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Monday, January 08, 2018 6:35:51 AM
Additive Manufacturing Could Disrupt A Lot of Aerospace Markets
according to Mark Meyer, leader of GE Additive...
In any case, GE is going all in for additive. It has acquired Arcam EBM, which does electron beam melting, Concept Laser, which does laser melting, and additive material provider AP&C. Meyer stresses the advantages of additive for aerospace uses and the special advantages of the electron beam process.
At aviationweek.com - Additive Manufacturing Could Disrupt A Lot of Aerospace Markets - Jan 8, 2018
The second half of the article:
The electron beam melting of additive manufacturing has good speed, precision and size capabilities, Meyer says. Speed counts for economy. Precision reduces expensive processing work. And size means larger parts can be made. EBM is also a hot process, which reduces stress in the fabricated part. And EBM penetrates deeper than laser, so thicker parts can be made. Finally, EBM uses coarser powders, which tend to be cheaper.
GE is working on additive techniques for all five categories of engine parts, including the most demanding category, the hot-section parts that must tolerate temperatures in excess of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. In principle, additive can be used for any metal that can be turned into powder, but it takes a lot of work to prove and certify both the powder and the additive machine for specific aerospace uses, Meyer notes.
GE has used additive to build the combustor liner for its CT7 engine and a low pressure turbine blade for the GE9X, “the first rotating engine part made by additive,” Meyer says. And for GE’s advanced turboprop engine, additive will make 16 parts, including a heat exchanger that consolidated 80 parts into one.
So additive is coming, both to new engines and other aircraft components, and eventually to the aftermarket as well. Will the larger, more complex parts built with additive be more expensive to replace than a much smaller part might be when failure occurs? Probably. On the other hand, these larger complex additive parts may be repairable by additive techniques as well. In any case, the efficiency gains of additive are so large that some penalties would be well worth paying.
according to Mark Meyer, leader of GE Additive...
In any case, GE is going all in for additive. It has acquired Arcam EBM, which does electron beam melting, Concept Laser, which does laser melting, and additive material provider AP&C. Meyer stresses the advantages of additive for aerospace uses and the special advantages of the electron beam process.
At aviationweek.com - Additive Manufacturing Could Disrupt A Lot of Aerospace Markets - Jan 8, 2018
The second half of the article:
The electron beam melting of additive manufacturing has good speed, precision and size capabilities, Meyer says. Speed counts for economy. Precision reduces expensive processing work. And size means larger parts can be made. EBM is also a hot process, which reduces stress in the fabricated part. And EBM penetrates deeper than laser, so thicker parts can be made. Finally, EBM uses coarser powders, which tend to be cheaper.
GE is working on additive techniques for all five categories of engine parts, including the most demanding category, the hot-section parts that must tolerate temperatures in excess of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. In principle, additive can be used for any metal that can be turned into powder, but it takes a lot of work to prove and certify both the powder and the additive machine for specific aerospace uses, Meyer notes.
GE has used additive to build the combustor liner for its CT7 engine and a low pressure turbine blade for the GE9X, “the first rotating engine part made by additive,” Meyer says. And for GE’s advanced turboprop engine, additive will make 16 parts, including a heat exchanger that consolidated 80 parts into one.
So additive is coming, both to new engines and other aircraft components, and eventually to the aftermarket as well. Will the larger, more complex parts built with additive be more expensive to replace than a much smaller part might be when failure occurs? Probably. On the other hand, these larger complex additive parts may be repairable by additive techniques as well. In any case, the efficiency gains of additive are so large that some penalties would be well worth paying.
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