Avio Aero plans to scale up production with an additional 10 Arcam systems
Belgian 3D printing company Materialise has disclosed how Avio Aero, a GE Aviation business, is deploying its software to additively manufacture parts for the world’s largest jet engine.
The GE9X engine is being developed for Boeing’s next-generation 777X jets and features six 3D printed parts including low-pressure turbine blades produced from an alloy of titanium and aluminium on Arcam Electron Beam Melting (EBM) systems at the Avio Aero Cameri plant in Italy.
The facility has been using Materialise Streamics AM management system since 2013 to enable process control, automation, standardisation, repeatability, and also integration with its SAP ERP system. All manufacturing operations from file to finishing run via Streamics, while Materialise Magics software is being used for part file preparation.
Danila Marco, Digital Technology Additive Leader at Avio Aero explained: “For us, the most important benefit of using Materialise software is the ability to directly connect our 3D printing machines to our SAP production planning tool. This connection provides us with data from the factory floor on the status of each print, on how long production is going to take, and when the print is ready to go to the next station.”
Avio Aero estimates that 60,000 of these blades will be produced annually by 2022 and plans to scale up its AM production with an additional 10 Arcam EBM systems installed by the end of the year, bringing its total machine capacity to 50. To deliver optimal build parameters, both pieces of software are equipped with an Arcam Build Processor to streamline communication to the machines and collect data from all print jobs, enabling better control over production.
“This is crucial in the aerospace industry,” Marco added.
Stefaan Motte, VP & Managing Director of Materialise Software, commented: “To take advantage of large-scale 3D printing in an increasingly cost-competitive environment, manufacturing companies require increased productivity and efficiency and a seamless integration of 3D printing into their existing and proven production processes, Materialise Streamics will help Avio Aero to do just that.”
