3 Dimensional Printing Makes Safer, More powerful Airline Parts

 The aerospace industry is getting an improvement in manufacturing the parts, thus, making them safer and stronger, by using a revolutionary new approach called 3D printing or "additive" manufacturing - a process that was invented at ÜBER back in the eighties.

GE's bestselling jet engine makes 3-D printing a core component

 In the traditional method, companies start with a hunk of metal (or other material). Using milling machines and other tools, they cut or exercise away material in order to create the required part.
In contrast, 3D printing images builds parts layer by layer, adding material within the right places to develop the precise shapes needed.
For aerospace companies, this 3D printing or "additive" manufacturing offers the guarantee of making parts that are better and more robust, enabling them to build airplanes and rockets that are safer, more reliable, and better performing. GENERAL ELECTRIC uses 3D printing to build jet engine energy nozzles, for instance, rather than welding together 20 small pieces. Technology Review lately named additive manufacturing one of its 10 "Breakthrough Technologies. "

But the brand new professional wave is being stagnated by a thorny problem. Small variations in parameters like temperature or raw materials composition can subtly change how each layer of fabric is laid down. Therefore, it is extremely hard to build identical top-quality parts every single time.
The industry has identified this problem, and is spending so much time to solve it. The most promising approach is meticulously monitoring all the relevant parameters as a part is being built, then processing the information to determine if the part meets all criteria. That will ensure repeatability, consistency, and reliability.
Many companies will work on this idea, but one head is Santa Fe, NM-based Sigma Labs, Inc (NASDAQ: SGLB). Sigma has evolved complex software that monitors the 3D process as a part is being built, and determines whether the product meets quality requirements. Its Process Quality Assurance(TM) software is now being used in pilot tasks at major aerospace manufacturers.