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.

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.
 

• BEAMIT to support Avio Aero on technology development relating to certain additively manufactured components for the GE9X and Catalyst engines
• GE Additive to become BEAMIT’s strategic equipment supplier moving forward
• BEAMIT to support the development and qualification of GE Additive’s Concept Laser M Line system
• Future intention to develop a dedicated, fully digitalized and sustainable production line

RIVALTA DI TORINO, ITALY – 23 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Avio Aero and GE Additive have signed a non-binding letter of intent (the “LOI”), outlining a strategic technology collaboration agreement with BEAMIT Group (BEAMIT) partly owned by SANDVIK. 

Under the LOI, BEAMIT would collaborate with Avio Aero on technology development and, in particular, the post-processing of certain additively manufactured components for the GE9X and the Catalyst engines.

“Industrializing metal additive manufacturing in aerospace continues at pace, and we need trusted partners in our ecosystem who can grow with us. I am thrilled that we are strengthening our relationship with BEAMIT and its shareholder Sandvik.  BEAMIT’s sound strategic vision and the wider team’s advanced additive expertise is world-class,” said Riccardo Procacci, CEO of Avio Aero and GE Additive.  

“It is an honor for me to enter into this LOI with GE for projects of this magnitude. Being where we are today, as one of the largest, most integrated and advanced additive manufacturing groups in the world, we are in a position to offer leading capabilities across the entire AM value chain, also through our shareholder Sandvik’s leading material expertise and extensive metal powder capabilities. This definitely confirms the hard work that started seven years ago as a vision, and has been pursued with great commitment and strength,” said Mauro Antolotti, President, BEAMIT Group.

BEAMIT is a longstanding GE Additive customer and operates a fleet of Concept Laser and Arcam EBM machines, including the Mlab, M2 and X Line platforms, as well as two Q10plus machines across its subsidiaries – Pres-X and Zare – serving customers in multiple industries, including aerospace, defense and medical.

The intention is for GE Additive and BEAMIT to cooperate on a number of strategic projects, such as special post-processing machinery and technologies as well as materials, to meet long-term production needs.

GE Additive would become BEAMIT’s strategic equipment supplier, as it continues to scale its operations and enhances its existing facilities to meet long-term production needs. 

The LOI includes collaboration and assessment on post-processing technologies for the specific requirements of certain GE9X and Catalyst engine components such as MRI and tomographic inspection, HIP and machining equipment.  BEAMIT would contribute to the reduction of the lead times necessary to build components, including machining and testing processes, and it would also support new modalities under development at Avio Aero with super-cleaning and super-finishing surfaces.

BEAMIT would also support in the development of GE Additive’s Concept Laser M Line system. The M Line is a highly advanced, industrialized production system that is best suited to experienced metal additive users who have already started to scale production volumes. M Line’s stitching capability enables customers with large part size demand to increase productivity and drive cost out for additive production. 

The BEAMIT team would work with GE Additive to fine-tune and qualify the M Line, specifically for aerospace components in accordance with the necessary qualitative requirements. In connection with this activity, BEAMIT would file for and obtain the aerospace qualification for a dedicated R&D division that it would establish. 

In the mid-term future, as GE and BEAMIT grow together, BEAMIT has the intention to further expand its operations and develop a completely digitalized and sustainable production line, dedicated to the production of “engine ready” components, for assembly, where the GE parts will be produced. In parallel with this LOI, BEAMIT has recently opened a brand new facility, fully dedicated to coatings, in order to enhance the special process range available for the wider aerospace sector. 

The projects contemplated by the LOI go a long way to help BEAMIT achieve its ‘One Stop Shop’ approach, which is driven by market demand, technological evolution and the inclusion of new processes and new accreditations. Today, the entire BEAMIT Group is covered by five NADCAP accreditations – with three new others in progress – and by the TULPS for defense-sector activities. BEAMIT has also started the ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and EASA part 21 pathway. 

“Our strategic and industrial partnership with our shareholder Sandvik gives us a competitive advantage when it comes to leading materials expertise, materials development capabilities and supply of the widest range of alloys. Now, making the ‘One Stop Shop’ concept a reality, together with the digital integration of the entire value chain, is a differentiating element, which can play an essential role in making additive manufacturing even more sustainable - without a waiver to the technical advantages offered by technology. In Avio Aero and GE Additive we have found companies that share a similar strategic vision and a strong focus on the research of new materials for additive manufacturing as well as new technologies,” said Andrea Scanavini, Group General Manager, BEAMIT Group.

“Ultimately, the digitalized factory is a key element of our mid-term strategy to enable a win-win relationship with GE. A dedicated factory where all the manufacturing phases are installed and directly interconnected allows us to reach the maximum grade of efficiency, high productivity and total quality required by GE,” he added. 

- ends -

Editors' Note

Image above shows Andrea Scanavini, general manager BEAMIT (back right) visiting GE Additive Lichtenfels with Avio Aero’s Dario Mantegazza (front right) and Dario Mula (front left) – September 2021. Image credit: GE Additive/Wilm Visuals

About BEAMIT Group

BEAMIT Group is one of the most advanced additive manufacturing service providers in the world and serves the most demanding industries through its strategic positioning as a one-stop shop: the first company to become a truly global additive manufacturing (AM) hub offering a fully integrated value chain. Based in Fornovo di Taro (Parma, Italy), BEAMIT has been operating in the field of AM with metal powders for 24 years. With close to 60 dedicated AM systems distributed across 7 facilities in Italy and the UK, the Group now counts over 140 employees. 

BEAMIT Group specialises in high-end metal AM components for demanding industries like aerospace, automotive, energy, racing and industrial engineering, and holds many relevant quality certifications, including AS/EN 9100:2018 for aerospace, IATF Automotive, NADCAP accreditation for heat treatment processes and laboratories, and NADCAP accreditation for welding – additive manufacturing commodity. 

In 2019, Sandvik Group, global leader in hi-tech engineering and metal powder with the widest range of alloys for additive manufacturing as well as remarkable expertise in AM printing technologies for advanced metal components, acquired a significant stake in BEAMIT. 

In 2020, BEAMIT acquired a significant stake in PRES-X, an innovative start-up in the field of special post-production processes for 3D printing. BEAMIT then acquired 100% of Italian AM service bureau ZARE. 

In 2021, BEAMIT Group acquired 3T Additive Manufacturing (Newbury, UK). 3T Additive Manufacturing holds some of the highest quality certifications for deliveries to aerospace and medical and is an approved supplier for serial production by many leading OEMs across the UK, Europe, US and Japan. BEAMIT Group has a turnover of €22 million.

About Sandvik Additive Manufacturing

Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has a world-leading position in metal powder with the widest range of AM-alloys on the market. The company has also made sizeable investments into a wide range of AM printing technologies since 2013. Adding 159 years of leading expertise in materials technology, 75 years in post processing methods like metal cutting, sintering and heat treatment, Sandvik has well established and leading competence across the entire additive value chain. In 2019, Sandvik acquired a significant stake in the BEAMIT Group, a leading European-based AM service provider, and in 2020 and 2021, the BEAMIT Group acquired 100% of ZARE in Italy and 3T Additive Manufacturing in the UK, bringing together three leading AM service bureaus in Europe – to create one of the largest independent AM service providers in the world, serving the most demanding industries. Sandvik AB is a high-tech and global engineering group with approximately 37,000 employees and sales of approximately 86 billion SEK in more than 160 countries (2020). The company was founded in Sweden in 1862.

About Avio Aero

Avio Aero is a GE Aviation business that designs, manufactures and maintains propulsion systems for civil and military aviation. It is the center of excellence for the entire General Electric group in the field of mechanical transmissions and low-pressure turbines. The company’s headquarter and largest production plant are in Rivalta di Torino, its other Italian main plants are located in Brindisi and Pomigliano d’Arco (Naples), where it employs more than 4,300 people. Abroad, it has a plant and a test center in Poland and a plant in Czech Republic, in which works 900 employees. Founded in 1908, the company has overcome many technological challenges in over a century of history. Continuous investments in research and development and an established network of relationships with leading universities and international research centers have enabled Avio Aero to develop technological and manufacturing excellence recognized across the globe: an achievement borne out by a range of collaborative partnerships with key operators in the global aviation industry.  

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.
 

Investment in 17 Arcam EBM A2X machines and 10 Arcam Spectra H systems builds on existing EBM footprint across GE Aviation and Avio Aero global manufacturing facilities

Paris –  GE Additive today announced at the Paris Air Show that GE Aviation has made a significant investment in its electron beam melting (EBM) technology, with the purchase of an additional 17 A2X systems and 10 Spectra H systems. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Avio Aero, a GE Aviation company, currently operates a fleet of 35 Arcam machines at its recently expanded site in Cameri, Italy.  The additional EBM systems will be installed at GE Aviation and Avio Aero facilities in the US and Europe and will be used primarily for the production of titanium aluminide (TiAl) blades on the low-pressure turbine for the GE9X engine.

Additively manufactured TiAl blades are roughly half the weight of traditional nickel-alloy turbine blades. GE Additive's Arcam EBM A2X machines produce six blades per batch, while the Spectra H system can produce up to ten blades, in around the same time.

For the GE9X engine, which has been developed by GE Aviation for Boeing’s new 777X wide-body jet, the weight saving from the TiAl LPT blades contributes to a fuel consumption reduction of 10% (and therefore emissions) compared to its predecessor, the GE90.

“Having a robust and reliable additive technology infrastructure in place is a critical component of the GE9X program,” says Eric Gatlin, general manager, Additive Integrated Product Team, GE Aviation. “Avio Aero’s Cameri site has been a great testing ground to see the Arcam EBM machines in action and how they scale. We’re looking forward to continuing the expansion in Cameri and rolling them out to a US location in the coming months,” he adds.

“GE Aviation has doubled its fleet of Arcam EBM machines in a relatively short period. We’re thrilled and it’s a great endorsement for our team, for EBM and in particular for the Spectra H,” says Karl Lindblom, general manager, GE Additive, EBM.

LtR: Marie-Christine Hay (Safran), Patrick Sibieta, Christine Limat-Chanal and Cyrille Chanal (FusiA AeroAdditive), Neil Siddons (GE Additive), Alain Mages and Myrtille Comte (REPMO, GE Additive’s sales partner for France)

Paris – GE Additive today announced at the Paris Air Show that Toulouse-based FusiA Aeroadditive – part of the French group Freyssinet AeroEquipment and the Canadian FusiA Group -  will invest in its first GE Additive Concept M2 multilaser system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With more than eight years’ experience in metal additive manufacturing, FusiA Aeroaddtive is an ISO 9001 and AS/EN/JISQ 9001-certified tier one supplier to the aerospace industry. The company’s customers include Airbus, Bombardier and Safran and it is also closely involved in a number of additive research projects on both sides of the Atlantic.

“As our business scales we have made the strategic decision to transition over to GE Additive technology and invest first of all in a Concept Laser M2 platform,” says Cyrille Chanal, CEO of FusiA Groupe.  “Through its own additive journey, GE Additive brings deep experience of the specific needs of the highly-regulated aerospace industry and therefore the demands of our customers for reliable and repeatable technology,” he adds.

“We’re honored to welcome FusiA Aeroadditive as a customer,” says Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive. “Yet another clear signal that the M2 is the system of choice for the aerospace industry,” he adds.

FAA ‘change in design’ approval for additively manufactured power door opening system (PDOS) bracket

• GEnx-2B engines installed with additive manufactured PDOS brackets to be shipped from January 2019
• Cobalt-chrome alloy brackets to be mass produced in Auburn, Alabama starting this month on GE Additive's Concept Laser M2 Multilaser machines 
• Design-to-production achieved in under 10 months
• 10% weight reduction and 90% waste reduction achieved, compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Product costs significantly reduced by taking process in-house
   

Munich, Germany / Evendale, OH – GE Additive and GE Aviation have announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given ‘change in design’ approval to replace a conventionally manufactured power door opening system (PDOS) bracket, used on GE Aviation’s GEnx-2B commercial airline engines that power the Boeing 747-8, with an additively manufactured bracket. 

The new additively manufactured brackets will enter mass production at GE Aviation’s facility in Auburn, Alabama, using GE Additive's Concept Laser M2 Multilaser machines this month.  GE Aviation anticipates the first GEnx engines installed with the new brackets will be shipped in January 2019.  

The PDOS is used on the ground to open and close the fan cowl doors to enable access to the fan compartment for maintenance reasons.
 

Cost, Time, Waste & Weight Savings

The original PDOS brackets on the GEnx-2B engines were produced from a solid block of metal, using conventional methods such as milling. This technique resulted in around 50 percent of the material being wasted. Now using direct metal laser melting (DMLM) additive technology to manufacture the new brackets, waste has been reduced by as much as 90 percent.

GE Aviation has also improved the design to reduce the bracket’s weight by 10 percent.  

The decision to mass produce using a cobalt-chrome alloy over a traditional nickel-based superalloy has enabled a faster build. To make this approach as efficient as possible, four brackets will be printed at the same time.  

Using a bespoke, interlocking design to house all four brackets on a single build plate, the Concept Laser M2 machine’s pair of lasers can print an aircraft’s worth of brackets in one build, before post-processing and inspection.

Finally, by taking production of the brackets entirely in-house, GE Aviation will also reduce its production costs. 
 

All in on Additive

“We chose this project because it represented several firsts for us. It’s the first program we certified on a Concept Laser machine. It’s also the first project we took from design to production in less than ten months,” said Eric Gatlin, general manager, additive integrated product team, GE Aviation.

“To ensure the M2 machines were certified to meet the strict requirements for the aerospace industry, collaboration on this program has been closer than usual with our colleagues at GE Additive. As we continue thinking about the many parts we can design,  redesign and manufacture on GE Additive machines, I’m looking forward to putting both our teams and the technology through their paces,”  Gatlin added.

“It’s been outstanding to watch teams from GE Aviation, GE Additive across the US, Mexico and Germany collaborate. In such a short space of time, they have really excelled with the PDOS bracket and achieved a truly groundbreaking success. Seeing the M2 machines produce flight quality hardware, and demonstrating what it is truly capable of, is another great milestone in our own additive journey,” said Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive.  

Triumph Group selects GE Additive to help accelerate its additive journey 

From left to right: Gary Tenison, VP strategy and business development, Triumph Group,  Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive, Dan Rowley, President & CEO Triumph Group, David Joyce, Vice Chair of GE and President and CEO, GE Aviation Tom Holzthum, EVP Integrated Systems, Triumph Group,  Ryan Martin, Sales Leader Americas, GE Additive
 

Munich, Germany/ Farnborough, UK – GE Additive today announced that aerospace industry leader, Triumph Group (NYSE:TGI) has selected two of its systems, as well as a range of AddWorks^TM consultancy service packages, to help further its additive manufacturing strategy.

Triumph has selected a Concept Laser M2 Cusing Multilaser DMLM system and an Arcam EBM Q20plus system to be installed at its R&D facility in Seattle with installation expected to be completed within Q3 2018.  The AddWorks team will partner closely with the team at Triumph from day one on a range of areas, including discovery workshops, materials selections through to advising on prototyping strategies.

“I really admire Triumph’s smart and progressive strategy in adopting a multimodality approach to their additive journey,” said Jason Oliver, President and CEO, GE Additive. “And when you add to that the deep experience and divergent thinking of our AddWork’s team, I look forward to seeing the results of what I hope will be a long and rewarding relationship.”

“Triumph Group is excited to work with GE Additive to broaden Triumph’s utilization of additive manufacturing technology,” said Dan Crowley, President & CEO, Triumph Group. “Thus far we have successfully used additive manufacturing for prototyping, and we are rapidly growing its use for design competency. This partnership with GE Additive will strengthen our additive manufacturing capability, accelerating our ability to design and develop future on-wing solutions for our customers.”

Triumph Group participates at all levels of the aerospace supply chain – from single components, to complex systems, to aerospace structures and their contents. The company provides solutions for the entire product life cycle of an aircraft – from engineering and design to aftermarket service. Its unique ability to integrate a broad range of products and capabilities is its competitive advantage.

• GE Additive AddWorks team to provide additive consulting services to Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Center to help drive its additive journey in aerospace 
• GE Additive expands commercial efforts in Japan with a focus on key industries, including aerospace, automotive, heavy industry and others
   

Farnborough, UK — GE Additive (NYSE: GE) today announced its first AddWorks^TM additive consulting services engagement in Japan with Honda R&D Co., Ltd, Aircraft Engine R&D Center (Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Center). This agreement aims to further Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Group’s additive application development for its future generation aircraft engines. 

GE Additive provides additive machines, materials and AddWorks engineering consultancy services to customers to help introduce and accelerate additive manufacturing into their businesses. AddWorks consultants help determine whether additive manufacturing will benefit the organization economically as well as from a performance perspective. The AddWorks team’s expertise is rooted in GE’s experience with additive manufacturing, which has helped produce additive parts for aerospace systems including CFM International’s LEAP aircraft engines and the GE Catalyst™ advanced turboprop engine.

GE and Honda’s partnership in the aviation industry spans over a decade. Having established GE Honda Aero Engines LLC - a joint venture between GE Aviation and Honda Aero in 2004 - the two companies developed the GE Honda HF120 jet engine used on light business jet aircrafts such as HondaJet. HondaJet was the most delivered jet in its category for 2017, making the engine a great success. GE Additive hopes the AddWorks consulting services will lead to enhancements of the existing partnership between the two companies and further the adoption of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry.

“We are pleased that Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Center has selected GE Additive to be its vendor in providing AddWorks consulting services to further the use of this transformative technology in its future generation aircraft engines. We are in the best position to share our learnings from our own additive journey, having started from prototyping to successfully applying it to mass production for aviation engine parts,” said Thomas Pang, Japan director of GE Additive. 

GE Additive established its operations in Japan this January and announced the availability of commercial offerings in June 2018 as part of its plans to be a $1 billion business by 2020 with a strategy to sell 10,000 machines by 2026. According to SmarTech Publishing, a leading industry analyst, more than US$280 billion will be invested in additive manufacturing over the next 10 years. GE Additive in Japan will sell Concept Laser and Arcam EBM additive machines as well as materials directly and via local resellers to Japan-based customers with a focus on key industries, including aerospace, automotive, heavy industry and others.