Australian researchers create jet engines using 3D printing
26 Feb 2015
Australian researchers claim to have created two jet engines using 3D printing in what is described a world-first and had attracted the interest of major manufacturers and engineering firms.
According to researchers from Melbourne's Monash University, the machines produced used the template of a gas turbine engine from French aircraft engine maker Safran, which supplied to Airbus and Boeing and demonstrated the potential 3D printing had to produce high-quality products.
According to the university's Ian Smith, who spoke to AFP, the significance was the recognition by major manufacturers and engineering companies like Safran and Airbus that the material one could print using 3D metal printing was of aircraft quality and he thought that was hugely significant.
He added it was a disruptive technology and a lot had happened in the plastics and polymer space but this was exciting as it was now metals and light metals and things like titanium, nickel and aluminium.
3D printing technology was invented in the 1980s and employed lasers to "print" objects from metals or plastics according to a digital design.
According to Wu Xinhua, from Monash University, her team created the machines by dismantling the old engine and scanning its components. The complex project took a year for completion.
Meanwhile, engineers at Monash University and its commercial arm are working on top secret prototypes for Boeing Co, Airbus Group NV, Raytheon Co and Safran SA in a development help revive Australia's struggling manufacturing sector.
According to Simon Marriott, chief executive of Amaero Engineering, the private company set up by Monash to commercialise the product, it would allow aerospace companies to compress their development cycles because they were making the prototype engines three or four times faster than normal.
Marriott added Amaero planned to have printed engine components in flight tests in the next 12 months and certified for commercial use within the next two to three years.
The development could see Australia corner the market as it had one the necessary large-format 3D metal printers in the world. It also was the only place that made the materials for use in the machine.
