Application of 3D printing technology in aviation field

Europe and the United States have regarded 3D printing technology as one of the key supporting technologies to improve the level of the aerospace field. The applications of 3D printing technology in aviation field mainly focus on three categories: shape verification, direct product manufacturing and precision investment casting prototype manufacturing.

（1）Overseas application

Recently, European Space Agency's additive manufacturing (AMAZE) project, which aims to achieve efficient production and zero waste of high-tech metal products, has proposed the first large-scale production of 3D printed metal parts. These 3D printed metal parts can be used in projects such as jet aircraft, spacecraft and nuclear fusion.

Boeing has used 3D printing technology to make about 300 different aircraft parts, including complex tubes that channel cold air into electronics. Boeing and Honeyville are currently working on using 3D printing technology to print larger products, such as wings. Airbus uses 3D printed luggage racks in its A380 cabin and 3D printed air conditioning systems in its typhoon fighter. Did Airbus recently propose? The 'transparent aircraft concept' project, which lays out a 'road map' of the development of the aircraft from the printing of small parts, to the final 3D printing of the entire aircraft around 2050. The 'concept plane' itself has a dizzying array of complex systems, such as a bionic curved fuselage and a transparent chassis that allows passengers to see the surrounding blue sky and white clouds, which are difficult to achieve using traditional manufacturing methods, 3d printing may be a shortcut.

（2）Domestic application

A certain type of hose developed by No. 7103 factory of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation successfully passed 20,000 fatigue tests and all the indexes met the design requirements. This means that the long-term problems of front-line workers hose process project success. This is the factory after the end of last year to break through the large-diameter high-temperature alloy cylinder seam welding technology, again break through the small-diameter large-wall-thickness parts seam welding technology, further enhance the engine manufacturing capacity.

The Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in close cooperation with China's major aircraft design institutes and other institutions through 'production, study and research' , aims to meet the major strategic needs of large aircraft, aero-engines and other countries, after 17 years of research, for the first time in the world, the laser forming process, complete equipment and application key technologies of large and complex integral key components, such as titanium alloy and ultra-high strength steel, have been comprehensively broken through, and has developed five-generation and more than 10-type equipment systems in the production of large-scale components of aircraft, which has been tested by engineering practice for nearly 10 years, so far, China has become the only country to master the laser forming technology of large-scale integral titanium alloy key components and successfully implement the application of mechanical engineering.