A manufacturing research pact among Airbus, aerostructure manufacturer Aerosud, and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), reportedly aims to develop the biggest, fastest 3D printer possible for making titanium aircraft and satellite components.
Airbus' entrance into the agreement is for testing the viability of components made with the process. The project, called Aeroswift, actually began earlier this year when Aerosud and the South African CSIR's National Laser Centre agreed to work together to slash the production costs of aerospace components using laser additive manufacturing (LAM), another name for selective laser sintering (SLS). It focuses on using titanium powders for the production of large, complex components.
Airbus, aerostructure manufacturer Aerosud, and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, are partnering to develop the biggest, fastest 3D printer possible for making titanium aircraft and satellite components. Shown here, the Airbus A380 demonstrator aircraft arrives at the 2012 Farnborough International Airport. (Source: Airbus)
According to a CSIR press release, at the announcement of this partnership in Johannesburg, Airbus's Dale King said the CSIR and Aerosud are the only organizations doing work on high-speed, large-volume additive laser manufacturing. "That is why we have decided to forge a partnership with them [the CSIR and Aerosud]," King is quoted as saying. "We came to South Africa for this project because we believe the country has the necessary skills and competencies in the field of LAM."
A prototype LAM system will be completed by mid 2013, and is expected to produce large, complex parts at a rate 10 times faster than traditional manufacturing methods, said Beeuwen Gerryts, chief director of South Africa's Department of Science and Technology, in a September 14 press release. The Department has been championing the development of a broad titanium industry in South Africa, from mining the raw mineral, to producing metal powder, all the way to forming components. South Africa is currently the second largest supplier of titanium ore, but does not export semi-finished or finished titanium products.
The consortium expects to conduct two years of testing, evaluation, and process development to determine whether the parts can be used in aircraft. "The signing of this collaboration agreement represents a major step in ensuring that we develop laser additive manufacturing (LAM) technologies with inputs from our industry partners to make sure that these technologies are relevant when they are commercialised," Dr. Ndumiso Cingo, manager of the National Laser Centre, is quoted as saying in the CSIR press release.
Titanium has been used for several years in the manufacturing of aircraft components, primarily via machining. Earlier this year, Dynamet Technology received a milestone qualification approval from Boeing for supplying Ti-6Al-4V alloy products created with powder metals for structural components on commercial aircraft. Dynamet's process produces PM titanium in basic shapes and near-net shape forms by combining cold consolidation of blended elemental titanium, and alloy powders with vacuum sintering.
Ann, this is interesting news. One question I would have is on the strength of the materials. In general, machined materials are stronger than injection molded materials. Of course, if the strength is enough for the purpose, then that is enough. Then the speed of manufactur is all important.
Lou, the strength of the PM/sintered titanium powder metal parts produced by Dynamet has received approval from Boeing for use in structural aircraft parts, after a few years of testing. That news is pretty amazing on its own. The fact that Airbus has signed on to the Aeroswift aircraft structures project to help test selective laser-sintered titanium parts is another vote of confidence. It will be interesting to see what happens during that test phase.
Chuck, I looked all over for build volume and printer size with no luck. The only clue is that it's designed to build components of large aircraft structures. I'm guessing several feet per side of build volume. Very large 3D printers exist in architectural apps for use with sand and soil and their build volumes can be 2m x 2m x 5m up to 6m x 6m x 2m, and even larger in the works.
Ann - thanks for offering the large size baths that are still being developed. I had no idea that 3D makers were developing apparatus that large. 6 meters square-? That's enormous. That's about 50 feet across diagonal; large enough to make a wingspan frame. Wow.
OK, noted; do you know an example of the architectural Apps -? I'm fuzzy on that, and wondering if it's a stretch between architectural and aeronautical ,,, ?
Jim, the architectural apps are for buildings. If you google "3D printed buildings" you'll find several different versions. Unless you want to make airplanes out of sand and cement, there's no relationship in products. But figuring out to make larger build volumes is, to some extent, a generic 3D printing problem, which is why I mentioned the larger build volumes of the architectural apps.
,,,which opens a whole new paradigm for me. Very thought provoking and encouraging for new innovative methods for everyday things. (Too bad the associated comments under this linked story are so negative and narrow minded - it helps remind me that even break-thru progress has anchors to drag.)
Jim, so glad to give you info about something new that sparks your creative thinking. I think the potential of 3D printing technology can be applied in all kinds of ways we haven't thought about yet. I really enjoy doing that here at Design News. I don't expect everyone to agree or find what I write about interesting. But I'm glad that many enjoy the new and different technologies I find. Creativity has sometimes been defined as bringing together disparate elements in a new way.
@naperlou: Selective laser sintering typically doesn't yield a fully-dense part, so the mechanical properties would be significantly inferior to those of a forging. On the other hand, it has been shown that selective laser sintering followed by hot isostatic pressing can give mechanical properties equivalent to conventionally-processed titanium.
It seems like a good move for South Africa to go from an exporter of raw materials to a manufacturer of high-tech components. Other developing countries could benefit from this example.
I am also impressed with the forward thinking ability of this South African consortium to strategically invest in processes that produce net shape titanium rather than raw titanium, thus capitalizing on much higher profit margins. This vertical business integration will help both their organizations and their country.
Greg, I agree, and I thought Dave's comments were also to the point regarding vertical integration in South Africa all the way from raw materials to exported products. Looks like a very wise business move for the country overall.
Excellent article Ann. I have followed "additive manufacturing" over the past few years and remain fascinated by the possibilities. Right now it appears the various types are as follows:
· (SLA) Stereolithography
· (SLS) Selective Laser Sintering
· (FDM) Fused Deposition Modeling
· (3DP) Three Dimensional Printing
· (Pjet) Poly-Jet
· Laminated Object Manufacturing
Stereolithography, of course, was the very first. There are two things that really amaze me about the processes: 1.) The size of manufactured product grows each year and 2.) The materials used for the each method expand and grow each year. I would not be surprised at all is the testing planned yield components that "make the grade" as far as specifications. I suspect they could exceed expectations. Again, great post.
bobjengr, the number of AM techniques is actually pretty small. Basically, there's SLA, (S)LS, and FDM. Various forms of "3D printing" ("3DP" is a term invented by MIT), are simply doing AM with an inkjet-type nozzle that sprays material in all three directions (X, Y, Z) for creating layers. PolyJet, for instance, is not a separate method, but an SLA technique using inkjet methods. A caveat: the term "3D printing" is now used, confusingly, to refer to all types of additive manufacturing. You also listed Laminated Object Manufacturing, which (obviously) uses lamination. This is a rapid prototyping method that competes with SLA and SLS, but is not considered an AM technique. One of the best AM resources I've found is here: http://www.wohlersassociates.com
My company Control Systems Technologies, LLC holds four patents in modular robotic technology. We basically form a multi degree of freedom configuration (synchronous 6 DOF) around an application and thus shape a work space according to a customer's need. Our path planning program is based on an API that is directly tied to SolidWorks thus enabling the user to form a 3D path within minutes (including cladding paths) to be executed on an existing part and/or slicing if the part needs to be built. I think that this technology can be applied readily in 3D printing applications. Please let me know who I may contact in order to see if there is a fit.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
