Matthew Doyle
GKN Aerospace tooling Stratasys
3D printed tooling produced on the Stratasys F900 Production 3D Printer.
GKN Aerospace has reported improved production times and the removal of design constraints after harnessing the Stratasys F900 FDM machine to produce production line tools.
The aerospace manufacturer works with 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine developers, and recently invested in the F900 platform as it looked to produce complex parts while reducing lead time. Taking heed of the plethora of use cases that see fused deposition modelling leveraged for the low hanging fruit that is tooling, jigs and fixtures, the company targeted the production line.
Typically, it takes weeks to produce a metal or plastic replacement tool, but by bringing a printer in-house, the replacement element has been removed, and productivity enhanced. Instead of weeks, it is now taking a matter of hours, and using the ULTEM 1010 high-strength, heat-resistant thermoplastic, there’s no compromise on performance either.
“Since integrating the F900, we have dramatically reduced production line downtime for certain teams and are enjoying a newfound freedom to design complex tools,” said Tim Hope, Additive Manufacturing Center Manager, GKN Aerospace. “We can now cost-effectively produce tools for our operators within three hours. This saves critical production time, and by printing in engineering-grade thermoplastic, we can produce 3D printed tools with repeatable, predictable quality every time. All the while matching the quality of a traditionally-produced tools, and reducing the costs and concessions compared to equivalent metallic tooling.”
Matthew Doyle
GKN Aerospace Stratasys tooling
3D printed bespoke fixtures that are said to beuneconomical or physically impossible to createby any other manufacturing methods.
The advantages don’t stop at time reductions. The F900’s large build volume of 914 x 609 x 914 mm enables the company to manufacture tooling components in volume; GKN also reports a 40% reduction in waste; and such is the design freedom, in the future, may look to use the F900 machine to produce high-value, flight-critical, end-use composite parts.
“One of the key benefits of additive manufacturing is the creative freedom this technology affords users,” Hope added. “Most notable, complex geometries and cavities that would otherwise be problematic are now practical with the F900. We’re utilising it to design, and 3D print, previously inconceivable tools that enable us to manufacture complex parts that are uneconomical or just physically impossible by other methods.
“GKN Aerospace’s product range is vast, and we see large-scale FDM and carbon-reinforced parts as the future of additive manufacturing in aerospace.”
GKN Aerospace secures AM rocket engine turbine contract with ArianeGroup
GKN Aerospace has also revealed today it will use 3D printing technologies in the manufacture of two full-scale turbines for the Prometheus low-cost re-usable rocket engine demonstrator.
Prometheus is a European Space Agency-funded program which will see the development of a rocket engine demonstrator on methane propellant, with ArianeGroup as the Prime Contractor. The turbines will generate power for the methane fuel system, with the first of the two set to be delivered by the end of next year. Manufacturing will take place at GKN Aerospace's highly automated engine systems centre of excellence in Trollhättan, Sweden.
"With the support of the Swedish National Space Agency, ESA and ArianeGroup, we are produ to participate in the Prometheus project and to make a technological contribution to this key European space project. This allows us, together with our suppliers, to work with our customer to develop and demonstrate advanced AM technologies in operation and at full scale.
"We look forward to demonstrating the benefits and the added value in weight and cost reduction, and in faster production rates. These factors, along with our established expertise in space turbines, have resulted in the award of this engine turbine contract.”
