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Boeing Expects To Save Millions In Dreamliner Costs Using 3D-Printed Titanium Parts (reuters.com)
According to Reuters, Boeing has hired Norsk Titanium AS to print titanium parts for its 787 Dreamliner, paving the way to cost savings of $2 million to $3 million for each plane. The 3D-printed metal parts will replace pieces made with more expensive traditional manufacturing, thus making the 787 more profitable. From the report: Strong, lightweight titanium alloy is seven times more costly than aluminum, and accounts for about $17 million of the cost of a $265 million Dreamliner, industry sources say. Boeing has been trying to reduce titanium costs on the 787, which requires more of the metal than other models because of its carbon-fiber composite fuselage and wings. Titanium also is used extensively on Airbus Group SE's rival A350 jet. Norsk worked with Boeing for more than a year to design four 787 parts and obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification for them, Chip Yates, Norsk Titanium's vice president of marketing, said. Norsk expects the U.S. regulatory agency will approve the material properties and production process for the parts later this year, which would "open up the floodgates" and allow Norsk to print thousands of different parts for each Dreamliner, without each part requiring separate FAA approval, Yates said. Norsk said that initially it will print in Norway, but is building up a 67,000-square-foot (6,220-square-meter) facility in Plattsburgh in upstate New York, where it aims to have nine printers running by year-end.
It's great to see that 3D printing is being touted as a cost saving measure here. I typically see 3D printing in the context of "innovative", but not really cost effective; perhaps we've hit the inflection point where the technology is mature enough to truly disrupt established industries.
Direct metal laser sintering
$50,000 a day divided by say 4 flights is $12,500. Divided again by 300 passengers per flight is $42 per passanger per flight. The average ticket costs $300 per passenger per flight and the price of the plane is a tiny part of the puzzle.
( I rounded up to $42 as it is a good number and thought it was hilarious that it came out close to that)
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Shit, better tell Boeing before the first takeoff. I bet they never thought of that. Milled parts aren't strong enough either, that's why they're casted and heat-treated in all kinds of ways... Every heard of single-crystal turbine blades?
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/...
So the 3D printed part is just a "blank" that gets toasted. It's probably easier to get all the holes in there that way.
Mostly random stuff.
Is Titanium conventional casting production that expensive?
Making the mold itself, into which the parts are cast, is expensive.
When you're building cars by the hundreds everyday, it's totally worth using cast metal for the various pieces of equipement. You have a big upfront cost making the mold, but then you have hundreds of thousands of parts to divide the cost.
When you're only building a plane per month or so, making a unique piece that is only needed once per product will be damned expensive by traditional methods :
- casting will get more expensive (again, the mold it self is the most expensive part, not the parts cast into it - less parts produced means, less parts to divide production cost, means higher end cost)
- hiring machinists to build it is also expensive.
Suddenly laser-sintering the part becomes attractive.
And that's what these 3D production technique excel at : custom low volume parts.
- Traditionally, that means it help innovation (when experimenting with a few new parts)
- But at also means it's useful for something which is produced at extremely low volume and requires highly customized parts (air planes, rockets, etc.)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
When you consider what types of parts that can be made from printing in metal, they parts quite likely come out stronger than milling because it isn't possible for any shape to be milled. Also consider that not every part needs to be structural, and those that are, if the raw material isn't as strong you can re-design the part to be bigger. Since titanium is lighter than steel, you can have a bigger part and still come out with lower weight. NASA uses it as does GE.
SpaceX is also planning to replace the aluminium grid fins by titanium. The aluminium ones have to be replaced after each landing, because they get so hot during descent that it damages the metal. The titanium ones will be more expensive to make, but that cost can be spread out over multiple uses. Plus they save labor cost from not having to replace them.