Tag: 3D printing

Printed titanium parts to reduce costs on the Dreamliner
Aviation, Manufacturing, News

Printed titanium parts to reduce costs on the Dreamliner

Norsk Titanium AS, a Norwegian 3D printing company, has been hired by Boeing Co. to 3D print structural titanium parts for its Dreamliner. Titanium parts alone cost about $17 million out of the total $265 million cost of the plane. This is due to the 787’s carbon fiber fuselage and wings and result in a higher titanium requirement. This is obviously a sizeable portion of the costs and Boeing has been looking for ways to reduce these costs. Norsk Titanium Vice President, Chip Yates, claims that by 3D printing these, as opposed to manufacturing them the traditional way (with forging and machining), they will be able to cut down the costs of each 787 Dreamliner by around $2-3 million. Considering that Boeing produces around 144 Dreamliners each year on average, this will lead to a sizeable...