Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-05-31
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| A large 3D printer at Northwestern Polytechnical University in northwest China's Shaanxi province. (Photo/Xinhua) |
China is
employing 3D printing technology in the development of its military aircraft,
from the J-16 fighter to the next-generation J-31, reports Huanqiu, the
Chinese-language website of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
At this
year's annual legislative and consultative conferences in Beijing this march,
J-15 chief architect Sun Cong revealed that 3D printing has been widely used in
designing and producing the latest carrier fighter prototype which had its
first successful test in October.
The rapidly
improving technology, which has allowed the development of Chinese fighter jets
to take off, so to speak, has been used to manufacture critical titanium alloy
load-bearing structure on the aircraft, including the entire nose landing gear,
Sun said.
Plane
enthusiasts can already create small plastic planes with a computer and a 3D
printer, but the technology could soon be extended to creating a real jet. 3D
printers have already been used to create plane parts without the need for
casting, forging, assembly or other traditional manufacturing processes.
According
to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, the C-919, China's first
domestically-designed commercial aircraft, the J-15 and J-16 fighter jets, the
J-20 stealth fighter and the next-generation J-31 fighter already all employ 3D
printing technology.
On March
24, at 16th China Beijing International High-tech Expo, China's AVIC Heavy
Machinery Co went away with the state technological invention award for the
world's largest 3D printing titanium part for military aircraft.
The laser
additive manufacturing technology is said to boast a significant advantage over
traditional manufacturing methods. Aeronautical materials expert Wang Huamin
says China only needs 55 days to "print out" the main windshield
frame of a C-919 commercial jet, compared to at least two years and US$2
million for a European plane manufacturer.
Traditional
jet manufacturing not only takes time but also wastes raw materials, with only
10% going into the final product, Wang said. US manufacturer Lockheed Martin
requires 2.8 tonnes of titanium to build an F-22 fighter jet, but only 144kg of
titanium will end up in the plane itself, he added.
Wang says
China's large-scale 3D printing technology has already surpassed the United
States, partly because many American companies do not yet take the technology
seriously.
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