#GE #aerospace #additivemfg GE Aviation and Sigma Labs Inc have signed a Joint Technology Development Agreement to advance and implement in-process inspection technologies for additive manufactured jet engine components.
The jointly developed inspection technology will verify the quality and geometry of additive components during the additive build process, increasing additive production speeds by up to 25% in support of GE Aviation’s growing production rates.
Greg Morris, GE Aviation’s business development leader for additive manufacturing, said: “Today, post-build inspection procedures account for as much as 25% of the time required to produce an additively manufactured engine component.
"By conducting those inspection procedures while the component is being built, GE Aviation and Sigma Labs will expedite production rates for GE’s additive-manufactured engine components like the LEAP fuel nozzle.”
By 2020, GE Aviation will produce more than 100,000 additive-manufactured components for the LEAP and GE9X engines. GE will install 19 additive manufactured fuel nozzles on every LEAP engine, which has amassed more than 4,500 orders.
The LEAP fuel nozzle is up to 25% lighter and five-times more durable than traditionally manufactured fuel nozzles, leading to significant fuel savings.
The company uses additive-manufacturing methods such as direct metal laser melting (DMLM) to build 3-D production engine components that traditional manufacturing methods are incapable of producing.