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Turbomeca uses metal Additive Manufacturing for helicopter engine components Turbomeca, one of the world’s leading helicopter engine manufacturers, has begun using metal Additive Manufacturing for serial production of engine components at its facility in Bordes, France. The company has announced that it is using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) to manufacture fuel injector nozzles for its Arrano engines and combustor swirlers for use in its Ardiden 3 engines. These engines are Turbomeca’s latest models and are claimed to be amongst the most advanced turboshafts ever designed. “After years of maturation and prototype testing, Turbomeca has entered serial production of parts using the latest additive
manufacturing, or 3D printing process,” the company stated in its press release. “The Bordes facility is one of the first of its kind to serial produce additive components for the aerospace propulsion industry in France.” The SLM Additive Manufacturing process used by Turbomeca builds the components in layers of between 20 and 100-micrometers thick from fine nickel-based superalloy powder. AM has also helped simplify the manufacturing process. A traditional fuel-injector nozzle is made up from many different pieces, however the Arrano component is made from one single piece of material and features advanced injection and cooling functions.
Turbomeca is using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) to manufacture fuel injector nozzles and combustor swirlers Turbomeca, a member of the Safran Aerospace, Defence and Security Group, currently has one SLM machine in service and qualified for mass production at its Bordes site, but plans for others to be integrated over the coming years. www.turbomeca.com www.safran-group.com
Over 3,000 Additive Manufactured medical orthopaedic truss implants from 4WEB 4WEB Medical, based in Texas, USA, announced at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting held in San Francisco, November 2014, that surgeons have now implanted over 3,000 of the company’s 3D-printed orthopaedic truss implants. The company’s spine portfolio includes FDA-cleared Cervical and ALIF interbody devices, with plans to add TLIF, PLIF, OLIF, and lateral spine truss designs in the first and second quarter of 2015. “Crossing the 3,000 implant milestone is a significant accomplishment for our company,” stated Jessee Hunt, President of 4WEB Medical. “It is a testament to our surgeons’ positive clinical experience with truss implant technology and the role it may play in achieving better outcomes for their patients.” The use of Additive Manufacturing utilises engineering principles such
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as structural mechanics and adjacent material reaction to produce innovative spine implants that may actively participate in stimulating the healing process. “The 4WEB Medical Spine Truss Systems are differentiated from other fusion implants currently on the market because the structural mechanics of the truss implants are designed to distribute loads across the entire endplate and throughout the device,” stated Cameron Carmody, MD, Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon in Plano, Texas. “This is significant because these implants may reduce stress risers and subsidence-related complications and potentially stimulate a cellular response through a mechanical transduction of strain.” The truss implant designs have a distinctive open architecture, which allows for up to 75% of the implant to be filled with graft material to maximise bone incorporation. The
The ALIF spine truss is available in 30 size options 4WEB Medical ALIF device has a bi-convex surface that brings the implant and graft material closer to adjacent bone across the entire endplate rather than just around the outside edge. This, in addition to a unique implant surface texture, dramatically improves initial fixation and reduces the chance of migration. www.4WEBMedical.com
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Spring 2015
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