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[charlie T colton]

Da Vinci Code 2.0: How 3D Printing And Digital Technologies Are Altering The Face Of Aircraft Engine Manufacturing In Italy

I didn't see that the earlier post about the 3dprint.com article is essentially a reprint of a new gereports.com article published the same day. (DOH!) That means that the 20 Arcam EBM machine count comes directly from GE.

Da Vinci Code 2.0: How 3D Printing And Digital Technologies Are Altering The Face Of Aircraft Engine Manufacturing In Italy - Feb 10, 2017


“This factory has helped us understand what the art of the possible is with additive manufacturing,” David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation, said during a recent visit. “This is the cutting edge.” GE Aviation acquired Avio Aero in 2013.
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“Italy and Avio Aero will be at the center of the growth of our additive ecosystem,” Joyce said.
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The Cameri plant, however, uses 20 machines developed by Arcam. They use an electron beam to fuse together layers of a wonder material called titanium aluminide (TiAl), which is 50 percent lighter than nickel-based alloys. Mantegazza and his colleagues are using it to print blades for the low-pressure turbine of the GE9X jet engine, the largest jet engine ever built.

The Arcam machines use an electron gun to accelerate the beam until it’s several times more powerful than lasers currently used for printing metal parts. As a result, Mantegazza and his colleagues can build blades from layers that are more than four times thicker than those used by laser-powered 3D printers. They say the method is so fast that it’s competitive with casting, the standard way to make parts from TiAl.



#GEReports presents: Da Vinci code 2.0
Published on Feb 13, 2017
How 3D printing and digital technologies are altering the face of aircraft engine manufacturing in Italy.