3D printing has brought huge efficiency improvements to the aerospace industry and has become the first choice for many aerospace parts manufacturing organizations.
Just recently, AMRC (University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Center) used 3D printing technology to help Airbus manufacture precision parts, and engineers produced 500 drill caps in just 2 days, shortening the lead time from weeks to days .
According to the tolerance requirements of aerospace grades, AMRC engineers are assigned to design high-precision drilling operations for aerospace parts of carbon fiber, aluminum and titanium materials. In addition, during the project, no cross-contamination should occur between the holes. The team realized that they needed to cover the hole with a drill cap, but could not choose traditional machining or injection molding because it would cause delays of several weeks.
The engineer first tried to plug the void with aluminum sheets and rubber O-rings, but the solution was not very effective. In the end, they used 12 Formlabs Form2 3D printers and successfully printed 500 high-precision drill caps in 2 days. In addition, this method achieves lower manufacturing costs and has higher efficiency than injection molding methods. Since the parts are made by additive materials, the design also includes other geometries, which means it can be installed more easily.
After delivery, the performance of most parts was in full compliance with expectations, and there was no damage during operation. This is enough to prove that it is completely feasible to manufacture high-precision parts with 3D printing.
Recently, in addition to products used in precision parts manufacturing, Formlabs also provides resin products suitable for a variety of applications for Form3, Form3B and Form2 3D printers. These materials are mainly aimed at engineering, healthcare and dental professional applications, bringing more profound changes to additive treatment in these fields.