Any engineer who has been working in manufacturing field would know about the stringent tolerances and manufacturing specifications the aerospace and defense sectors demand for. Nevertheless one should not fail to notice the fact that this sector is one of the early adopters of Additive manufacturing technology. And surveys reveal that 75% of industry experts believe that 3D printing will transform into a standard manufacturing method within the defense industry.
How are defense and aerospace industries taking advantage of AM?
Image courtesy: Agnikul
They have been granted a patent on the design and manufacturing of their single-piece engines. The engine is a single print-in-place part, which also includes plumbing components. This was manufactured using metal sintering technology.
Marshall aerospace and defense group:
This UK-based tech group uses Stratasys printers in tooling applications. They now can regularly produce customized, low-volume tools within 24 hours of an engineer’s request, and at a fraction of the cost of an aluminum tool. They also produce drill jigs, masking templates, bonded fixtures, and composite-mold tooling from ASA or Nylon 12.
Image courtesy: Stratasys.com
The team created a prototype of a ducting adapter - an essential part that provides fresh air and cools the avionics. It just didn't impress with its functionality it also led to a significant cost reduction compared to machining the part out of aluminum, as well as a 63 percent reduction in overall weight. Today, the Aerospace team has several pieces of 3D printed ducting flying on various aircraft.
ISRO:
How are defense and aerospace industries taking advantage of AM?
We all understand that in aerospace parts manufacturing, the necessity is lightweight parts that enable more fuel-efficient platforms. This is where 3D printing rightly offers advantages like geometric design freedom, consolidating a multipart assembly to a single part, reducing cost and time for prototyping, replacing discontinued parts, reduction in spare parts storage, and a few other advantages which we have discussed earlier in a previous blog.
But there is yet another specific trump card that the defense industry is exploiting to reap maximum benefit. It is because this sector has identified the center of percussion of this emerging technology.
And that is the sweet spot of additive manufacturing technology which is perfectly made use of by the defense and aerospace manufacturers. They have produced parts at lower costs with faster lead times and more digitally flexible design and development methods, which has resulted in significant cost savings for both users and manufacturers. This technology has enabled one to build just from a CAD model, therefore eliminates the need for tooling, jigs, assembly fixtures, and the long lead times and costs that comes with it.
But there is yet another specific trump card that the defense industry is exploiting to reap maximum benefit. It is because this sector has identified the center of percussion of this emerging technology.
Low Volume, Complex custom design, High Value parts in a very short Lead-Time.
And that is the sweet spot of additive manufacturing technology which is perfectly made use of by the defense and aerospace manufacturers. They have produced parts at lower costs with faster lead times and more digitally flexible design and development methods, which has resulted in significant cost savings for both users and manufacturers. This technology has enabled one to build just from a CAD model, therefore eliminates the need for tooling, jigs, assembly fixtures, and the long lead times and costs that comes with it.
Let us look at a few successful examples :
Agnikul :
They design, manufacture, test, and launch orbital class rockets for micro and nanosatellites and are currently working out of the National Center for Combustion R&D at IIT-Madras. They are expected to launch the Angnibaan rocket before 2022.
They have been granted a patent on the design and manufacturing of their single-piece engines. The engine is a single print-in-place part, which also includes plumbing components. This was manufactured using metal sintering technology.
Marshall aerospace and defense group:
This UK-based tech group uses Stratasys printers in tooling applications. They now can regularly produce customized, low-volume tools within 24 hours of an engineer’s request, and at a fraction of the cost of an aluminum tool. They also produce drill jigs, masking templates, bonded fixtures, and composite-mold tooling from ASA or Nylon 12.
Image courtesy: Stratasys.com
The team created a prototype of a ducting adapter - an essential part that provides fresh air and cools the avionics. It just didn't impress with its functionality it also led to a significant cost reduction compared to machining the part out of aluminum, as well as a 63 percent reduction in overall weight. Today, the Aerospace team has several pieces of 3D printed ducting flying on various aircraft.
ISRO:
In June 2017, ISRO launched a 3D printed satellite part, a radio antenna, into outer orbit. And it is performing exceptionally well now. The 3D printed component is flying on ISRO's GSAT-19 satellite, a communication satellite called the 'Feed Cluster', the aluminum component was a collaborative effort. While the design was ISRO's, the additive engineering was executed by Wipro 3D on an EOS printer. Multiple prototypes were built and tested extensively before approval.
A3D printed Antenna Integrated Helix Feed. It is a part of a transmitter system & is used to amplify RF signals. It is made of AlSi10Mg alloy.
In another case the conventional production of AISI-316L brackets relies on casting and shaping of bulk feedstock materials, followed by subsequent machining to final shapes. Also, the buy to fly ratio is ~ 28 just in case of a conventionally factory-made one. Additive manufacturing has brought down the get to fly ratio to ~ 1, leading to significant value and time savings.
These success stories show us how far we have come from using additive manufacturing methods as just prototyping techniques to it being used to manufacture fully functional products. Soon we can expect it to be operated like any other standard manufacturing methods.
In another case the conventional production of AISI-316L brackets relies on casting and shaping of bulk feedstock materials, followed by subsequent machining to final shapes. Also, the buy to fly ratio is ~ 28 just in case of a conventionally factory-made one. Additive manufacturing has brought down the get to fly ratio to ~ 1, leading to significant value and time savings.
These success stories show us how far we have come from using additive manufacturing methods as just prototyping techniques to it being used to manufacture fully functional products. Soon we can expect it to be operated like any other standard manufacturing methods.
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