One of my favorite displays at auto shows are the engine cutaways. I love seeing how the parts move together and what does what. Imagine my delight when I saw this video of a working, 3D printed General Motors LS3 V8 engine.
The use of 3D printing in engines has been seen by all of these companies and government agencies as a valuable investment. In all of these situations, laser sintering is the most popular 3D printing method for the creation of durable metal parts for aerospace engine use.
The video’s uploader, Eric Harrell, says that the engine took over 200 hours of printing and over 2 kilograms of filament to make. He writes:
Fully working LS3 model. Everything was 3d printed except for the bearings and fasteners. Some parts were modeled from CAD files floating around the internet while others were modeled from pictures, repair manuals, and diagrams.
All the parts fit together just like in a real LS3, too. I wonder if he’ll 3D print an RX-7 next and drop the LS3 into it.
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The engine was made entirely of 3D-printed parts (Photo: GE Aviation)
The miniature engine reached 33,000 RPM (Photo: GE Aviation)
The 3D-printing process uses a laser to melt metallic powder (Photo: GE Aviation)
Several jet parts being printed (Photo: GE Aviation)
The engine was made entirely of 3D-printed parts (Photo: GE Aviation)
Components of the 3D-printed engine (Photo: GE Aviation)
It's one thing to 3D-print something as advanced as a jet engine, but it's another to fuel it up and push the start button. That's the step that GE Aviation took when it recently fired up a simple jet engine made entirely of 3D-printed parts in a test stand normally reserved for commercial jet power plants.
The 1-foot long by 8-inch tall (30 by 20 cm) engine was built at GE Aviation’s Additive Development Center outside Cincinnati as a side project. The result of several years' work, the purpose was to test the printing technology. It's not the first 3D-printed jet engine, but it has been fired and revved up to 33,000 RPM.
GE says that the simplified design was necessary because building anything like a conventional commercial engine is beyond the present technology’s state of the art. The team therefore chose a design created for remote control model planes, which was modified for Direct Laser Metal Melting (DLMM) printing
DLMM works by laying down a fine metallic powder in a flat layer, then a laser fuses a section of the CAD plan within it. Another layer of dust is laid down and the process is repeated. When the printing is completed, the excess powder is blown and brushed away, and the part is given a finish. The technique was used in fabricating GE’S first 3D-printed part to be certified by the American FAA for installation in the GE90 jet engine.
'There are really a lot of benefits to building things through additive,' says Matt Benvie, spokesman for GE Aviation. 'You get speed because there’s less need for tooling and you go right from a model or idea to making a part. You can also get geometries that just can’t be made any other way.'
The model engine is on display at the Additive Development Center.
The video below discusses the 3D-printed model engine.
Source: GE Reports