Overview of additive manufacturing activities at MTU aero engines

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a promising technology to produce parts easily and effectively, just by using metallic powder or wire as starting material and a sophisticated melting process. In contrast to milling or turning technologies complex shaped and hollow parts can be built up in one step. That reduces the production costs and allows the implementation of complete new 3D designs. Therefore AM is also of great interest for aerospace and aero engine industry. MTU Aero Engines has focused its AM activities to the selective laser melting technique (SLM). This technique uses metallic powder and a laser for melting and building up the part layer by layer. It is shown which lead part was selected for AM and how the first production line was established. A special focus is set on the quality assurance of the selective laser melting process. In addition to standard non-destructive inspection techniques a new online monitoring tool was developed and integrated into the SLM machines. The basics of this techn...