Building large-scale titanium parts for aerospace applications requires the largest metal 3D printer available. Because of the demanding nature of aerospace components and their previous experience with ADDere, GKN Aerospace commissioned ADDere to design and construct a custom additive manufacturing cell that could manufacture large-scale titanium parts 5 meters (16 feet) long by 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide. Previously, the largest component that GKN had 3D printed in titanium was 2.5 meters (8 feet) long.
The system ADDere built is the largest laser-wire Directed Energy Deposition (DED) cell known in the aerospace industry, allowing for defense and commercial aviation replacement parts manufactured using more sustainable and efficient methods
“Cell 3 will create opportunities to deliver a whole new level of additively manufactured titanium components to sizes needed for safety-critical air and space structures. We are very excited to bring this new equipment to our current line of product development laser-wire metal deposition cells in the U.S. This will accelerate the introduction of our technology into production while helping to support the U.S. supply chain and reducing reliance on foreign-sourced materials.”
Shawn Black, GKN Aerospace’s President of Defense
The additive manufacturing system GKN dubs “Cell 3” is a custom additive system constructed by ADDere for the Global Technology Center in Texas. Cell 3 is a custom-built laser-wire additive manufacturing cell with a 12,000 cubic meter inert environment, a robot with a 20KW laser, 10-axes of motion, rotary deposition, and a max substrate size of 5.6m x 2.5m.
GKN Aerospace is a global leader and innovator in military and civilian aircraft component manufacturing, and ADDere provided GKN Aerospace with the next step in pushing the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing of titanium aircraft components.
If your business manufactures large-scale components in titanium or any other metal alloy, then contact us today. ADDere can provide your manufacturing process with additive cells that are compact and shop floor-friendly to entire large-scale production systems in whatever industry you serve.
