The 3D printing technology is changing the world in a very radical way, manufacturing any kind of fully customized and tailored objects according to our needs; creating new and better products is just fantastic. But personally I think there is still much ground to cover with 3D printing.
From the begining of time man has felt the need of flying, let’s face it: we all want to fly and sail the world, but we don’t have wings. So, we decided to build our own and that’s what NASA is doing.
Hypersonic aircraft is closer thanks to the mankind and their fervent desire of riding the sky and 3D printing gave us the tools to make this dream come true.
Orbital American aerospace Company ATK announced: 3D printing has been proved be very successful in their latest project. They are using this technology to manufacture a combustion chamber for the engine of his futuristic hypersonic aircraft at the Research Center of NASA Langley in Virginia.
Just think about having the possibility of flying from New York to London in just an hour -or going to any destination you need in less time-. Well, this is getting closer to be real, thanks to a group of people who decided to use a 3D printer to make combustion chambers.
But, why is this piece so important and how it benefits the Hypersonic Aircraft?
Well, that’s because the combustion chamber is a cornerstone for the engine of this Hypersonic aircraft. Without it, the aircraft couldn´t reach the expected speed. After the manufacturing process it was underwent for a period of 20 days as a normal engine’s temperatures and conditions, which reach speeds over 6125 km/h.
The combustion chamber was created through a fusion powder process called powder bed serves or PFB. This process is used primarily for adding raw materials based on metal alloy powders.
Orbital ATK says that the manufacture of this chamber design is only possible with the help of 3D printing, because doing it by hand it would take multiple parts so it would increase production time and rises costs for sure.
When the entire printing process ends the piece is removed from its excessive dust, then, is moved through a smoothing process.
Just the fact than in a future we would print our own transportations makes me feel excited.
What kind of transport do you want to print?
One thought on “Hypersonic Aircraft: it’s closer than we expected”
Wow great post i love the fact that we can do almost anything with our 3D printers in a near future. 🙂