GE's aviation division to mass-produce a 3D printed a fuel nozzle for use in jet engines

GE's aviation division, the world's largest supplier of jet engines, is to use 3D printing technology to produce a fuel nozzle for use in jet engines. This will be the first big test to mass-produce a critical compoent to be used in thousands of jet engines.

[via 3Ders.org]

World's first 3D-printed aircraft flies in the UK

Engineers at the University of Southampton have designed and flown the world's first 'printed' aircraft, which could revolutionise the economics of aircraft design. domain-b reports.

The SULSA (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft) plane is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) whose entire structure has been printed, including wings, integral control surfaces and access hatches.

It was printed on an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine, which fabricates plastic or metal objects, building up the item layer by layer. No fasteners were used and all equipment was attached using 'snap fit' techniques so that the entire aircraft can be put together without tools in minutes.

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Students design and fly 3D-printed plane

Engineering students at the University of Virginia have designed and built a working plane using a 3-D printer. GMA News reports.

The project stemmed from a video of a 3-D-printed plastic turbofan engine that the students posted on video-sharing site YouTube last spring.

The plane, with a 6.5-foot wingspan, was made from assembled printed parts, with the students putting in 80-hour workweeks, "with many long nights in the lab."

It is only the third 3-D printed plane known to have been built and flown, the University of Virginia said in a news release.

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Related article: Build and fly a DIY open source 3D plane - PSFK