There are too many cases of additive manufacturing technology applied to Airbus aircraft, such as the latch shaft of A350, the cable bracket on the front wing spar, the spacer plate of A320 and the bionic partition, etc. In total, Airbus has used thousands of Additive manufacturing parts. At the same time, Airbus has also cooperated with companies such as EOS, Renishaw, Stratasys, Reprap, etc. The technology types cover SLM, FDM, SLS, etc., and jointly promote the aviation application of 3D printing technology.
Traditional manufacturing technology is quite mature under today’s industrial conditions, and it is extremely difficult to continue to progress. However, additive manufacturing provides a new opportunity for aviation to reduce weight, reduce costs, and achieve efficiency growth. At the same time, the thinking of additive manufacturing is different from that of subtractive manufacturing, which also provides new possibilities for emancipating design and optimizing product structure. Therefore, additive manufacturing is also unprecedented for manufacturing changes and product transformation.
Collision of external challenges and additive thinking
Against the background of increasing global ecological awareness, rising fuel prices, and lack of alternative energy sources, the aerospace industry needs to find new technologies to remain competitive. Industrial 3D printing based on powder beds has the potential to bring about fundamental changes and promote the development and use of innovative components. When traditional industries decide to use additive manufacturing, they are faced with the problem of which parts can be manufactured using additive methods and how to use them. Airbus parts supplier Liebherr launched an additive manufacturing program many years ago, and together with the research team of Airbus and the Chemnitz University of Technology, launched a funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) The goal of the project is to replace the traditional combined components with high-pressure hydraulic valve blocks manufactured by one-piece additive manufacturing.
On an aircraft, components work together to ensure a safe flight. The spoiler actuator moves the spoiler to the desired position to reduce the lift of the aircraft and plays a role in adjusting the flight speed and altitude. These main flight control components require the highest standards of quality and accuracy in the production process. Generally, the actuator valve block is made of forged materials by machining, trimming, drilling, and finally assembling. The entire process is time-consuming and complicated, and there is little room for optimization. However, the complicated process steps and a large number of parts make it possible for metal 3D printing to show its effect. At the same time, it is not enough to rely on additive manufacturing to replace the original components. New components must be lighter, have higher efficiency, and meet environmental protection requirements, so as to highlight the feasibility of additive manufacturing as a promising technology in the future.
Solution
The research team used EOS industrial 3D printing technology to optimize the design and production processes for the aviation industry. By analyzing traditional components, the research team determined the hydraulic structure and removed the auxiliary parts. Relocating according to the installation space and interface requirements of the main components, optimizing the pipeline connection, which laid the foundation for the design of new components. “3D printing makes complexity suddenly no longer a problem. The stacked layers of parts allow us to build complex geometries. Functional elements are directly connected to each other using curved pipes, reducing the number of parts, and saving production time.” Chief Engineer Liebherr introduced.
The material selected is a titanium alloy suitable for aviation, which is light in weight, has good mechanical stability, and has very good corrosion resistance, so the weight of the new parts is reduced and it is more cost-effective. Post-processing steps include stress-relieving heat treatment and special treatment of hydraulic channels.
For the reliability and safety of components and their manufacturing materials, Liebherr fully trusts EOS, and reliable parts are a prerequisite for mass production.
Compare results
The 3D printed hydraulic valve block has the same performance as the traditional valve block, but the weight is reduced by 35%, the number of parts is reduced, and 10 functional elements are integrated into the new valve block, thereby eliminating the complex piping system with a large number of lateral holes. This is the same product advertised as additive manufacturing, but with lighter weight and fewer parts.
Compared to traditional milling processes, industrial 3D printing is less complex and extremely effective, while keeping waste to a minimum. At the same time, the use of EOS M290 to manufacture hydraulic valve blocks takes about a day, while the M 400-4 using four lasers can reduce construction time by more than 75%. These lightweight 3D printed valve blocks and future 3D printed components will also help reduce fuel consumption and reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Because the aviation industry has very high requirements for aircraft components, EOS and Liebherr have collaborated to perform seamless and real-time component inspection through the use of monitoring kits. In the future, this will accelerate the identification of material defects during industrial 3D printing and help reduce the need for downstream quality assurance processes such as computer tomography and establish an absolutely reliable production process.
Thanks to the EOS additive manufacturing technology, Liebherr has successfully installed 3D printed high-pressure hydraulic valves on the A380 aircraft to complete the test flight.
Enlightenment
Traditional manufacturing is increasingly showing limitations to innovation, and it is increasingly difficult to meet the increasingly demanding environmental protection requirements. The development of additive manufacturing to this day means potential cost savings, sustainable development goals, and new customer benefits. These advantages can bring enough market differentiation. For traditional manufacturers, 3D printing is a necessary technical means to achieve transformation and upgrade and stand out from the competition.
The importance of intermediate R & D teams
Judging from the experience of many large companies using additive manufacturing, the use of additive manufacturing is not blind, and a dedicated research team has become the main help for application promotion. In the case of Airbus A380 hydraulic valve, Liebherr, Airbus and Chemnitz University of Technology formed a joint R & D team to jointly promote the project; in Audi ’s experience in additive manufacturing, the author also found that Audi also has a professional team conducts feasibility analysis of additive manufacturing parts; in terms of medical treatment, in the previous medical case, Atlanta Children’s Health also formed a research and development team with bioengineers of Georgia Institute of Technology to jointly develop medical products. The fact that manufacturing laboratories and research institutes such as Xi’an Jiaotong University have devoted a lot to the application of additive manufacturing has made important contributions. These facts indicate that the interdisciplinarity of traditional manufacturing and additive manufacturing is extremely important for the promotion and use of applications. The middle team needs to understand not only how traditional products are made, but also the advantages of additive manufacturing, so that they can know which products can be used for additive manufacturing, and also need to use the thinking of additive manufacturing to optimize the design of traditional products. These experiences also enable these companies to quickly use and make good use of additive manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing has gone through the savage stage of blind development. Now it is taking the application route. More and more traditional manufacturing practitioners are actively embracing additive manufacturing. This is an important change in the development of this industry this year.