A year after being added to Boeing’s Qualified Producers List, additive manufacturing (AM, aka 3D printing) pioneer Norsk Titanium (Hall 3, Stand D30) arrives at the Paris Air Show as an official parts producer for the U.S. airframer’s 787, having delivered last December its first 3D printed commercial aircraft part to Tier 1 subcontractor Spirt Aerosystems.
The part—a back-up fitting for an access door on the forward fuselage—is the industry’s first FAA-approved, 3D-printed, structural titanium part, according to Norsk. Its delivery represents a major step in the Norwegian company’s and Spirit’s mutual aspirations for AM parts in the aerospace market.
“Integrating additive manufacturing capability into our production system to build end-use titanium parts expands Spirit's fabrication capabilities and puts us at the forefront of advanced manufacturing,” said Spirit senior v-p of global fabrication Kevin Matthies. “With our Norsk collaboration, Spirit is bringing the power and benefits of additive manufacturing in support of our customers.”
At Le Bourget, Norsk is presenting a display of its proprietary plasma arc Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) technology—an advanced form of 3D printing—which builds up parts to a near-net shape, reducing waste, energy use, and product cost over conventional production methods. Moreover, it can produce parts on an industrial scale.
RPD uses titanium wire with plasma torches to print titanium structural components, and can produce large structural components weighing more than 100 pounds. It’s also 50 to 100 times faster than powder-based AM systems and uses 25 to 50 percent less titanium than incumbent forging processes, according to Norsk.
A modular manufacturing capability, the process can be integrated into any production line that manufactures titanium alloy parts, allowing for lean manufacturing infrastructure and overall efficiency improvements.
The 787 parts are produced at Norsk’s U.S. Plattsburgh Development and Qualification Center (PDQC) in New York state. Dedicated last October, qualified production of 3D printed structural titanium for the Dreamliner commenced in May, making PDQC the world’s first industrial-scale metal additive manufacturing plant.
PDQC has nine of Norsk's RPD titanium printing machines, created in partnership between Norsk and the state of New York, representing the advancement of technology that originated at the company’s Engineering and Technology Center in Norway, which continues to operate qualified and approved RPD machines. Each machine at PDQC is estimated to have an annual fabricating capacity of more than 20 metric tons.
Nearly half of the airframe of a modern airliner is composed of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic and other composites, which goes hand in hand with an increased use of titanium in place of aluminum where structural loading indicates metal is a preferred material system. Titanium can withstand comparable loads better than aluminum, has minimal fatigue concerns, and is highly resistant to corrosion. In the Boeing 787, titanium use has been expanded to roughly 14 percent of the total airframe.
Spirit, which manufactures the 787’s composite forward fuselage, performs final machining, finishing, inspection, and installation of the AM parts and also tests and installs its flight controls.