74%
materials savings
cost savings
lead time savings
“We now have a functional part that we can all be proud of and a better understanding of the advantages of the WAAM process.”
Study Manager
Study Manager
Study Manager
LET'S REVIEW THE NEED FOR THIS...
The collaboration is part of a Clean Sky 2 research and innovation funded programme (under GA Agreement no. 864803) to study the benefits of using ‘Boundary Layer Ingestion’ technology for environmental benefits on future aircraft designs.
WAAM3D, Milton Keynes and Aircraft Research Association Ltd (ARA), Bedford, have partnered to manufacture an aluminium nose cone of diameter 190mm and length 350mm. The component has been successfully integrated into a wind tunnel model ready to be tested in ARA’s own Transonic Wind Tunnel in the summer of 2022. The collaboration is part of a Clean Sky 2 research and innovation funded programme (under GA Agreement no. 864803) to study the benefits of using ‘Boundary Layer Ingestion’ technology for environmental benefits on future aircraft designs.
The project team optimised the design of the nose cone to make best use of the starting bar feedstock, minimising the material to be deposited, production time, and overall cost. WAAM3D printed the near net component using their WAAM process, and ARA machined it to final shape and tolerances. The two organisations, leveraging on decades of experience in their respective fields, were able to compress the often critical lead time between shape definition to manufactured component and reduced cost with material usage reduced by 74%.Following this new trial, ARA and WAAM3D will seek to apply WAAM to a larger number of components and investigate other alloys e.g. maraging steel.
