In December 2020, Norsk Titanium announced that it will deliver new 787 Dreamliner components to Boeing’s Grottaglie plant in Italy. The aeronautical structure division of the plant mainly manufactures the middle and rear fuselages of the 787 passenger aircraft, and focuses on the additive manufacturing of aviation-grade titanium alloy parts. This delivery is Norsk's third customer in the growing commercial aviation structure sector, and it also means that Norsk has won the first regular production order from the European Union Aerospace Company.
Provide alternative products for aerospace applications with rapid manufacturing, low material consumption and forging strength
The Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process used by Norsk is an FAA-certified OEM-qualified additive manufacturing process that uses titanium wires to transform into complex components suitable for structural and safety-critical applications. It can be used for aerospace, defense, and Commercial customers save a lot of delivery time and cost.
Titanium wire, argon gas, plasma arc and process control are the core factors of the RPD process, which can achieve rapid printing while achieving forging strength, which can meet aerospace applications. Norsk's mature production capacity can reduce costs, reduce machining and material consumption, and shorten delivery time. Its MERKE IV ™ system is the fastest titanium printer in commercial production today. It is 50- faster than powder-based additive manufacturing equipment. 100 times, and the amount of titanium used is 25%-50% less than traditional forgings.
Using Norsk's Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process, Norsk engineers designed Ti6Al4V blanks, reducing raw material requirements by 40%. Using RPD`s industrial processes, Norsk can create designs that are close to the final shape while maintaining the strict process control and material properties required for Boeing aircraft structural applications.
Safety recognized by many space agencies
In 2015, Norsk obtained the European TRL8 certification, which is a method of assessing the maturity of key technical elements and has been recognized by the US Department of Defense, NASA, European Space Agency and many other space agencies. The evaluation of TRL mainly checks the concept, technical requirements, and proven technical capabilities of the project, and ranks it from 1 to 9 according to the score, of which 9 represents the most mature technology. TRL8 indicates that the product has no problems and can be provided to world-class aerospace and defense manufacturers for final certification and airframe integration.
In 2017, Norsk announced that it had obtained a procurement contract from Boeing and would use the company's RPD process to produce 3D printed titanium structural parts for Boeing 787 aircraft. The structural parts were designed by Boeing, and they worked closely with Norsk Titanium during the development process. Boeing began airworthiness certification in December 2016 and passed the certification in February 2017, becoming the world's first 3D printed titanium structural part approved by the US FAA.
In 2018, Norsk Titanium cooperated with Spirit AeroSystems, the world's largest civil aircraft structural parts and systems company, to begin qualification certification for the titanium structural parts of the Boeing 787 aircraft. The qualification process verifies the production and industrialization process of Norsk Titanium, and integrates Spirit's work scope for post-processing of near-net-shape parts. This qualification review aims to verify the material properties and overall requirements of aircraft parts.
Norsk designed 4 parts for the Boeing 787, one of which is a 33 cm long part that fixes the rear kitchen floor to the fuselage and bears structural stress. Norsk produced and tested approximately two tons of material to obtain certification for 787 parts. In addition to the cost of manufacturing the test material itself, it also includes 2,000 individual samples, which amounts to $700,000. For certification, testing is not difficult, it is just time-consuming and expensive.
As of 2019, Norsk has completed the relevant certification work. Previously, Norsk was able to produce four parts for 10 Boeing 787 aircraft every month, which basically achieved mass production.
An excellent choice to reduce material consumption and reduce manufacturing costs
According to reports, the typical 2kg titanium alloy parts on the aircraft must be cut from a 30kg block, resulting in 28kg of scrap. Norsk 3D printing the same part only requires 6kg of titanium wire, which saves 2 to 3 million US dollars in cost for each Boeing 787.
According to Karl Fossum, Norsk`s Director of Customer Planning, “This delivery marks a significant increase in 787 additive manufacturing parts, which previously could only be made of titanium plates. This is also an important step towards our mission to serve the aerospace industry. Applications provide alternative products for titanium forgings."
An important problem with the Boeing 787 is overweight. In order to reduce weight and improve efficiency, it is the most direct and effective way to start with design and materials. Titanium alloys are widely used due to their high strength and light weight. A Boeing 787 uses 136t of titanium, which accounts for 15% of the aircraft's mass. However, this material is not only difficult to process but also very expensive. Its price is 7 times that of aluminum alloy. In the 787 of 265 million US dollars per frame, the manufacturing cost of titanium alloy parts reached 17 million US dollars. How to balance the high cost of overweight is a problem Boeing has to face.
In aircraft manufacturing, the corresponding amount of materials must be purchased according to the volume of the finished parts. The utilization rate of materials is extremely low. The utilization ratio of raw materials and final products reaches 10-20:1, which is called Buy-to-fly ratio in the aviation industry. . For titanium alloys, the cost of traditional manufacturing methods is too high, while additive manufacturing frees the manufacturing of large parts from high costs with minimal material waste, making it an excellent choice for the aerospace industry.