Airbus has been a key adopter of additive manufacturing, working with suppliers and leveraging the technology for parts like interior assemblies, helicopter components, flex shafts, and more. The aerospace giant, which uses both metal and polymer AM solutions across its businesses, recently revealed that it is printing tens of thousands of flight-ready parts per year using industrial-grade FDM.
Presently, Airbus has over 200,000 certified 3D printed polymer components made using Stratasys‘ 3D printers and ULTEM 9085 Certified Grade filament. These parts are in use across its A320 and A350 airliners, as well as its A400M military transport aircraft. In terms of production, the company says it is now printing over 25,000 polymer flight-ready parts per year and has benefited significantly from faster lead times, weight reduction, and more agile production workflows.
“We can produce certified, repeatable parts faster, with less reliance on complex supply chains,” said Serge Senac, Airbus Industrial Leader for Polymer Additive Manufacturing. “This manufacturing flexibility reduces costs and ensures improved response times to meet the needs of our customers around the world. Last but not least, this technology contributes to Airbus’ roadmap to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”
Looking at the Airbus A350, the integration of 3D printed flight-ready components has reportedly resulted in lead time savings of 85% and part weight reductions of 43%, which contributes to greater fuel economy. Airbus has also noted that AM has enabled it to eliminate the Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) requirement, which makes their production and maintenance supply chains more flexible and cost-efficient. And that’s not to mention the fact that 3D printing spare parts on demand and near the point of need reduces costs associated with inventory and can help minimize aircraft downtimes.
As Senac said, additive technologies have also been enabling Airbus to progress in its sustainability mission, not only through the establishment of more agile supply chains and more lightweight parts, but also through the engineering of more efficient systems like heat exchangers. As we covered recently, Conflux Technology teamed up with Airbus to develop an advanced heat exchanger for a hydrogen-electric propulsion system that could significantly improve thermal regulation in megawatt-class fuel cell systems.
