GE Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio, has announced plans to bring high-volume additive manufacturing to its facility in Auburn, Alabama. GE will manufacture its jet engine fuel nozzle at the site, becoming the first company to mass-produce additive components for the jet propulsion industry. By the end of 2015, the plant could have as many as ten AM machines, with the potential to grow to more than 50 machines and occupy a third of the facility at full capacity.
GE will invest $50M in the existing 300,000 ft² facility to prepare for the additional work. Equipment installation will begin in late 2014 and production will begin in 2015.
The AM fuel nozzle will be used in GE’s LEAP engine, with every engine requiring 19 fuel nozzles. Once manufacturing begins, GE will ramp up production quickly, starting with 1000 fuel nozzles produced annually, to more than 40,000 by 2020.
GE also reported that it is developing 3D-printed parts for the GE9X engine, the world’s largest jet engine, which will be installed on the next-generation Boeing 777X long-haul passenger jet.
“We spent years proving out this technology for a critical component in the heart of the engine, the combustion chamber,” stated Greg Morris, General Manager, Additive Technologies. “Now we are well positioned to apply this technology to other components in the same harsh environment. AM could prove to be game-changing for future engine programs and designs.”
Auburn will have capacity to take on additional component work when new technologies are developed. All development of additive components will remain in GE Aviation’s Additive Technology Center (ATC) in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is also expected to grow over 300% in size in the coming year. The ATC will demonstrate a component’s manufacturing readiness before needing to scale for full rate production.
With more than 6700 orders from 20 countries, adding up to nearly $96 billion (U.S. list price), the LEAP is GE Aviation’s best-selling engine in history.
