best examples.
1. GE LEAP fuel nozzle
Perhaps the best-known additive part in aerospace (or any industry), the fuel nozzle tip for the CFM International LEAP jet engine has now been in production for a decade, with GE Aviation shipping its 100,000th nozzle in 2021. Each engine contains 18 or 19 fuel nozzles, depending on its configuration, each produced using laser powder bed fusion. What makes these components stand out is their consolidation of parts – from 20 separate pieces down to just one – as well as a 25% reduction in weight.
2. Honeywell #4/5 bearing housing
According to Honeywell, this has the unique distinction of being the first flight-critical engine part to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Installed on an in-service vehicle in 2020, the #4/5 bearing housing is a major structural component in the ATF3-6 turbofan engine used on the Dassault Falcon 20G. The original part was designed and certified in the 1960s and manufacture of the jets ended in the 1990s. That’s why Honeywell turned to additive manufacturing to produce replacement parts, reportedly shortening the lead time from two years to just two weeks.
3. Boeing aft galley brackets
Using its proprietary Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) technology, Norsk Titanium has been producing near net shape preforms and final machined components for both Airbus and Boeing. In the case of aft galley brackets specifically, these Ti-6AL-4V structural aircraft parts are FAA-certified, with seven installed on each Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This arguably makes them one of the most successful structural aerospace components produced with additive manufacturing.
4. Airbus spacer panels
While 3D printing technology shines most brightly in engine and structural components, its potential contributions to interior applications should not be discounted. One leading example comes from Airbus, which began installing AM spacer panels to fill end-gaps in rows of overhead storage compartments in 2018. According to the company, using a “bio-inspired” design and fused deposition modeling (FDM), the spacer panels are 15% lighter compared to equivalent components made with conventional production methods.
5. RapidFlight mobile drone production
No list of example AM applications in aerospace would be complete without mentioning unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly referred to as drones. The introduction of UAVs has transformed modern warfare, and the advancement of 3D printing technology has transformed UAVs. A recent example comes from UAV designer and manufacturer RapidFlight, which has designed mobile production systems (MPS) to mass produce drones wherever they’re needed. According to the company, a single MPS can produce 28 Group 3 aircraft per month, or much greater quantities of Group 1 or Group 2.
