45). “The casting part went out of production, so the
mould was not available anymore, but with AM by using
metal part fusion, we were able to manufacture this part
in quite a short lead time, without having to invest in the
necessary tooling for the casting process again,” he
explains.
LAUNCH-OFF
An revolutionary project is being carried out
by Californian start-up Relativity Space
( www.is.gd/WIbZ2s ), which is building a
rocket – Terran 1 - to launch into low
Earth orbit with 95 per cent of the rocket
made from additive manufactured parts.
Relativity was recently selected by
65k
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING GAINS
weight savings of 1.5kgs,
results in saving around
65,000 litres of kerosene
NASA to place CubeSats into low Earth
orbit as part of its Venture Class Launch
Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2)
contract where it will demonstrate its
capabilities by launching Terran 1. It is scheduled to
take place by 30 June, 2022, from Relativity’s orbital
launch site at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex-16.
Relativity Space is building an ‘entirely new value chain’
to integrate AM, arti cial intelligence (AI), and
autonomous robotics.
aerospace
“We see 3D printing as the tool enabling technology
which will help us to build humanity’s multi-planetary
future. We have chosen AM as the method we are going
to do that, via our fully 3D printed rocket Terran 1 which
we will y into space,” explains senior engineer for
additive technologies Eliana Fu, who was on the panel.
Terran 1 has a 100-foot-tall exterior and 11-foot-tall
a year
fuel tank. Relativity designed and built its own 20-foot tall
Stargate machine, the largest metal 3D printer in the
world, based on advanced mid-welding process - wire-arc
additive. The start-up’s ‘factory of the future’ uses a
vertically integrated technology platform enabling the it
build and launch rockets in less than 60 days, with 100
times fewer parts and simpli ed supply chain.
Fu notes Relativity Space is taking lessons from
commercial aviation and aerospace but adds:
“Space ight is taking it AM to the next level and thinking
outside the box, as it is not constraining itself to only
using the laser powder bed fusion process.
“With laser powder bed, there are lots of supply chain
companies that can do it better than us, but no one out
there that can do a wire-arc additive manufacturing
process on a service bureau basis, and very few
approaching the size that we are doing.”
“That is the only way to get the large structures to
have a 3D printing process that you can deposit quickly
to get the size of the structure and overhang you want
and what the whole process is doing, is giving you control
of your part manufacturing and you are not dependent on
the supply chain. By doing it ourselves, we are taking
back control of our product we are sending to space.”
Fu explains by using AM it is allowing customers who
want to y rockets into space, faster access. “We have
signed a few customers, mainly commercial satellites,
totally unmanned ights, but eventually we want to y
crewed ights and be part of space tourism.”
“As we go into further space exploration
in the near solar system and when you
need spare parts, 3D printing is going to
a key enabling technology to be able to
do that. It is very dif cult to take a 500-
ton forging press on to the moon, for
example,” she says.
Relativity is not alone in using 3D
printing to propel it into the elite of
space ight, as the likes of Blue Origin, Virgin
Orbit and Fire y are too, but not to the same
extent, proving 3D printing is on par with – or even
more reliable than – traditional manufacturing techniques.
SUSTAINABILITY DRIVER
Aerospace’s contribution to carbon emissions is welldocumented,
but the industry is working to make ying
more sustainable and AM is helping with this mission as
can help reduce weight. The Formnext session heard that
making savings of 1.5kgs in weight, results in saving an
average of 65,000 litres of kerosene a year.
AM will play a major role in Airbus’ plans to develop
zero emission aircraft. Late last year, Airbus launched
three concept aircraft that could enter service in 2035.
Schultz explains that AM will be used extensively in
this programme, as it is very suitable in the development
of these aircraft and Airbus is thinking “AM rst time
right”, as it can focus on increased performance of the
parts and weight saving.
“We are not only focused on waste savings on
structure, but we also look at functional parts where AM
brings in a unique solution – so parts like heat exchanges
or manifolds, complex systems parts, which cannot be
manufactured with conventional technologies,” he says.
“This is very interesting and it brings huge potential for
scaling up the implementation of AM.”
Airbus is reaping other bene ts from AM, notes
Schultz: “We want to improve our use of primary raw
materials, so AM brings great bene ts in production of
net-shape parts, having lower buy-to- y ratio. We
are also looking to recycle typical material raised
from other processes, like chips from machining
into powder for AM parts. This helps bring down
our CO2 footprint.”
Jens Telgkamp, Professor for additive
manufacturing at Hamburg University of
Applied Science, who was also on the panel,
says AM is providing a boost for aerospace in
a dif cult time for the industry, but it is “far
from being fully exploited” and there are “a
lot more future opportunities”.
Relativity Space
designed and built
its 20-foot tall
Stargate printer -
the largest metal
3D printer in the
world
www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets | February 2021 43
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