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.EADS Innovation Works (IW), the aerospace and defence group's research and technology organisation, is always on the look-out for new manufacturing methods. A recent target for evaluation was an additive manufacturing process called Direct Metal Laser-Sintering (DMLS).
Developed by EOS, it is being used by EADS IW to manufacture demonstration parts to explore the benefits of optimised design and production sustainability. Protection of the environment is a key driver, while a reduction in the costs of manufacturing and operating its aerospace products also underlies the group's research.
As quality, costs and environmental effects play a major role in the decision-making process for design and manufacturing solutions, EADS IW has defined new Technology Readiness Level (TRL) criteria focusing on sustainability. Nine TRL processes must be passed at EADS before a technology can be qualified for use in production. For each TRL review, a technology's level of maturity is evaluated in terms of performance, engineering, manufacturing, operational readiness, value and risk. For each of these criteria, new components must out-perform existing ones.
The results from the initial joint study of AM were evaluated in terms of CO2 emissions, energy and raw material efficiency and recycling. When analysing energy consumption, the company's investigation included not only the production phase, but also the sourcing and transportation of raw materials, argon consumption for the atomisation of the DMLS metal powder, and overall waste from atomisation
The air intake support struts, protective guards for take-off shafts and cockpit radio covers inside the Tornado jet were all made by 3-D metal printing, said defense manufacturer BAE Systems. The test flight took place at RAF Warton, England, but BAE Systems is deploying 3-D printers at other installations in an effort to explore cheaper ways to supply aircraft parts. You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things, said Mike Murray, head of airframe integration at BAE Systems, in a release.
Even the front lines are an option, said Murray, as long as you can get a machine there. The U.S. Navy can make 83 plastic parts for its F/A-18 jet and more than 300 for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter via 3-D printing, as reported in a Stars and Stripes story last year.
In October of last year, U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin said it was experimenting with 3-D printing titanium parts for use in space flight; and NASA has plans to put a 3-D printer on the International Space Station this year.
Three-dimensional printers use drafting software to create objects, most often out of plastic or metal. The printers can cost several hundred dollars to more than $500,000.
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