3D Printing Win: Aussie engineer wins fourth place in global printing quest
Australian engineer Nic Adams is among eight winners of a global 3D Printing Design Quest that received nearly 700 entries from 56 countries.
Mr Adams, a field-service engineer based in Sydney, placed fourth in Phase II of the competition hosted by GE and the Open Engineering movement GrabCAD. Details of the winners were announced today.
The competition challenged people to redesign the loading bracket found on jet engines using 3D printing. The goal was to produce a lighter component, in turn reducing aircraft weight and fuel consumption.
Each of the top 10 bracket designs were additively manufactured by GE Aviation and load tested to the point of failure. In the real world, loading brackets must support significant loads without breaking or warping when jet engines are removed for servicing.
Mr Adam’s design minimised sharp corners and featured a hollow structure to best distribute material and stress, reducing the weight of jet loading brackets by 80.4 per cent.
Inspired by Nic’s story? Discover the other 3D printing winners on GEreports global.