Oerlikon to 3D-print parts for US launch vehicles
The additive division of the Swiss company Oerlikon will 3D print parts for the next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket produced by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between American aerospace companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The partnership agreement was signed at the international exhibition on additive manufacturing Formnext-2019 in Frankfurt and provides for the metal components additive production for the next-generation Vulcan Centaur launch vehicles, developed to replace the Atlas V missiles with Russian designed engines. ULA has successfully launched over 130 rockets of the Atlas and Delta launch vehicle families. The launch vehicles will be equipped with 3D-printed liquid oxygen-methane engine BE-4 by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Oerlikon AM specialists will support ULA designers and engineers with parts design basing on the capabilities and limitations of additive manufacturing technologies, as well as 3D printing and post-processing. Oerlikon doesn’t unveil which components will be used in the production, but reports that the heat-resistant nickel chromium alloy Inconel 718 will be used as a consumable.
“We are very excited about this alliance, which allows us to manufacture a number of flight components for ULA. ULA is a leader in using additive manufacturing to reduce production lead times and increase performance in launch vehicles. Vulcan Centaur will advance the use of AM in rockets, and we are looking forward to the launch in 2021,” says Dr. Sven Hicken, Head of Additive Manufacturing Business Unit at Oerlikon.“
The agreement was signed after a six-month process qualification for the 3D printed parts, which proved that they were up to the space industry standards. The components will be printed in the Oerlikon Additive Manufacturing center at the AS9100-certified additive manufacturing facility in Huntersville, North Carolina. The final parts will be delivered to the United Launch Alliance center in Alabama. The first Vulcan Centaur launch is now scheduled for 2021.
Oerlikon is a company that has established itself as one of the front-runners in global technology advancements. Recently, the company also collaborated with Siemens with the purpose of integrating its digital systems for additive manufacturing into the Oerlikon’s production network. The integrated system is called the Digital Enterprise Portfolio and it brings multiple software and hardware solutions for digitizing additive manufacturing processes.
“At the moment we have a variety of special tools that we use for different steps of the value chain. Developing a more integrated system that gives us increased visibility and puts all of our manufacturing sites on the same page will allow us more flexibility and speed in responding to customer requests. We expect this to lead to more rapid progress in integrating additively manufactured parts into series production,” comments Dr. Hicken.
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