Pratt & Whitney Enter 3D Printed Engine Part Arena

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Pratt & Whitney has, over the course of the last 25 years, built more than 100,000 prototype parts using additive manufacturing. Now the company says this marks the first time additive manufacturing technology has been used to produce compressor stators and synch ring brackets for a production jet engine. Dozens of parts produced using 3D manufacturing processes made from titanium and nickel have already been flight-tested for use in Airbus and Bombardier aircraft, and those planes will enter passenger service in the second half of 2015. You can read the whole story here: http://3dprint.com/55492/pratt-whitn...-engine-parts/


Below is a photo of a 3D printed "borescope boss" from Pratt & Whitney:

[larkmaj]

Unless they've made some new parts, I'm fairly certain the first part shown in the article, on the blue table cloth, is a conventionally machined part. There is an additively made part that does the same job with far less mass.