Oct 16, 2018 | By Thomas
Lufthansa Technik has set up a dedicated Additive Manufacturing (AM) Center with the aim of bundling and expanding the competence and experience the company has gained in past years.
“The new AM Center will serve as a collaborative hub where the experience and skills that Lufthansa Technik has gained in AM can be bundled and further expanded,” said Dr Aenne Koester, head of the AM Center. “The aim is to increase the degree of maturity of the technologies and to develop products that are suitable for production.”
Additive Manufacturing produces individual parts very quickly and enables a high degree of freedom in part designing. This is particularly useful, when prototypes or one-off parts have to be manufactured. In the highly weight-conscious world of aircraft, the lower weight of parts makes using the AM technology very attractive.
Lufthansa Technik experts are teaming with AM specialists from various industry partners and research institutions to develop strategies to support the introduction of this technology in the highly regulated aircraft sector.
For example, Lufthansa Technik is working with Oerlikon AM regarding process repeatability, a key element of industrialization and certification. Oerlikon AM and Lufthansa Technik will build up representative component geometrics. The components will be printed on identical 3D printers and the same process parameters and powder specifications will be used to understand process repeatability. The partnership aims to take advantage of potential flexibility and cost savings in manufacturing, procurement, warehousing and supply chain management. The collaboration will also help drive the industrialization of additive manufacturing forward, as the results of this work will also be shared with industry bodies to support defining standards for the qualification and approval of aircraft components.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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