Premium Aerotec, a company in the field of metallic 3-D printing in aircraft construction, is now producing series components in titanium for the Airbus A320 Family of aircraft at its facility in Varel, Germany. This means the company is now manufacturing series parts for three Airbus aeroplanes, the other two being the A400M and the A350XWB.
The latest component is the ‘single aisle brake manifold’ — a hydraulic manifold that is used in the brake system of all A320s. The design of the component was revised by the engineering departments of Premium Aerotec and Airbus to enable the changeover from the conventional manufacturing process to additive manufacturing. This change has resulted in a significant cost reduction — due to a significantly lower raw material input — while achieving the same component characteristics and quality. The weight of the component has been reduced by 56% through the new production method, and in the future all A320 Family aircraft will be equipped with this additively-manufactured component.
Thomas Ehm, Premium Aerotec’s CEO, said: “With this latest part, we are once again demonstrating our role as a technology leader in AM for aircraft construction. We are thus proving that the future technology of 3-D printing is also fully applicable in the field of large-scale production.”
Premium Aerotec recognised the potential of AM very early on. Initial development measures started in 2013 and a system for AM using the laser powder bed process was bought in 2014. In 2016, the first individual part qualifications were achieved with the A400M vent bend family — double-walled titanium tubes from the ventilation system of the tanker version of the A400M.
This made Premium Aerotec one of the first companies in the world to launch the 3-D series production of complex titanium aircraft components. The company has sites in Augsburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Nordenham and Varel in Germany, and in Brasov, Romania. It employs some 7,600 people in total.