Aviation International reports that Sikorsky said that the “use of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, digital tools, and other advanced processes[,] has reduced lead-time for aircraft components by more than 50 percent.” According to AIN, the “maturation of this technology across Sikorsky parent Lockheed Martin and its supplier base for both metal and composite materials is producing schedule, cost, and weight savings across systems.” With the help of additive manufacturing, Sikorsky’s Raider X competitive prototype is now 90 percent complete. However, “flight testing of both the Raider X and its competitor, the Bell 360 Invictus, has been delayed until October 2023 (the start of Fiscal Year 2024) at the earliest due to delays with the GE T901 improved turbine engine selected by the Army.”
Full Story (Aviation International)
Tag: Additive Manufacturing
3-D Printing Creates Opportunities in Aerospace
Panelists: Greg Arend, development leader, Additive Manufacturing, United Launch Alliance; Robert Yancey, vice president, Aerospace and Composites, Altai Engineering Inc.; Franck Mouriaux, general manager, RUAG Schweiz Structures, AG, RUAG Space; Chauncey Wu, Structural Mechanics and Concepts Branch, NASA’s Langley Research Center; Jason Dunn, chief technology officer and co-founder, Made In Space Inc.
by Hannah Godofsky, AIAA Communications
Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, offers many opportunities for engineers and product designers, but there are some constraints. Several representatives from the space sector spoke on these pros and cons Jan. 6 at the 2016 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition in San Diego.
Robert Yancey, vice president of Aerospace and Composites with Altair Engineering, said one reason additive manufacturing has caught on is that parts can be made without the tooling, which can be more expensive than the parts. He cited barriers that include surface quality, heat stresses, size, holes, building sizes, support structures, overhangs and cost.
Chauncey Wu, a researcher with NASA’s Langley Research Center, said his agency keeps 3-D printing more efficient by using two print heads so that one can run while the other is cleaned or maintained.
“The industry uses this capability to keep the machine operating as much as possible,” he said.
Franck Mouriaux, a general manager with RUAG Space, spoke about broader changes that may come to space technology as a result of 3-D printing.
“I think thanks to additive manufacturing, we will be able to develop new kinds of products with structures and electronics integrated,” he said, adding there may be a possibility for “more bionic designs and less ‘extrude and rotate.’”
Some of the challenges in introducing additive manufacturing techniques to an existing product line include cost constraints and difficulties in persuading engineers to shift from metal to composite materials, said Greg Arend, a development leader with United Launch Alliance.
The gains in efficiency are worth it, he said, as every ounce of weight costs a lot to send to space, and composite materials are much lighter than metal.
“The challenge I’ve issued to my designers is, give me free parts,” Arend said. “Or better than that, give me less than free parts. Give me money back.”
Jason Dunn, chief technology officer and co-founder of Made in Space, has experience with 3-D printing on the international space station.
“We launched this 3-D printer to the space station, and [Barry “Butch” Wilmore] was the commander when it was received. Butch became the first person ever to manufacture real items off of planet Earth,” he said.
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3-D Printing Poised to Play Major Role in Manufacturing
The New York Times reported on the 3-D-printing foundry in Devens, Massachusetts, which is “owned by VulcanForms, a start-up that came out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” The company has raised $355 million “in venture funding,” and its workforce “has jumped sixfold in the past year to 360, with recruits from major manufacturers like General Electric and Pratt & Whitney and tech companies including Google and Autodesk.” John Hart, a co-founder of VulcanForms and a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, said, “We have proven the technology works. What we have to show now is strong financials as a company and that we can manage growth.” For 3-D printing, “the technology, economic and investment trends may finally be falling into place for the industry’s commercial breakout, according to manufacturing experts, business executives and investors.” They say 3-D printing, “also called additive manufacturing, is no longer a novelty technology for a few consumer and industrial products, or for making prototype design concepts.”
Full Story (New York Times – subscription publication)
Digitization, Electrification and Additive Manufacturing to Revolutionize Propulsion and Energy
Panelists: Moderator Graham Warwick, Aviation Week & Space Technology; Jean Boti, Airbus Group; Douglas Juul, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Mary Beth Koelbl, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Neil R. Garrigan, GE Aviation
by Lawrence Garrett, AIAA Web Editor
Whether with aircraft, space launch vehicles or missile systems platforms, the aerospace propulsion and energy sector is undergoing dramatic changes sure to revolutionize the industry.
From advancements in additive manufacturing to rapidly advancing digitization and bandwidth, connectivity and cybersecurity, the propulsion and energy sector is working hard to keep pace. That was the main theme during “Technology Development and Trends in Propulsion and Energy,” a panel at the 2015 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum.
“Additive really is revolutionizing the way we design hardware,” said Mary Beth Koelbl, deputy director of the Propulsion Systems Department with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “It’s enabling you to design hardware with geometries and shapes and features that you’ve never really been able to do before.”
NASA is being asked to certify additive manufacturing in many areas, Koelbl said, such as for its Space Launch System. She added that NASA has designed everything it could with additive manufacturing and, as a result, there has been “a dramatic reduction in part count and equally dramatic reductions in cost and schedule.”
Koelbl believes additive manufacturing has the “ability to be a very disruptive technology way beyond NASA” and said it’s important that the industry work together to determine how to certify additive manufacturing for flight applications and how to make it more integral in design.
Douglas Juul, manager of systems technology with Missiles and Fire Control at Lockheed Martin Corp., highlighted some of his company’s missile production programs, which rely on the same types of propulsion systems. He said that although his organization is not a propulsion provider, they incorporate propulsion solutions as part of their products.
“Risk and value are some of the major issues that we struggle with, because … the propulsion systems are a major part of the structure in our weapons” Juul said. “They integrate and get involved into every aspect of all of our systems, whether it’s electrical, mechanical, aerodynamic.”
Jean Boti, executive vice president of research and technology with Airbus Group, cited “Flightpath 2050,” Europe’s vision for aviation plan, and said that Airbus has been aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 75 percent and noise by 65 percent by 2050.
Boti called the task huge and said that Airbus decided to take it on with disruptive technologies. He said their idea is “to have this electric propulsion that is assisted by thermal.”
Neil R. Garrigan, executive manager of aviation advanced technology with GE Aviation, said that with the growth of electrification and digitization — in which more bandwidth will be needed — as well as more autonomous systems and sensors and the proliferation of unmanned vehicles, a key question is: “What might that world look like, and how will it impact propulsion and energy systems as we know them today?”
Garrigan said alternative and renewable energies and energy storage, whether electrical or thermal, will “be a big enabler and potentially a disrupter.”
“We should all be preparing to shape the future of flight,” Garrigan said. “It’s an exciting time. We’re passionate for it, and we like to share the passion that everyone else has as well.”
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RTX’s Pratty & Whitney Implements Additive Manufacturing to Reduce Engine Repair Time
Reuters reports, “RTX said on Tuesday its enine making subsidiary Pratt & Whitney has developed an additive manufacturing repair process for its geared turbofan (GTF) engine components, which would reduce process time by more than 60%. The unit is currently navigating an issue with the GTF engines and is conducting an inspection drive for potentially flawed components, which has led to the grounding of hundreds of planes in recent months.”
Full Story (Reuters)