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Rolls-Royce announced that this year it will begin to use in its Trent XWB-97 engines the largest 3d-printed part that has ever been part of an aircraft. And the Rolls-Royce guys kept their promise by supplying a 3D-printed front bearing housing to their engine aboard the Airbus A350 XWB super wide-body aircraft.
With 44 tons of thrust, the Trent XWB-97 engine is currently the most powerful Rolls-Royce aircraft engine developed in the UK’s civilian aerospace division. Last Friday, in Toulouse (France), where Airbus is headquartered, the world's largest production airliner Airbus A380, equipped with a test copy of the Trent XWB-97 engine, flew up into the sky.
Rolls-Royce worked together with the University of Sheffield and the British Center for Manufacturing Technologies to create the part; printing was carried out using Arcam electron beam melting technology. Using this technology, Rolls-Royce got the opportunity to manufacture titanium components of its engines with a diameter of 1.5 m and a height of 0.5 m, and this is perhaps the largest 3d-printed item that ever flew into the sky on board an aircraft. Thanks to the new approach, it was possible to reduce the manufacturing time of the part by 30%.
Engines have already been sold, which are enough to install on more than 1,500 civilian aircraft of more than 40 airlines, so the XWB has become a kind of bestseller among aircraft engines, and has also been recognized as the most efficient aircraft engine for civil aviation. In this regard, Rolls-Royce has invested tens of millions of pounds in the modernization and expansion of the production of XWB series engines. After the flight, Trent XWB Program Director Gareth Davis said: “It was wonderful to see the new version of Trent XWB soar into the sky for the first time. This flight - the result of many years of work - marked the next stage in the implementation of the program. ”
The predecessor of the Trent XWB-97, the Trent XWB-84, had already done this (ascended to the sky) on an airplane earlier this year. Next year we will see a more powerful version in action. Much more important for fans of 3D printing is that 3D printing opens up broad prospects in the aerospace industry, allowing you to go from prototype to finished product in the shortest possible time.
