Two Jet Engines Have Been 3D Printed

We’ve printed food, we’ve printed a car, and in Australia, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne have helped the CSIRO and Deakin University to print not one, but two metal jet engines.

There is no doubt that this year will prove to be the year of 3D printing. We’ve printed food, we’ve printed a car, and in Australia, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne have helped the CSIRO and Deakin University to print not one, but two metal jet engines.

In partnership with Amaero Engineering, this has made a huge splash in the international aerospace industry, and it looks like it will be a massive success, with offers already from Airbus, Raytheon and Boeing.

According to Smarttech, 3D printers can help reduce the length of time on projects, all while creating a lighter engine with reduced operational and production costs. Additionally, the 3D print reduces wastes by nearly 90%, so it also reduces the environmental impact from manufacturing.

By taking apart an old auxiliary powered gas turbine engine from French aerospace supplier Safran, Professor Wu, the director of the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing, scanned each of the components and then printed two copies.

This also has a huge impact on upgrading products, because adding and deleting parts becomes a much simpler process. Currently the researchers are calculating cost analysis, to see which parts would most benefit to be manufacturered by 3D printing, and which stand best to remain manufactured in the traditional way.