The impact of 3D printing on the aerospace industry is huge, because 3D printing is not only a manufacturing technology, but also creates added value for the product. GE Global CEO John Flannery mentioned that GE sees the disruptive potential of 3D printing and additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing has also brought great transformation pressure to GE's internal business. There are many changes that need to be made. Supply chain, inventory, talent … a lot of pressure, but GE has the courage to change.
GE (General Electric) mentioned "strengthened by additive manufacturing" in the official propaganda of the aero engine GE9X, which shows the importance of 3D printing technology for GE9X engine manufacturing.
According to 3D Scientific Valley's market observation, Avio Aero, a subsidiary of GE Aviation, is expanding its 3D printing capacity for GE9X engine turbine blades at its Cameri plant in Italy. The plant has installed 35 electron beam melting (EBM) metal 3D printing equipment. About 60,000 blades will be produced here from 2023.
Different materials have different properties
According to the Aviation Manufacturing Network, the GE9X is the power engine of the Boeing 777X, the world's largest commercial aviation engine, which can provide approximately 100,000 pounds of thrust.
The engine also has a new generation 11-stage high-pressure compressor with a pressure ratio of 27: 1, a third-generation TAPS III combustion chamber with high efficiency and low emissions, as well as a combustion chamber and turbine using ceramic matrix composite (CMC).
The GE9X engine with new materials, cooling technology and aerodynamic design is the only engine selected for Boeing 777X series aircraft. GE9X is a masterpiece of GM's innovative research and development. Its 60: 1 supercharging ratio is the highest in the history of gas turbine aviation engines ; The number of blades is only 16 pieces, which is the smallest of all two-channel passenger aircraft engines.
It is expected to complete type certification in 2018 and enter service with Boeing 777X aircraft in 2020.
GE uses EBM 3D printing technology to manufacture turbine blades, which uses electron beam as its energy source to melt metal powder layer by layer. The powder material is made of advanced aerospace material titanium aluminum (TiAl). This material is about 50% lighter than nickel-based alloys commonly used in low-pressure turbine blades. Compared with its predecessor, the GE90 engine, this means that fuel consumption has been reduced by 10% (and emissions have been reduced), and the GE9X has reduced weight by about 200 kg.
According to 3D Scientific Valley's market observation, Avio Aero's Cameri plant in Italy is executing expansion plans to install the latest EBM 3D printing equipment for the production of turbine blades for the new GE9X engine to increase the production capacity of 3D printed blades .
The Cameri plant added 600 square meters of production area and currently has 35 EBM 3D printing equipment from Arcam, a subsidiary of GE Aviation, of which 31 are A2X and 4 are the latest EBM Spectra H. In the next step, 16 Arcam EBM Spectra H will be added, which will eventually replace all previous models with this new machine.
The Cameri plant is a modern, highly efficient additive manufacturing facility that will begin its first continuous production since opening in April. Here, a batch of blades is produced by A2X equipment in about three days, with 6 blades per batch. The Spectra H device can complete about 10 blades in the same time. Based on this, GE expects to produce about 60,000 blades from 2022 to 2023.
More important data than equipment
GE Aviation`s two teams, Avio Aero and Arcam, will continue to cooperate in data collection at the Cameri plant, which is also a more important cooperation between the two parties in addition to the cooperation of additive manufacturing equipment.
Additive manufacturing equipment is inherently intelligent. With the support of intelligent software, they are like the human brain by collecting, selecting, transmitting, calculating, and ultimately extracting information. The interconnectedness of additive manufacturing is an advantage, and data can be correlated to gain time, quality, and methodological advantages, and can be compatible with other tools or software. Software and data have a huge impact on the final product.
The collaboration between Avio and Arcam will enhance the digital capabilities of additive manufacturing equipment, with the aim of enabling them to have more efficient and reliable production processes.
3D Science Valley Review
According to GE Global CEO John Flannery in the Industry in 3D series, when GE first saw 3D printing, it felt impossible, and the parts were slow and expensive. You can easily say let us wait and talk. But after you really understand the value of 3D printing, your attitude is different. Most people don't see it. If they don't see the subversive potential of 3D printing to reshape the value chain industry chain, it will easily be at a disadvantage in the competition.
As mentioned by 3D Science Valley in the book "3D Printing and Industrial Manufacturing", we are always caught in the misunderstanding of one-to-one comparison between 3D printing and traditional manufacturing methods, because it is easy to ignore that 3D printing is not in production and the original The same parts, but the production of different parts, different shapes, different materials, different performance.
Realizing these "different" is exactly the value of 3D printing. It is true that breaking through traditional design ideas and manufacturing methods requires companies to have the spirit of self-transcendence. In introducing 3D printing to the manufacturing process of engines, GE can be said to echo the self-transcendence spirit of "we go above and beyond, and we take you go above and beyond" they proposed.
We can clearly feel that digitalization, new materials, and 3D printing are driving aero engine innovation. GE has initiated the layout of the next generation aero engine technology high ground.