3D printing is taking aircraft manufacturing to a new dimension. GE engineers at GE Aviation’s Additive Development Center are focused on developing additive manufacturing, a technique that can make complex 3D structures by melting powder layer upon layer. Over the course of several years, the engineers have tested the technology’s abilities, creating a 3D-printed mini jet engine that roared at 33,000 rotations per minute. Read more about how the future of aviation is being shaped by 3D printing at GE Reports.
http://www.gereports.com/post/118394013625/these-engineers-3d-printed-a-mini-jet-engine-then
#scitech #3dprinting #GE #engineering
3D printed drones next. Perhaps something NASA can use. Mini space drone robots
ReplyDeleteSam Collett -- there are already a ton of small plastic 3d printed quadcopters that can function as drones. A coworker and I are currently working on making meter-long propellers with using 3d prints stacked together and then covered in fiberglass, so presumably other people are doing entire aircraft.
ReplyDeleteCould that mini-jet engine go onto current 3D printed drones though?
ReplyDeleteIt'd have to be fixed-wing, Sam Collett, that's for sure, and all the stuff I've seen printed so far are copters. I'll look around.
ReplyDelete