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GE Aviation and DM3D to Ramp up 3D-Printed Fan Blade Production for GE9X Engine

Using direct metal deposition, DM3D can create near-net shape fan blades and more closely monitor the height and temperature of the melt pool while manufacturing them. GE Aviation is working with DM3D to develop this process for full scale GE9X production in 2020.

(Image source: GE Aviation)

GE Aviation  ’s next-gen GE9X  high-bypass turbofan engine is poised to be the most fuel-efficient jet engine ever produced by the company. Designed to power Boeing  ’s new 777X  long-range, wide-body airliner, the GE9X builds on GE Aviation’s previous GE90  , but will incorporate a larger fan, higher bypass and compression ratios, and components made from advanced manufacturing processes, such as fan blades produced using direct metal deposition (DMD).

GE Aviation, the Evendale, Ohio-based subsidiary of General Electric  has been working with DM3D Technology, LLC.  of Auburn Hills, Michigan and Windsor, Connecticut-based Barnes Aerospace  to develop DM3D’s proprietary DMD technology for a ramp-up to full-scale production of 3D-printed GE9X fan blades in 2020.

Read more: S.S. White Technologies lending flexibility to new GE9X, 777X

In DMD – a type of 3D-printing technology – powder metal is propelled into a laser that fuses the metal to an additively produced component or part. It can be used to manufacture, remanufacture, reconfigure, repair, and restore parts. It can also extend the lives of components by applying corrosion resistant coatings.

Read more from SAE International on manufacturing and propulsion .

The advantages of DMD are that it creates near-net shape and controls heat input, which reduces post processing of the product. DMD also allows for monitoring and control of the height and temperature of the melt pool and even the dilution of substrate material, which may have a very different melting temperature than the deposited material. According to DM3d, this provides a significant advantage over other additive metal manufacturing technologies such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and electron beam melting (EBM).

“The complex geometry of these components is an ideal application for the multi-axis deposition capability of DM3D’s additive process,” says Tod Davis, principal engineer for GE Aviation.

William Kucinski  is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

Contact him regarding any article or collaboration ideas by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Topics:
3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturing Advanced manufacturing Aircraft Aircraft Automotive Aviation Commercial aircraft Defense Engine/Powertrain Engines Jet engines Manufacturing & Prototyping Powertrains Propulsion Turbofan engines Vehicles

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    Transcript

    00:00:06 in 1995 GE forever changed Long Haul travel with a record-breaking ge90 engine and its carbon fiber composite fan blades then we redefined what was possible with groundbreaking technologies that took propulsion and fuel efficiency to the next level in the G

    00:00:37 NX and now we're doing it again the ge9x will feature just 16 fourth generation carbon fiber composite fan blades that are thinner stronger and more efficient than any fan blade we've ever produced a compressor with a pressure r ratio of 27 to1 the highest in the

    00:01:32 history of Aviation a Next Generation lean burning combuster capable of handling some of the highest pressures and temperatures ever seen in an aircraft engine you'll also use Advanced manufacturing techniques like 3D printing to build components that were quite simply impossible to make until now and cuttingedge new materials including

    00:01:55 ceramic Matrix composits which are twice the strength and a third the weight of metal the ge9x will deliver 10% better fuel efficiency than its predecessor with noise and nox emissions well below regulatory standards all with a worldclass reliability our customers have come to expect from us it's this level of imagination and

    00:02:19 Engineering that's helping us build the world's next great engine to power the world's next great airplane the Boeing 7 x the ge9 X isn't a culmination of invention it's a starting point of where we're going next

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