France's Safran, one of the world's largest aerospace engine and engineering companies, has opened a 3D printing center of excellence in Le Haillan.
Safran Aerospace 3D Printing Center
New aerospace 3D printing center completed
Le Haillan is a French municipality where the 3D printing center of excellence has been named Campus Safran Additive and is expected to generate more than 200 jobs.
Safran has invested 80 million euros (about 556 million RMB) in the park. The factory will be equipped with a powder laboratory, metallurgy laboratory, scanning electron microscope, two heat treatment furnaces, finishing equipment, and at least eight powder bed fusion 3D printers. Considering the fact that Safran owns equipment brands such as Renishaw, SLM Solutions, and Additive Industries, this investment may not seem like a lot.
Safran says that less than 1% of its products currently feature 3D printing components. Ultimately, it plans to use about 25 percent of the 3D-printed components in next-generation aerospace engine engines.
△ Large-scale metal 3D printed structural parts, the size is 455 x 295 x 805 mm, the material is titanium alloy, and the printing equipment is SLM®800
Traditional craftsmanship versus 3D printing technology
Safran explained that with traditional machining techniques, a component typically requires ten kilograms of material to get a one-kilogram part. Two kilograms of material are required to cast a 500-gram part. By comparison, a 3D printing component weighs 400 grams and requires only 600 grams of raw material. With these advantages, along with structural weight savings, component integration, and the potential overall benefits of the technology, the company hopes to accelerate the deployment of 3D printing technology and make organizations more agile for sustainable operations.
To achieve this, Safran has provided 10 qualified 3D printed parts to its various divisions and is actively promoting the development of the technology in all divisions. To date, Safran Helicopters has produced more than 1,000 3D-printed parts and plans to continue expanding its production capacity for 3D-printed manufactured parts, with plans to manufacture 4,000 parts by 2022 and more than 8,000 parts by 2023. This includes five qualified components for the M88 engine currently under development.
Olivier Andries, CEO of Safran, said: “We have made a strategic decision to create this new Centre of Excellence to consolidate Safran’s expertise in 3D printing technology and accelerate the adoption of this disruptive technology. Will take advantage of this technology to make our new products lighter while improving their performance. This is a key technology in enabling our industry to minimize environmental impact. In some of our engines, a quarter of the components, Eventually, they can all be 3D printed.”
The bigger aerospace 3D printing market
Safran has been applying 3D printing technology to production activities. Safran teamed up with Airbus to 3D print titanium hydraulic components for the A350. In addition to this, Safran Electronics and Defense have integrated the SOLIDWORKS 3DEXPERIENCE platform for product lifecycle management. To manufacture aerospace parts, Safran uses industrial metal 3D printers such as the EOSINT 270 DMLS machine and the TruLaser Cell 7020 from TRUMPF. Fully functional 3D printed parts have been installed on aircraft and helicopter engines such as the Safran Aneto and Arrano, SLM metal 3D printed functional fuel injectors.