La impresión 3D es una de las tecnologías en alza más asequibles a pequeñas y medianas empresas para todo tipo de proyectos, pero las empresas grandes también le sacan partido.
El grupo Airbus tuvo unos ingresos en 2015 de 64.500 millones de euros de acuerdo con su informe anual.
Recientemente han anunciado dos de sus proyectos comerciales con impresión en 3D. Sobre el primero se podía leer en un artículo (en inglés) de The Economist, la primera moto impresa en 3D:
One of the great advantages of 3D printing is being able to escape the constraints of traditional production processes, and to make things with unique shapes. The powerful computer-aided design programs that are used to run 3D printers help engineers achieve this. Algorithms calculate the most efficient structure required to achieve the lightest weight and yet still handle all the loads and stresses that will be placed upon the object. Often the result is rather like something that nature might come up with—which is hardly surprising as nature has had millions of years of practice in creating highly efficient structures.
The latest example of this bionic design trend is the Light Rider, which is claimed to be the world’s first 3D-printed motorcycle. The substantial part of its structure was printed by APWorks, a company based near Munich, using a proprietary material called Scalmalloy, an aluminium-magnesium-scandium alloy that was specially developed for 3D printing by Airbus, a European aerospace group that owns APWorks.
The motorcycle is driven by a 6kW electric motor and battery. It reaches a top speed of 80kph and hits 45kph in three seconds. That will not exactly excite serious bikers, but its 3D-printed frame could get their attention. It weighs just 6kg, which makes the Light Rider some 30% lighter than conventionally manufactured electric motorcycles.
Then there is the frame’s shape, which looks like an organic exoskeleton. This complex and hollow structure could not have been made with anything other than a 3D printer, says Joachim Zettler, APWorks’ boss. The process involved using a laser to melt together thousands of individual layers of the powdered alloy, each layer only some 60 microns (millionths of a metre) thick. The company is offering a limited production run of just 50 Light Riders. At some €50,000 ($56,000) each, it is not just the bike that is exotic but also the price.
entrada en el portal científico Phys.org
Dwarfed by huge jets all around, the mini-plane Thor was nonetheless an eye-catcher at the Berlin air show this week—the small Airbus marvel is the world’s first 3D-printed aircraft.
Windowless, weighing in at just 21 kilos (46 pounds) and less than four metres (13 feet) long, the drone Thor—short for «Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality»—resembles a large, white model airplane.
Yet to the European aerospace giant Airbus, the small pilotless propeller aircraft is a pioneer that offers a taste of things to come—an aviation future when 3D printing technology promises to save time, fuel and money.
«This is a test of what’s possible with 3D printing technology,» said Detlev Konigorski, who was in charge of developing Thor for Airbus, speaking at the International Aerospace Exhibition and Air Show at Berlin’s southern Schoenefeld airport.
«We want to see if we can speed up the development process by using 3D printing not just for individual parts but for an entire system.»
In Thor, the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical elements.
The little plane «flies beautifully, it is very stable,» said its chief engineer Gunnar Haase, who conducted Thor’s inaugural flight last November near the northern German city of Hamburg.
Lighter, faster, cheaper
Airbus and its US rival Boeing are already using 3D printing, notably to make parts for their huge passenger jets the A350 and B787 Dreamliner.
«The printed pieces have the advantage of requiring no tools and that they can be made very quickly,» said Jens Henzler of Bavaria-based Hofmann Innovation Group, which specialises in the new technology.
The metal parts produced can also be 30-50 percent lighter than in the past, and there is almost zero manufacturing waste, added Henzler, who is managing director for Hofmann industrial prototyping.
The sky is not the limit for the technology—engineers also plan to use it in space.
In Aribus’ 3D printed plane THOR the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical elemen
In Aribus’ 3D printed plane THOR the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical elements
The future Ariane 6 rocket of European space agency ESA, set to blast off from 2020, is set to feature many printed pieces.
«It brings big cost reductions on parts manufacturing,» said Alain Charmeau, head of Airbus Safran Launchers.
Partially as a result of this, the Ariane 6 may have half the price tag of its predecessor Ariane 5.‘Radical innovations’
The new 3D printers can make pieces up to 40 centimetres (15 inches) long and is of most use in particularly complex designs.
Charmeau said Airbus is testing how to print an injection assembly for an engine that is now assembled from 270 individual pieces.«With 3D printing, it has just three parts,» he told AFP.
Aside from the costs savings, 3D printing also promises ecological benefits as lighter jets use less fuel and spew out fewer pollutants.To reducing carbon emissions in aviation—with air traffic expected to double in the next 20 years—»the decisive issue is radical technical innovation in a relatively short time,» said Ralf Fuecks, head of the Heinrich Boell foundation think tank of the German Green Party.
3D printing is certain to play a major role in this, he said at a conference at the ILA event with Airbus president Tom Enders.The air travel industry is already convinced of the benefits, according to a survey of some 102 aviation sector players by German high-tech federation Bitkom.
Some 70 percent of respondents believed that by 2030 aircraft spare parts will be printed directly at airports, and 51 percent expect that entire planes will by then be manufactured by 3D printing.