Getting Complex, Cost Effective Aviation Parts (3D printing without the certification burden)

June 2023 is a big month for aerospace events with the Aircraft Interiors Expo at the beginning of the month and the Paris Air Show to follow a few weeks later.?The Paris Air Show, despite being an incredibly exhausting event, has a special place in my heart since 2015 where we had a bit of a coming out party for Stratasys in aerospace with announcements about FDM parts on the Airbus A350XWB and ULA rockets.?Alas, I will miss both shows this year.

In this post, I plan to dig in a bit further on a company I mentioned in a previous short post talking about the right type of suppliers in additive manufacturing, AM Craft - Aviation Additive Manufacturing Services .?AM Craft will be exhibiting at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg on June 6-8, and I highly recommend you go see them if you will be there.?

Now let me tell you why…

There are two main reasons that drive aerospace adoption of additive manufacturing technologies: 1) design benefits, and 2) low volume economics.?Since we’re talking aerospace, let’s call these our forms of “thrust.”?There are also a number of sources of “drag” that slow down adoption, working against thrust.?One is certification – everything that flies must meet airworthiness standards and have the appropriate documentation to prove it.?This takes two parts, the approval of the design/engineering, and the approval that the part was manufactured in accordance with the approved design/engineering. A second drag is education – you have to know how to design, manufacture, and certify a part considering any specific requirements tied to additive.?There are many more forms of drag like available standards, toolsets, materials, post-processing techniques, and on and on, but we’ll focus first on Certification and Education.

So, how do we overcome these forms of drag and allow AM adoption in aerospace to accelerate and get off the ground??The answer isn’t with the OEM’s.?The basics are already there.?Stratasys has been in the market with SABIC's ULTEM resin since 2009 meeting cabin environment requirements, they implemented material traceability 2014, they addressed mechanical repeatability in 2017, and they are deploying colored ULTEMs now (which, when paired with software-driven texturing, can massively reduce post processing needs).?They’ve also contributed to helping reduce certification drag through published test data and working with SAE on standards, but the reality is, they have not or cannot eliminate the certification and education drag burden on their customers, especially when they are supporting diverse industries with different needs.?This is where an aviation-focused middle man can make a significant impact.

There is a double standard when it comes to AM.?For traditional, well-known, well-trusted technologies, the engineers don’t really need to know that much about their manufacturing technology.?You know your Design-For-Manufacturing (DFM) rules for the technology, you follow them, and you put the part out to bid.?Depending on the part, you get your bids back from whatever set of casting houses, machining houses, or molding houses that procurement interfaces with and you pick based on price, schedule, and risk.?

Not with AM.?There is an apparent need to be an expert in additive to buy an additive part.?We have people inventing all kinds of special internal processes requiring internal experts or extensive interface to qualify some general purpose printing service bureau, which I've seen take years and cause significant hair loss.

What is needed is an additive house that is able to reduce education drag because they are experts in both the technology and the industry-specific application.??And, to address certification drag, we need that additive house to be able to address both part design approval as well as manufacturing approval and deliver a part complete with the relevant airworthiness documentation (i.e. Form 1 or 8130 tag).??

Aviation end customers need an aviation parts supplier that delivers airworthiness certified parts.?The fact that those parts happen to have been printed should only be relevant in that they deliver the AM thrusts mentioned above – they have AM-enabled complex designs or they achieve low volume economics in a way no other technology can.?They need to compete on the value of additive, and address all the typical headaches of additive in the background without burdening the end customer. End customers get all the good stuff and the supplier handles the dirty work.

AM adoption in aviation accelerates when we focus on delivering the end product, rather than trying to sell the technology.

Having worked with 3d printing service providers all around the globe, AM Craft stands out uniquely for me in meeting this challenge.?Many service bureaus I’ve worked with are legitimate experts in 3d printing.?They understand the technologies they are using, and they know how to print a good part, whether it’s a prototype automotive bumper or a prototype dishwasher panel.?That’s the beauty of 3d printing, right? No, not for this.?There is too much specialized knowledge required for an end part in a regulated industry, just knowing how to print isn't good enough.

AM Craft focuses on aircraft interior components.?They understand the application and can be a trusted partner in developing the part rather than simply printing a provided file.?This expertise and focus adds value and makes AM Craft more like a traditional part supplier who uses additive instead of just another general purpose additive service bureau. By focusing on valuable, but non-flight-critical interior components initially, AM Craft is taking a strategic approach to build the necessary trust among customers and airworthiness authorities via parts with the simplest certification path. ??

Because of their focus, it has made sense for them to solve the certification drag challenge for their customers as well.?They have achieved EASA Part 21G certification, which enables them to manufacture parts delivered with a Form 1 airworthiness tag, which means that those parts are certified to be installed directly onto commercial aircraft.?They do not push the certification burden onto their customers.?They have done the legwork with airworthiness authorities in order to demonstrate that they have the quality management system and the production system to take on that burden themselves.?

Going further, AM Craft has built a network of more than half a dozen partners with Design Organization Approval (Part 21J).?These are experienced aviation design partners that know how to design and qualify aviation parts and are well known to aerospace OEMs.?These partners are able to certify the design of the part, further reducing the burden placed on the customers.

One way AM Craft has been able to build the expertise necessary to focus in aviation and enable certification, is through engaging directly in research and development themselves.?AM Craft has generated and published more flammability test data on ULTEM samples of various thicknesses and infills than anyone, including Stratasys.?They’ve done similar with SLS materials.?This has made AM Craft true experts in flammability requirements and how various AM technologies and materials can be leveraged effectively within those requirements. They understand when ULTEM is required as well as when a lower cost material can suffice.

All this to say that by consolidating AM technology and aviation application expertise, as well as taking the certification burden off of the customer, AM Craft provides a faster path to aviation parts with high design complexity and/or better low volume economics.

Even more exciting, is the trajectory of expansion they are now embarking on.?In addition to their core facility in Riga, Latvia, they have established a network of partnerships which will allow them to expand their application and certification expertise into other facilities globally.?These network relationships will allow cost-effective utilization of existing 3d printer capacity while bringing part production right next door to a customer need.?The first such extension of their production approval is underway now in the United Arab Emirates in order to support airlines, MROs, and OEMs in the rapidly expanding aviation industry in the Gulf region.

The aerospace industry and the additive industry are evolving in parallel.?The opportunities for aerospace to gain value from the design complexity (enabling light-weighting) and low volume economics (and closely related sustainability) from additive can be accelerated by addressing barriers like education and certification.?AM Craft is a unique supplier that accomplishes this and is well positioned to lead printed aviation parts from its early adopter phase firmly into the mainstream.

Scott Sevcik has no formal affiliation with AM Craft. The views expressed here are his own and do not represent either his employer or AM Craft. Previous AM Perspectives posts from Scott are summarized in this recap.

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