Industry Lufthansa Technik opens Additive Manufacturing Center
Lufthansa Technik has said, that it has set up an Additive Manufacturing (AM) Center.
The new center was built for bundling and expanding experience and competence, that Lufthansa Technik has gathered using this technology in past years. Additive Manufacturing is often known as 3D printing.
Dr. Aenne Koester, head of the AM Center, stated: "The new AM Center will serve as a collaborative hub where the experience and skills that Lufthansa Technik has gained in additive manufacturing can be bundled and further expanded. The aim is to increase the degree of maturity of the technologies and to develop products that are suitable for production."
Additive Manufacturing produces individual parts very quickly and enables a high degree of freedom in part designing. This is especially important, when one-off parts or prototypes have to be manufactured.
With 3D printing, parts have a lower weight. Especially in the weight-conscious aviation world this makes the technology very attractive. Many companies are currently developing new innovations in the Additive Manufacturing area, as it could be very important for aircraft parts in the future.
Lufthansa Technik has set up a joint team of LHT experts and AM specialists from various industry partners, in order to develop strategies that support the introduction of this technology. The company bets on new partnerships to enhance the understanding of different processes.
As example, Lufthansa Technik will have a partnership with Oerlikon AM. In a statement, Lufthansa Techik wrote: “A cooperation with Oerlikon AM aims at enhancing the understanding of process repeatability, a key element of industrialization and certification. The collaboration will also help drive the industrialization of additive manufacturing forward, as the study results will be shared with relevant industry bodies to support defining standards for the qualification and approval of aircraft components.”