Boeing Space Taxi to use Over 600 3D Printed Parts

NTD Staff
By NTD Staff
February 3, 2017US News
share

Boeing Co has hired a small company to make more than 600 different 3D-printed parts for its Starliner spacecraft, meaning key components in the United States manned space program are being built with additive manufacturing.

The company, privately held Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), will announce a $10 million (USD) strategic investment from plastic composites company Hexcel Corp as early as Thursday, adding to $15 million Hexcel invested in May and lifting Hexcel’s equity stake to 16.1 percent, Oxford and Hexcel said.

Boeing’s award of the parts for its flagship space taxi and Hexcel’s funding are bets that printed plastics can perform flawlessly even under the extreme stress of a rocket launch and sub-zero temperatures of space.

They offer further evidence of a shift in 3D printing from making one-off plastic prototypes to industrial production of high-grade parts used in space ships, aircraft engines and other critical equipment.

“3D printing is a manufacturing process, more commonly known as additive manufacturing, taking advantage of building a part layer by layer as opposed to subtractive manufacturing which is cutting away the part out of a billet or hog of a material, either metal or plastic, whichever you are starting with,” explained Elijah Willis, the director of materials and processes at Oxford Performance Materials.

Willis said the 3D-printed plastic parts offer significant weight and cost reductions.

“The advantage of 3D printing or additive manufacturing is adding complexity to the part does not add any time or cost. So additive manufacturing provides alternatives that will allow for efficiency benefits, cost reduction and also take advantage of unique attributes for design.”

Oxford’s parts will help Boeing lower costs and save 150 pounds of weight on each 10,000-pound, seven-seat capsule, compared with traditional metal and plastic manufacturing.

“Weight savings is incredibly important when you are putting things up in space. And we’ve been able to reduce hundreds of pounds on the crew capsule by Boeing’s measurements, approximately 60 percent weight reduction on the parts that we produced,” said Bernie Plishtin, the chief business development officer at Oxford Performance Materials.

Boeing is building the Starliner under a $4.2 billion NASA contract. Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX is building a competing capsule under a $2.6 billion NASA contract.

Oxford shipped its first Starliner parts to Boeing in January. The plastic it uses, known as PEKK, also resists fire and radiation, according to Oxford.

Despite its promise and potential sales, customers and investors need to be convinced by repeatable results from printed plastics.

Oxford, based in South Windsor, Connecticut, started as a plastics maker in 2000 and added 3D printing in 2006. It also makes aircraft parts and replacement human vertebrae, skull implants and eye sockets.

In 2012 it delved into aerospace and defense. Working with NASA, Northrop Grumman Corp and incubator America Makes, it demonstrated printed PEKK could handle temperatures from minus 60 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit among other qualities.

While 3D technology has been around since the 1990s, sales growth has taken off recently. Sales reached $1 billion in 2007, jumped to nearly $5.2 billion in 2015 and are expected to hit $26.5 billion by 2021, according to the Wohlers Report, which analyzes the sector.

Several relatively small listed companies such as Stratasys Ltd, 3D Systems Corp and ExOne Co offer investors exposure.

Others have been snapped up. General Electric last year bought a controlling stake in Swedish 3D printing company Arcam AB and Germany’s Concept Laser, and launched an additive manufacturing division. GE already prints metal fuel nozzles for the new LEAP engine that powers Boeing and Airbus SA single-aisle jetliners.

Aerospace already accounts for about 17 percent of 3D printing revenue, ranking second after industrial and business machines but ahead of automotive, consumer, electronics and medical products, according to Wohlers.

Aerospace is a “near perfect fit” for 3D printing because it involves complex, expensive parts made in relatively low volumes, Wohlers said.

The Starliner is due to blast off for the first time in June 2018 from Cape Canaveral, and carry its first crew in August 2018. It will be launched on an Atlas V rocket supplied by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp.

 

(Reuters)

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments