Beyond Lightweighting – 3DP in Aerospace

While lighter parts were the primary goal of additive manufacturing a few years ago, these days aerospace companies are looking for more from the technology.

Rob Spiegel

January 13, 2022

1 Min Read
Morf3D.png
Morf3D

Additive manufacturing has taken a far more significant role in aerospace than it had 10 years ago. Now, the additive manufacturing process is used to build entire assemblies rather than replicating existing parts with lighter materials. Additive manufacturing is also able to create parts that are simply not possible with traditional casting or machining.

We caught up with Ivan Madera, CEO and founder of Nikon-backed Morf3D, to discuss the trends he is seeing in the aerospace additive manufacturing sector moving into 2022.

Design News: Is lightweighting still a major reason for using additive manufacturing in aerospace?

Ivan Madera: The initial thrust of additive manufacturing in aerospace was lightweighting. Now we’re creating optimized structures with freedom of design. That’s enablement. Through this technology, you can enable lightweighting and multi-functional structures. It’s lightweight, but it’s also a heat exchanger or an RF antenna. It has multidisciplinary use. That’s design freedom.

DN: What are some of the emerging benefits of additive manufacturing for aerospace?

Ivan Madera: The propulsion systems that rocket us to the Moon and Mars have a lot of 3D printed assemblies. If you look at the internal design of the parts, there is no way you could have created it through casting or machining. You can get more out of an additive manufactured object because you’re adding more complexity. That opens the possibilities for faster designs and faster launches.

Related:Additive Manufacturing as Bridge Production and Other Uses

This video from Electro Optical Systems – a partner of Morf3D – explains some of the areas of additive manufacturing this is getting widely used in aerospace.

 

About the Author

Rob Spiegel

Rob Spiegel serves as a senior editor for Design News. He started with Design News in 2002 as a freelancer covering sustainability issues, including the transistion in electronic components to RoHS compliance. Rob was hired by Design News as senior editor in 2011 to cover automation, manufacturing, 3D printing, robotics, AI, and more.

Prior to his work with Design News, Rob worked as a senior editor for Electronic News and Ecommerce Business. He served as contributing editolr to Automation World for eight years, and he has contributed to Supply Chain Management Review, Logistics Management, Ecommerce Times, and many other trade publications. He is the author of six books on small business and internet commerce, inclluding Net Strategy: Charting the Digital Course for Your Company's Growth.

He has been published in magazines that range from Rolling Stone to True Confessions.

Rob has won a number of awards for his technolloghy coverage, including a Maggy Award for a Design News article on the Jeep Cherokee hacking, and a Launch Team award for Ecommerce Business. Rob has also won awards for his leadership postions in the American Marketing Association and SouthWest Writers.

Before covering technology, Rob spent 10 years as publisher and owner of Chile Pepper Magazine, a national consumer food publication. He has published hundreds of poems and scores of short stories in national publications.

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