FEATURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING/3D PRINTING


UNLOCKING ADD


With lightweight


AM enables design innovation and presents a solution to supply chain disruption


T


he aerospace industry is facing both unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The growing demand


for commercial air travel and satellite communications is putting pressure on manufacturers to ramp up, while the urgent need for sustainable aviation solutions calls for a radical rethinking of aircraft design and production. Lightweight components are crucial for


achieving sustainable aviation goals, but traditional manufacturing methods often struggle to meet these demands efficiently. This presents a unique opportunity for the industry to break away from conservative conventions and embrace transformative technologies. One such technology gaining traction is


additive manufacturing (AM). While AM itself is not inherently fast or scalable, it enables design innovation and presents a solution to supply chain disruption. In 2023, the global aerospace additive manufacturing market reached $3.62 billion and is projected to grow by 20% annually, reaching $4.4 billion in 2024 and potentially $10 billion by 2028. Previous forecasts have been overly optimistic. The truth is that very few parts are flying today, but the rigorous use of data-driven methods is now helping manufacturers get safety-critical component printing off the ground and build trust in AM component quality and safety. Process simulation and digital twin technologies are unlocking AM’s full potential and accelerating its adoption across the aerospace and defence industries.


THE CURRENT STATE OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING IN AEROSPACE Currently, additive manufacturing is predominantly used for non-critical parts that do not bear structural load. Its use for critical load-bearing components remains limited due to stringent performance and reliability standards. Aerospace regulation is one of the most rigorous, with lengthy safety approvals processes tied to the performance requirements of these parts. In this context, the wider adoption of


additive manufacturing might seem counter- productive for aerospace manufacturers with established workflows. The lightweighting and on-demand potential of additive manufacturing processes is well known, but how can we let new ideas take flight to unlock the potential of additive manufacturing?


SIMULATION: THE MISSING KEY Simulation is the answer. This technology plays a crucial role in the validation of additive manufacturing processes and materials for aerospace, ensuring safety and performance while minimising costly and time-consuming physical prototyping. Advanced simulation tools can predict the behaviour of materials and performance of parts, validating them under various conditions including their loads at performance limits or fatigue throughout their use. This data is crucial to streamline the certification and approval processes, which are heavily regulated and safety-critical for the aerospace industry.


PROCESS SIMULATION Optimising the metal additive manufacturing process is crucial to compensate for distortions that occur during printing. Predicting the defects that may occur due to the laser’s path and layer- by-layer build process, as well as the prediction of a piece’s thermal history, is essential. Printing is an expensive and time-consuming


process. Evaluating various combinations of material, geometry and print parameters before printing will save time and reduce scrappage from print trials. While most metal 3D printing is still carried out by experienced teams, simulation helps them to improve quality and success and offers less experienced teams the insight to succeed sooner in getting satisfactory results from their printer


investment. 40 DESIGN SOLUTIONS NOVEMBER 2024


components crucial for achieving sustainable aviation goals,


Aziz Tahiri, VP Global Aerospace & Defence at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, examines how additive


manufacturing (AM) can help


Optimising part design and manufacturing


through simulation also supports design and engineering innovation, and the move from trial and error to part certification.


MATERIAL MATTERS Material models act as virtual replicas of materials, enabling mechanical engineers to simulate and predict how components that are 3D printed will perform under various conditions throughout their lifecycle. This enables design optimisation to avoid over-engineering and maximise lightweighting within safety margins, while significantly reducing the time and cost associated with physical prototyping and testing. 3D printer manufacturers and material


suppliers now provide these models to capture the performance and behaviour of their materials when printed using additive processes. For example, Stratasys, a leader in polymer 3D printing solutions, utilised these simulation tools to create detailed models of their Antero materials, generating digital twins of any 3D printed parts. Lockheed Martin used one of these 3D printed materials from Stratasys to manufacture NASA’s Orion spacecraft docking hatch cover. The utilisation of these tools to design critical components is proof of the power of simulation, in the harshest environments. Structural components are more typically made using metal AM processes. Whereas milling an aluminium or titanium workpiece requires precision, the performance of the part is both trusted and easy to validate using finite element analysis (FEA) processes because it can be assumed to have consistent material properties internally. When a high performance part is formed from layers of heated powder, you don’t just make a part – you also make a material –


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