Electron Beam Melting is a cost-efficient and proven additive manufacturing solution that has developed rapidly over the last years as a result of dedicated system development. Significant improvements have been made concerning system productivity, system reliability and part quality of built parts, turning EBM into a mature production technology. Today, EBM is an integral part of several production chains in various applications.

EBM is used for production of CE-certified and FDA-cleared orthopedic implants. EBM is also used for production of aero engine components by several OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the aerospace industry, with the common goal to use the EBM technology for series production of commercial aero engine components.

Recent innovations in beam control have led to a revolutionary new melting strategy using point exposures instead of traditional hatched line melt. With Point Melt, a new journey begins in what can be achieved with EBM concerning building without any supports; surface finish and microstructural control.

Join this webinar as GE Additive’s Mattias Fager describes how Point Melt was developed and explores the many benefits that result from this innovation.

Speaker

Mattias Fager

Senior Staff Engineer, Materials Science and Engineering, GE Additive

With a background in solid state physics, Mattias Fager joined the metal additive industry in its genesis in 2001. Mattias has experience in research and development as well as sales and application development, as both as manager and tech lead. He has been an integral part in both introducing AM to the medical industry as well as guiding the GE9X LPT EBM production through the engine test programs. Mattias is one of the true process architects behind the success of EBM.

Successfully deploying metal additive binder jetting technology cannot be accomplished by simply buying and installing a machine. It requires a complete, configurable ecosystem of production hardware and software that addresses critical business objectives:  safety, quality, cost, and scale.

In order to achieve those goals, GE Additive’s Binder Jet hardware and processes were designed and tested for scaled throughput and high uptime.  The closed-loop, inert material handling system was developed with high EHS standards and minimal powder interaction. And the patented GE binding agent allows printing, depowering and sintering large complex parts with superior green strength, which promotes production automation processes.

Appropriate geometric tolerancing and dimensional control is achieved by the use of GE Additive’s Amp™ software, a single data flow from design to accurate final parts. The software characterizes the sintering process, simulates the expected deformation, and compensates the geometry to yield near-net-shape parts.

Join this session to learn more about how the GE Additive Binder Jet Line is helping customers establish full-scale production.

Speaker:

Sammie Rowe

System Validation Engineer
GE Additive

Sammie Rowe is an accomplished chemical engineer with a passion for additive manufacturing and the potential of disruptive technologies that will revolutionize the industry. She has been working at GE Additive for the past four years, where she has played a critical role in the R+D, and subsequent technology maturation of GE’s Binder Jet products.

During her time at GE Additive, Sammie has been involved in early parameter and binder development, as well as system validation. For the past three years, she has been focused on testing and validating the Series 3 Binder Jet product. Her work has helped to optimize the product performance and ensure its quality.

Sammie is particularly excited about Binder Jet’s ability to produce complex parts more quickly and at a lower cost than many other manufacturing methods. This has significant implications for a range of industries, from aerospace and automotive to healthcare and consumer products. Sammie is passionate about Binder Jet technology and looks forward to sharing how GE Additive has created a quality, production-ready machine.

During her time at GE, Sammie has received one patent and filed four others related to Binder Jet.

Prior to joining GE Additive, Sammie spent three years at GE Renewable Energy. While there, she completed the Edison Engineering Development Program and moved on to lead the testing and validation of the pitch-bearing system for onshore wind turbines.

Sammie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering. She furthered her education by completing a master’s in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Inspired by magnetic levitation technology that is being employed to propel high-speed trains, MagLev Aero is applying this next-level technology to the concept of electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The company's breakthrough MagLev HyperDrive™ platform will enable a new generation of eVTOL designs that are dramatically more quiet, efficient, safe, sustainable, and emotionally appealing to the mass market.  

To achieve their goals, MagLev has enlisted GE Additive’s AddWorks™ consultancy team, recognized for extensive additive industry experience, to help take advantage of metal AM for optimal weight, performance, and repeatability in their design.
 
Join this webinar to hear from MagLev's co-founder and chairman of the board, Roderick Randall, and GE Additive’s AddWorks team leader, Dave Chapin, as they explore this exciting new opportunity in air travel and how additive manufacturing will play an important role in enabling magnetic levitation propulsion to advance urban air mobility.
 

Speakers:

Roderick Randall
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board
MagLev Aero

Roderick Randall is a highly accomplished tech entrepreneur, senior executive and venture capitalist with more than 25 years of experience in the wireless, telecommunications, computer-networking and electric vehicle industries. He is the co-founder and chairman of the board of MagLev Aero Inc., a pioneering electric aerospace technology company headquartered in Boston that is poised to revolutionize the industry – as well as a member of The Board of Trustees at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology.

Mr. Randall is an executive partner at Siris Capital Group, LLC (since 2010), and had 10 years of experience as general partner at two venture capital firms. His venture investments and PE board positions have included Tekelec (sold to Oracle), TNS (sold to Koch Borthers), Stratus Technologies (sold to SGH), YMAX (magicJackVocaltec NASDAQ: CALL), Dynamicsoft (sold to Cisco Systems), Bitfone (sold to Hewlett-Packard Company), Snowshore (sold to Brooktrout/Cantata), FusionOne (sold to Synchronoss), ProQuent Systems (sold to Bytemobile), Bytemobile (sold to Citrix) and Visage Mobile.

Mr. Randall started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a member of technical staff/supervisor and holds several US patents. He currently also serves on the boards of Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) and Mavenir Systems Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering with Highest Honors from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master of Sciences in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
 

Dave Chapin
AddWorks Application Consulting Engineering Team Leader
GE Additive

Dave Chapin has the privilege to lead GE Additive’s AddWorks Application Consulting Engineering Team. His team works daily to drive the additive epiphany with customers.Over the last 20 years, Dave has focused on bringing new technology and innovation to commercial products at GE’s Global Research, Power, Aviation and Additive divisions.

Prior to joining GE Additive, Dave most recently spent five years developing production additive aerospace parts for GE Aviation. Dave’s global consulting team brings its additive hardware design, materials, and process expertise along with GE’s deep technology expertise to partner with clients and accelerate their additive journey.

Dave graduated from Union College with his BSME and from Georgia Tech with his MSME. He resides in Cincinnati, OH with his family.

GE Aerospace Advanced Technology Munich-led European consortium unveils one of the largest-ever metal 3D-printed aerospace parts and demonstrates significant cost, weight and time savings

• One-meter-in-diameter part manufactured in nickel alloy 718 on a GE Additive system is one of largest aerospace parts additively manufactured using the Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) process.
• Shift from conventional casting to additive manufacturing reduces cost and weight by 30%.
• Consolidation combines over 150 parts into one. 
• Lead time was reduced from more than nine months to two and a half months.

The EU's European Green Deal sets out the need to reduce transport emissions by 90% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels, with the aviation sector playing its part. Policy actions and industry efforts since 2005 have led to greater fuel efficiency per passenger. Priorities going forward include financial and regulatory measures to drive low-emissions aviation and the urgent development of clean sheet frames, new aircraft engines and propulsion systems and Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

One significant research initiative underway to develop these types of more fuel efficient air transport technologies for the earliest possible deployment is the European Commission and European aerospace industry-funded Clean Sky 2 Programme, now entering its final phase. Its successor Clean Aviation was launched in December 2021.

The Clean Sky 2 program is made up of key industry players and subject matter experts along with academic research bodies across Europe. The program is integrating, demonstrating, and validating technologies capable of reducing CO2 emissions as well as nitrous oxide (NOx) and noise emissions by up to 30% compared to 2014 "state-of-the-art" aircraft. Another goal is to develop a strong and globally competitive aeronautical industry and supply chain in Europe. 

Based in Munich, Germany, GE Aerospace Advanced Technology (GE AAT) Munich team leads three core partnerships in the Clean Sky 2 program to identify engine hardware, benefits, design, manufacturing process and, connected to the program’s goals, collaborate closely with GE Aerospace’s sites in Italy, Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey, as well as external partners.

Changing the Game for Large Metal Additive Parts

One of the GE AAT Munich-led partnerships is the Turbine Technology Project (TURN), which was set up to accelerate technology maturation for future aero engines.

And in response to a Clean Sky 2 call for proposals, in 2018 a consortium of Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), TU Dresden (TUD) and technology company Autodesk, was selected to support GE AAT Munich for the design and manufacturing of a large-scale metal additive manufacturing component – the Advanced Additive Integrated Turbine Centre Frame (TCF) casing – the MONACO project. This also included the design and production of coupons and critical parts, validation and qualification, and the final delivery of the full-sized metal 3D-printed casing.

After almost six years in R&D and engineering, the large-format TCF casing design using GE Additive’s Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) technology in nickel alloy 718 was recently unveiled by the consortium.

The TCF casing is one of largest additively manufactured parts produced for the aerospace industry. It is designed for narrow-body engines in which the part is approximately one meter or more in diameter. Having this single-piece design solution to produce this kind of large format engine hardware with reduced cost, weight and manufacturing lead time gives a competitive business advantage.

Equivalent to one meter in diameter, the first-ever metal 3D-printed TCF casing using DMLM technology in nickel alloy 718. Image credit: GE Aerospace

“We wanted to reduce the weight of the part by 25% but also improve the pressure losses of the secondary air flow as well as a strong reduction in part count to improve maintenance,” said Dr. Günter Wilfert, GE AAT Munich’s technology and operations manager. 

“The team can be proud of the results. With the final print of the full casing, they were able to prove the values. Those targets were achieved and surpassed. We were able to reduce the weight by ~30% in the end. The team also reduced the manufacturing lead time from nine months to two and a half months, by approximately 75%.  Over 150 separate parts that make up a conventional turbine center frame casing have been consolidated into one single piece design,” he added.

To ensure that all the engineering requirements were met, including a performance benefit of 0.2% in specific fuel consumption, the design was reviewed by experts from across the team for Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) 4 and multiple manufacturing trials were performed to meet hardware quality and incorporate the manufacturability of MRL4. 

Reducing Reliance on Castings and Future Applications

Outside the environmental, performance, weight, cost benefits and reduction of waste material of this new part, perhaps the biggest impact will be supply chain disruption in all industries facing challenges with their casting in conventional manufacturing.

The turbine center frame, an inherent component of modern, turbofan aircraft engines, serves as a duct for the hot gas that flows from the high-pressure turbine into the low-pressure turbine. Conventionally, they are manufactured by casting and/or forging, followed by additional machining steps.

Due to stringent requirements on airworthy hardware in the highly regulated aerospace industry, the number of approved vendors for casting and forging parts is very limited. This creates long lead times and high costs. These challenges, and the fact that a turbine center frame isn’t a rotating part, made it an ideal candidate for additive manufacturing.

This new additive manufacturing design solution on engine frames is not limited to turbine center frames for future engines; it can be leveraged to existing and legacy engine center frames. The proposed design features can also be transferred and/or scaled to turbine rear frames (TRF), low pressure turbine casings and turbine mid frames (TMF).

“People already want to know how this part has been made and how the design and technology could translate to their industries. Our strategy all along was to make sure that the component design meets aerospace engineering requirements and Clean Sky 2 goals, but it could be easily translated to other similar segment engines, and adjacent businesses and sectors,” said Ashish Sharma, an advanced lead engineer on the GE AAT team.

“Additive manufacturing offers enormous potential to lower weight, improve component functionalities, and substantially reduce part count in complex assemblies, directly increasing aircraft energy efficiency, and reducing assembly costs and time,” said Christina-Maria Margariti, project officer for hydrogen-powered aircraft for Clean Aviation.

“The Clean Aviation program, in line with the EU Green Deal objective of carbon neutrality by 2050, supports the launch of disruptive new products by 2035, with the aim to replace 75% of the operating fleet by 2050. Faster time to market and increased production rates will therefore be crucial to reaching these ambitious environmental targets,” she added. 

Industry-Academic Collaboration

The consortium team regards its work, and the part itself, as potential game-changer in the use of metal additive manufacturing for the future production of large parts for commercial aircraft engines.

Sharma has led the project since its inception. “At first, the engineering almost seemed to be impossible, but by leveraging advanced additive technologies and pushing boundaries that stretched our limit, we have achieved a design that was only in our imagination and far away from a reality never thought of before,” said Sharma.

Sharma said it’s been an enormous achievement and reflects, from the outset, the talent and drive of the consortium members. “The team is smart. Bringing everyone together and putting in place support structures for the build that were unconventional meant we optimized not only the hardware but our processes. It was wonderful to see the collaboration, everyone with different backgrounds working together. This aspect was unique.”

The involvement of academia has been critical to the overall success of the project, enabling them to become part of a large European technology program by collaborating closely with industry, using their infrastructure and maturing different technologies.

Everybody, Sharma said, had their part to play. “Hamburg University of Technology has a GE Additive M2 machine installed on campus, and their expertise with prototyping was invaluable, while the team at TU Dresden was responsible for validation and building a dedicated test rig. Autodesk optimized the Design for Additive Manufacturing process, and finally GE Additive supported us by printing the part using its A.T.L.A.S machine.

“Having such a talented, additive-experienced team brought a lot of new ideas and concepts in fundamentals that we wouldn’t necessarily have thought about if we were working in our individual teams. There was a lot of ingenuity” he added.

The project employed a multi-disciplinary iteration loop setup to design the hardware and leveraged Lean manufacturing concepts, processes and tools to reduce design iteration time. Many innovative and creative design features and solutions were considered and introduced to reduce pressure, thermal gradient and stress.

Dr. Dirk Herzog, interim professor at TUHH’s Institut für Laser- und Anlagensystemtechnik, said, “Due to the size of the part, it was necessary to evaluate design concepts by manufacturing segments at first, validate their performance and from there learn how to transfer to full scale. A lot of effort has been invested from all of the team members over the course of the last three-and-a-half years to advance us to the point where we were fully confident to have the design and the DMLM process ready for the final print. To finally see the physical part being built successfully is very rewarding.”

At the beginning of the TURN program GE AAT Munich explored the design space and performed multiple trade studies leveraging advanced technologies such as additive manufacturing. The GE AAT Munich team was able to lay down a technology maturation plan to advance the art of making TCF cases.

Finally, when the consortium started to support the technology maturation plan, Autodesk brought advanced tools to optimize additive design, TUHH added additive machine for initial print trials and TUD’s experts built an aero/thermal rig with state-of-the-art instrumentation devices for validation – which blends to give satisfying results at the very first attempt to deliver a successful 3600 single-piece additive TCF case.

“The biggest challenges to validating additively manufactured hardware is that we are not allowed to scale up or down, as this changes the surface finish, which reflects in measurement data translated to product. We contributed our unique experience in testing print trials for mechanical strength, thermal emissivity and aero/thermal validation,” said Thomas IIzig, Eike Dohmen and Sarah Korb, TUD’s team of scientists.

“The team went ahead and designed and manufactured a novel three-hole probe to measure pressure loss on the additive TCF casing, which demonstrated a reduction of around 90% in pressure drop compared to a conventional design. The TCF casing underwent extensive aero/thermal and mechanical testing to meet engineering requirements,” they added.

Autodesk’s role in this research was to develop a lightweight, high performance turbine center frame casing by optimizing the structural and fluid performance while contributing to consolidate over 150 parts into a single component. Team Autodesk were instrumental in taking challenges to design component utilizing there software tools to meet program requirements. 

From right to left: Dr. Hermann Scheugenpflug (GE Aerospace), Dr. Dirk Herzog (TUHH), Dr. Andreas Peters (GE Aerospace), Nick Markovic (Autodesk), Ashish Sharma (GE Aerospace, Project Leader), Dr. Andrea Milli (GE Aerospace), Dr. Guenter Wilfert (GE Aerospace), Andy Harris (Autodesk), Philipp Manger (Autodesk). Image credit: GE Aerospace

Convergence of AM Aerospace and AM Energy

Join GE Additive at this year’s AM Industry Summit, a convergence of AM Aerospace and AM Energy. This conference brings together the global additive manufacturing aerospace and energy industries for a unique, hands-on, interactive event. Discover the latest materials, metals, and polymers, while uncovering design and technology solutions across the AM and 3D printing industry.

• Visit us at booth 19 to see the innovative parts we will have on display and talk to an additive expert.
• Attend our presentation: M Line and Ni718 - Enabling metal additive production through stability and stitching; Presenter: Sarah Ulbrich, GE Additive; June 21, 4:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Can’t attend in person? Check us out on July 13 during Virtual Day. You can access on-demand content from the live conference as well as the presentation Additive Manufacturing and GE Aviation’s GE9X Engine, during which GE’s Chris Philp will show the various additive parts that are included on the latest commercial engine.

Click here for more information on the show and to register for the live and virtual events. Use promo code AMSPN25 to save 25% off your conference pass.

As metal additive technology continues to gain momentum in the design and industrial production of new aerospace components, GE Aviation’s Loyang facility is the first maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility worldwide that has been approved to use metal additive manufacturing for commercial jet engine component repairs. 

GE Aviation Engine Services Singapore (GE AESS) currently employs more than 1,700 employees in the city-state and accounts for more than 60 percent of GE Aviation’s global repair volume. GE Aviation continuously innovates in the MRO sector, and GE AESS recently announced that it is the first MRO facility in the world approved to perform metal additive repairs on jet engine components.

Customization, Complexity and Customer Value

3D-printed parts are typically printed using STL files generated from CAD drawings. However, this works only for new-make production where the goal is to produce identical parts conforming to the blueprint. When repairing used parts, however, the repair has to be customized for each individual part because each part wears differently during service.

Additive technology in repairs also offers the possibility of embracing complexity, rather than shying away from it. Chen Keng Nam, executive manufacturing leader at GE AESS in Singapore, has also been involved in the metal additive roll-out.

“This disruptive technology can be used for lots of applications, not only in aviation. When I see beyond the realm of repair into new-make, it’s mind-blowing to see the parts that we can design and print using additive. Now designers are making use of the ability to produce new designs that couldn't be imagined or manufactured before with traditional methods.”

Iain Rodger, managing director at GE AESS, also sees the potential for metal additive technology in MRO. 

“In this part of the supply chain our customers truly value faster turn-around time, and that’s what we are achieving. Using our GE Additive Concept Laser M2 machines typically halves the amount of time it takes us to repair these aircraft parts.”

Rodger says his teams are already using additive technology to repair parts in GE Aviation’s CF6 engines, the most-reliable and best-selling commercial engine on wide-body aircraft. The next goal is to include parts on the CFM56, the best-selling engine in commercial aviation history.

One example is the repair of high-pressure compressor (HPC) blades that run at high speeds and tight clearances within aircraft engines. They face regular erosion and wear and tear that, over time, demand continuous repair and replacement. Repairing these blade tips used to require a long process of cutting, welding and grinding to create the proper shape.

GE Aviation has established an automated additive manufacturing process to repair the HPC blade tips, saving time and costs associated with labor and machining. The team created image-analysis software that maps the shape of a used blade and creates customized instructions for the Concept Laser M2 machine to build a new tip with precise alignment and profile.

The 3D-printed part is near-net shape and can be finished with minimal additional processing. 

“Productivity has increased with our employees able to repair twice as many parts in a day compared to the conventional repair process. Less equipment is also needed for post-processing so the floor space required is reduced by one-third,” says Rodger.

“Further to that we are currently assessing what we are going to do in turbine parts and other components beyond compressors. Day-to-day, working with customers, they will know that there's a difference as they will be seeing their parts return to them more quickly.”

Beyond the much faster turn-around times possible with metal additive technology in aircraft part repairs, Rodger sees another significant win for GE Aviation, for customers and for the aviation industry more broadly.

“To me one of the significant advantages of additive is it’s sustainability. This is going to allow us to repair more parts and throw fewer parts into the bin, use less energy, generate less waste and have a smaller footprint. Repair capability is a big part of the sustainability journey. As the industry expands and new technology is developed, that will only increase.”

Collaborate to Innovate

As part of its national high-tech strategy, Singapore’s Economic Development Board supported the initial development trials and training for the introduction of metal additive technology for aviation maintenance into the country. 

Shih Tung Ngiam, a senior engineering manager at GE Aviation, Engine Services in Singapore, was involved in the project from its inception. He acts as a bridge between the local team and the wider additive community across GE Aviation and GE Additive to industrialize the process.

“While teams at the GE Aviation Additive Technology Center in Cincinnati and GE Additive Lichtenfels in Germany worked on developing printing parameters for the Concept Laser M2 machine, our team here in Singapore focused on the modifications needed to make the process robust and production-friendly in a high-volume repair process,” states Ngiam.

The Singapore team designed tooling to prepare and print parts efficiently and fine-tuned the repair process, including printing, pre- and post-processing and inspection. Extensive trials and tests were conducted to ensure the quality and safety of the parts before the repair was substantiated.

In 2020 Ngiam and the team also designed a pilot production line, including an automated powder recycling system, to streamline the repair operation. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the approach for a while; however, by 2021 the team in Loyang was ready to go live on its full-scale production line.

“Additive gives us speed and productivity with less floor space required. We gave a lot of careful consideration to how best to integrate the M2s into the rest of the repair line. We completed an assessment of which parts of the repair we should leave alone, which ones could benefit from additive and what other changes we needed to make to the repair process for it to make sense,” says Ngiam.

The two big advantages that metal additive provides the site are speed and the near-net-shape product. This allows the team to increase productivity and reduce floor space required. The traditional methods for repairing HPC blades involves a lot of effort to weld the blade and then a lot of additional effort to remove the excess material.  By using the Concept Laser M2 metal 3D printers, the repaired blade is very close to the final shape when it comes out of the machine, so it takes much less labor and equipment to achieve the finished profile.

Given the critical nature of aerospace components, extensive analysis and testing are required before any repair can be approved, even more so when new technologies such as additive manufacturing are involved. GE AESS worked closely with GE Aviation Engineering to produce parts for testing and to establish a robust quality-assurance process before the process could be approved. As the aerospace industry becomes more familiar with additive, the approval process can be streamlined. 

From Left to Right; Lisa Tan, lead scientist at GE Aviation Engine Services Singapore, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong and Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Executive Vice President, Tan Kong Hwee. Image credit: GE Aviation

Attracting Additive Talent

Back on the ground, as GE AESS starts to scale metal additive technology for aircraft part repairs, a real consideration is the talent that will be needed to implement ambitions.

“Singapore’s universities and polytechnics are training a healthy number of students in additive manufacturing, but the pool of experienced graduates is still quite small.

As the industry matures and these graduates gain experience, we expect that Singapore’s pool of additive talent will grow accordingly,” reflects Chen Keng Nam. 

And this feeds into a blueprint for the future, where additive manufacturing is a mainstay of the aircraft repair supply chain. 

“The great dream of additive is to print spare parts on demand without even needing to have an inventory. It’s true that it’s a few years away, but it will happen. But we must also recognize that change can take time, especially in our highly regulated industry, and we have to make efforts to prove that our new methods are as good, if not better, than what has gone before,” concludes Shih Tung Ngiam. 

GE Additive's Concept Laser M2 Series 5, perfectly suited the demands of highly-regulated aerospace industry. Image credit: GE Additive
 

•    During 2022 GE Additive to deliver systems to GE Aviation’s Additive Technology Center in West Chester, Ohio, and to Avio Aero in Turin, Italy

•    Collaborative, continuous improvement to ready the automated system for high-volume additive production environments

•    Materials focus: aluminum, cobalt chrome and nickel alloy 718 for aerospace applications

CINCINNATI, OH – 8 FEBRUARY 2022 – GE Aviation is acquiring five GE Additive Concept Laser M Line systems. The first four M Line systems will be installed at GE Aviation’s Additive Technology Center (ATC) in West Chester, Ohio, during 2022. A fifth M Line system will be installed at Avio Aero’s Turin site in Italy to support serial production of additive components for the GE Catalyst turboprop engine during 2022.

Customer-Centric Innovation

Throughout the M Line’s three-year maturation phase, GE Additive teams have worked collaboratively with GE Aviation and a small cohort of other aerospace and medical sector customers who are already in serial additive production to rigorously beta test the M Line system. 

Always with a focus on delivering the highest specification, this phase has resulted in more than 300 design improvements with additional safety and software features incorporated into the system, as customers’ needs and requirements have changed in response to the more rigorous demands of customers aiming to move into additive serial production. 

Continuous improvement and input from GE Aviation informed the most critical and fundamental change to the system – an increase to the build envelope by 54% to 500mm x 500mm x 400mm – to enable GE Aviation’s progression to the serial production of larger additive parts.

Over the past 18 months, attention has shifted to materials development for aerospace applications with some of the highest requirements in the industry for part quality in terms of material properties, as well as build-to-build and machine-to-machine stability.

GE Additive and GE Aviation ATC teams have partnered to accelerate locking down the materials parameters for aluminum, cobalt chrome and nickel alloy 718. 

“The time and work we have collectively invested with our GE Additive colleagues to define, shape and then iron out the specification and functionality of the M Line means we now have a scalable solution that can build large components in a high-volume production environment, while meeting our cost entitlement goals,” said Chris Philp, site leader for GE Aviation’s ATC.

The Future of High-Rate Additive Production

Once installed at the GE Aviation ATC, two M Line systems will be dedicated to aluminum alloy, and one each of the two other systems to cobalt chrome and nickel alloy 718, adding additional manufacturing capacity to GE Aviation’s existing additive infrastructure in its state-of-the-art development facility.

“Our goal is to realize the aviation additive industry’s first automation-ready production environment,” said Benito Trevino, general manager - additive integrated product team at GE Aviation. “Once installed, we envisage that our multi-machine approach, with the M Line platform at the heart of production, will help us reduce our lead and print times by over 50%.” 

“At GE Aviation, we are continually developing more additive content for new engines, and the size and complexity of the parts increases with every generation of products developed,” said Chris Philp. “With the M Line, we get the full capability we need to develop intricate additive geometries on large structural components.”

(L-R: Benito Trevino, general manager – additive integrated product team, GE Aviation and Chris Philp, ATC site leader, GE Aviation)

Delivering quality parts, at cost, at scale

The M Line is a highly advanced, industrialized production system that is suited to experienced metal additive users who have started to scale production volumes. Its stitching capability enables customers with large part size demand to increase productivity and reduce cost for additive production. 

The M Line offers a new type of machine architecture that delivers an exceptional level of modularity, innovation and automation (automation future release) and enables economical series production on an industrial scale. The system delivers this by decoupling the machine units used for part production and for set-up and dismantling processes. These tasks can now be carried out in parallel and physically separated from one another meeting high environmental, health and safety standards. Machine down time due to maintenance processes, such as supplying or exhausting metal powder, is reduced to a minimum, delivering considerable time and cost savings for users in serial production.  

The M Line’s flexible architecture also reduces costs as production grows. Users have the ability to independently add Laser Process Stations (LPS) or Material Handling Stations (MHS) based on capacity needs. Users can also experience significant cost benefits as numerous LPS units can be served by a single MHS, which substantiates serial part production volumes and lowers footprint and investment. 

Leveraging GE Additive’s extensive materials and parameters portfolio enables existing customer to lower development costs for customers by transferring machine parameters from the Concept Laser M2 Series 5 to the M Line with minimal engineering effort.

“By fully embracing the versatility of Lean and the spirit of continuous improvement, we have evolved the M Line over recent years to be ready for real-world, serial additive production. Our focus is on offering industrial solutions that deliver quality parts, at cost and at scale,” said Jan Siebert, general manager - machines & equipment at GE Additive.

With a new GE Additive X Line installed and running at its Raleigh facility, we caught up with Protolabs’ David Bentley, GE Additive’s René de Nazelle and AP&C’s Javier Arreguin to find out more 

Why did you go down the route of installing another X Line and which specific material will be you using?

David Bentley: We continue to see demand for larger parts and production parts, so it was only natural to expand our capacity and add a new material option for large-format printing. We’ve had good success with our X Line running nickel alloy 718, so we were excited to add a second machine running AlSi10Mg.

Why did you opt for that material?

David Bentley: AlSi10Mg is pretty standard in the additive world these days. We’ve been running this alloy in our M2s and Mlabs for years, so we have a high level of familiarity with the material. It’s nice to build with, and post-processing is relatively simple compared to some of the popular superalloys that use titanium or nickel. Aluminum has been the most-requested material for large parts across our customer base. It’s also a good multipurpose material that is requested for end-use parts across multiple industries. So, rather than focus on one industry segment, we are aiming to provide an offer that appeals to multiple industries like aerospace, automotive, industrial, oil and gas, etc.

Javier Arreguin: Of the many metals out there, aluminum shows the best balance of properties, making it an ideal choice for many applications. People choose it when cost is critical in low-temperature applications. In addition, aluminum has roughly a third of the density of steel or nickel alloys. This means that for the same part size (and volume), aluminum will weigh three times less, resulting in significant weight savings.

What are some of the benefits of using aluminum to create parts?

David Bentley: In general, aluminum alloys have been used most often in applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, good conductivity and corrosion resistance. AlSi10Mg is a traditional casting alloy that is well-suited for 3D printing. Using a heated build plate, it’s able to print with low residual stress. This enables higher rates of first-print success and less development work, which is especially beneficial when part size is large and build cost is high.

Javier Arreguin: We need to remember that aluminum is the second-most-used metal worldwide due its excellent physical and mechanical properties. Provided it’s not subjected to high heat environments (beyond 100°C), it’s lighter and a cost-effective option compared to other metals and metal alloys. In sectors such as automotive, the use of aluminum alloys creates new business opportunities to increase the adoption of additive manufacturing.

Which industries will be interested in this combination of X Line and aluminum? What might some of the typical/ atypical uses and applications customers could explore?

David Bentley: We see aluminum as a popular material choice in all industries that we serve – medical, computer electronics, industrial, aerospace and automotive. Typically, larger components come from the aerospace or automotive segments. Any application that requires high strength-to-weight ratios can benefit from AlSi10Mg. Complex designs that merge multiple components to achieve the intended assembled part functionality are always great applications for an additive job.

The X Line has one of the larger build volumes on the market. What are some of the positives and challenges of creating large parts?

David Bentley: DMLM technology has really opened up new design freedoms not possible with traditional manufacturing. It hasn’t happened overnight, but more and more engineers are taking advantage of these opportunities and they’re creating components that bring a lot of value. Whether it’s through light-weighting, component reduction or reduced assembly time, DMLM has allowed development and manufacturing to become more efficient, saving costs along the entire supply chain. As with all technologies, there are still limitations. Historically, part size has been a big one for DMLM. With the X Line, however, we can widen that part-size envelope significantly to accommodate size demands coming from many industries.

René de Nazelle: 3D printing design for large parts is a completely different mindset to that of a 200 x 200 mm piece. The learning curve is steep, and we have gained a lot of expertise over the years within the large-size market and design space, so supporting Protolabs in this growth area is a key part of our job. Together we will keep learning, at the larger design scale, how to incorporate considerations at the smaller size, what that looks like at a larger size and whether there are the additional considerations to consider. We are continually rethinking how we design a part or an entire system. Design freedoms that we never had before will lead to significant performance gains and change the way we design, say, a spaceship or an aircraft engine.

This is the second X Line machine Protolabs has acquired from GE Additive. Do you see these systems mainly for large parts, or also smaller production parts?

David Bentley: We’ve set up the X Line platform to run both large singular parts and multiple sets of parts. We find there are efficiency gains and cost reductions with components that are too large to fit on a Concept Laser M2 platform but can fit multiple copies spread evenly across both lasers in the X Line to really take advantage of the increased envelope size.

With your first X Line install, you reconfigured your production floor to accommodate it. How did the second one slot in and where? How is Protolabs scaling its operations and how is GE Additive helping?

David Bentley: We planned ahead when we installed the first X Line, anticipating demand would dictate a second machine and material option sooner, rather than later. The new X Line sits in line with the first, sharing many utility lines that have already been installed. We had to cut a pretty big hole in a wall to get first machine slotted onto our manufacturing floor, so we made sure to lay out everything, so we didn’t have to cut another one! GE Additive was great at helping us get the first machine up and running with little headache, and they continue to offer technical support and maintenance as needed.

What gets you excited about this technology and the sector, in general?

David Bentley: In the early 2000s most people were using 3D printing for prototypes only. In some rare cases we’d see a non-critical component in an end-use scenario and get stoked. We witnessed the rise and fall of the desktop printer hype, where people would be printing everything in their garage. Unfortunately, people aren’t yet printing refrigerators in their homes. But here is what is exciting: We’re seeing more and more applications coming out of some cool industries. New use cases of rocket engines, performance automotive parts and medical implants, seem to be popping up daily. Additive is an exciting space for innovation.

René de Nazelle: Additive technologies continue to blow convention apart. It is an engineer’s dream because you break out of the boundaries of what you can design, and increasingly, it is being applied at size. We are now able to do things that we were never able to do before, and that’s incredibly exciting.
 

MONTREAL, CANADA – 2 DECEMBER 2021 – AP&C – a GE Additive company has announced it has signed a new agreement with Airbus to provide Titanium powders (Ti-6AI-4V) for use in metal additive manufacturing applications. The new multiyear agreement to provide Ti-6AI-4V powders deepens AP&C’s working relationship with Airbus, which dates back several years.

“The adoption of metal additive technology in aerospace continues to gather momentum. And one of the challenges of matching that pace in a highly-regulated industry like aerospace, is building a robust supply chain that can meet both the industry standard for conventionally and additively manufactured parts, but also add value,” said Alain Dupont, CEO at AP&C.

“Our approach is to be more than just a supplier of metal powders to our customers. To scale metal additive manufacturing, acceleration can only be achieved by sharing knowledge and best practice to lower risk and increase stability. One way we have supported Airbus in recent years, for example, has been to help its in-house additive manufacturing team establish its own methods and processes to qualify Ti-6AI-4V powders,” added Dupont.

AP&C is a world-leader in the large-scale production of plasma atomized titanium, aluminum and nickel powders. The company continues to invest in its plasma atomization technology that allows new materials to be produced and ultimately reduce the cost of plasma atomized powders, while maintaining the high quality required by metal additive manufacturing users in the aerospace industry.

AP&C has grown its capacity to more than 1,000 tons of titanium powder per year. This large-scale production is performed in more than a dozen powder production lines at two manufacturing sites. 

About GE Additive

GE Additive – part of GE (NYSE: GE) is a world leader in metal additive design and manufacturing, a pioneering process that has the power and potential to transform businesses. Through our integrated offering of additive experts, advanced machines, and quality powders, we empower our customers to build innovative new products. Products that solve manufacturing challenges, improve business outcomes, and help change the world for the better. GE Additive includes additive machine brands Concept Laser and Arcam EBM, along with additive powder supplier AP&C.
 

Join Kelly Brown and Nick Buhr to delve deeper into a recent collaboration between GE Aviation and GE Additive that converted four conventionally cast parts to additive and sliced up to 35 percent of their cost in the process. This game changing initiative, that took only 10 months from identifying target parts to 3D printing final prototypes, shows that metal additive can go toe-to-toe with conventional castings on price.