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The LEAP fuel nozzle is one of GE Aviation's flagship applications of additive manufacturing technology.
GE Additive has today revealed ongoing developments in machines, materials and services and how it foresees the progression of additive manufacturing (AM).
The company’s Strategy Growth Leader, Greg Morris gave a comprehensive account of GE Additive’s work in the AM sector since its founding in 2016 during an hour-long Keynote session at the AMUG Conference. Morris gave details on when the Project A.T.L.A.S machine, M Line Factory and Binder Jet platform can be expected to make it to market, and also teased a new Electron Beam Melting (EBM) launch at RAPID + TCT later this month.
Though 18 months since GE Additive acquired Arcam, this launch will be the first EBM process/ hardware development to be made public since. Arcam was purchased at the same time as Concept Laser, and GE Additive is not only seeing through the intro to market of the M Line Factory, launched at formnext powered by TCT 2016, but has also developed the A.T.L.A.S Project with the Concept Laser team. The former will be production ready by 2019, while the latter is expected to be production ready the following year, and may even have a new name. Morris also revealed the Binder Jetting Technology announced at the back end of 2017 will be production ready by 2019.
GE’s move to enter the additive manufacturing industry as a vertical entity was among the biggest industry developments in 2016, and it quickly sought to acquire majority stakes in two of the leading companies in 3D printing metal. But the company had been championing AM technology for years, its Aviation division utilising the processes for a variety of engine component designs, including the infamous Fuel Leap Nozzle. Morris told how a small group of GE Aviation engineers were tasked with completely re-designing an a-CT7 engine, with a relatively small budget ‘in GE terms’ and with a specific focus on performance, weight and cost. By the end of the project, in the summer of 2016, 40% of the engine components were additively manufactured, and for Morris, it represents the spark that would lead to the GE Additive business.
Immediately, GE Additive took control of two large industry players, and is now looking to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing by backing Concept Laser and Arcam, as well as GeonX, with its financial clout and its engineering expertise. GE Aviation, meanwhile, stands as the additive division’s largest customer, and though GE Additive is confident its output will attract many a new manufacturer, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
GE Aviation has incorporated AM into the production of numerous engine components. It all started in 2013 when the company first printed a heat exchanger – the LEAP engine fuel nozzle had been designed for AM at this stage but not yet manufactured. Over the next two years the GE90 T25 Sensor was manufactured and certified, as was the GE9x LPT Blade and the LEAP fuel nozzle. The GE9x includes 1 high pressure heat exchanger; 28 fuel nozzles and combustor mixers; 16 particle separators; 228 stage 5 and stage 6 LPT blades; and a single T25 sensor. Around 700 of these have been pre-sold meaning upward of 160,000 turbine blades need to be manufactured. In 2016, GE Aviation completed the design of a catalyst engine. Here, the combustor test schedule came down from 12 months to 6 months, reduced weight by 5%, will achieve 20% lower fuel burn, and a 10% power increase. The a-CT7 engine, meanwhile, originally comprised of 300 separate components, and was redesigned down to one single part. It boasts a 10 lbm weight reduction, and Morris says this concept is influencing nearly every other design of every other product GE is looking at.
It all sets GE up to have a huge say in AM’s adoption in the aerospace sector. The company is unique in that it is at once a developer of AM technology and a consumer – GE Aviation being GE Additive’s biggest customer means the company is its own test bed for machines and materials, but a world-renowned one at that. With 9 locations around the world, as well as 1200 employees, GE Additive is aiming to disrupt the wider manufacturing market by harnessing AM. It currently has more than 1,000 projects in progress, 50,000 AM parts in the field, and believes the AM market may have grown to around the $76bn mark within the next 10 years. Morris pointed out that functional applications convert people, and he’s “very convinced this industry will become a major force in manufacturing.” GE Additive is set to play a significant role in that becoming a reality.
