Nasa’s New UAV Is 80% 3D-Printed

https://www.aerodefensetech.com/component/content/article/adt/features/insider/34484

by rbanffy • 7 years ago

143 75 7 years ago

gigatexal• 7 years ago

Is it also much cheaper?

Given this bit - "allowing engineers to change the wings, the fuselage, and other sections quite rapidly.", then it probably is, at least in comparison to having to produce lots of different aircraft.

pjc50• 7 years ago

Exactly - conventional techniques involving moulds would probably be cheaper if you're making 100 or even 10 of them, but if you're making 1 of them 3D printing is excellent.

duxup2• 7 years ago

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/langley-aerodrome-creat...

I assume this is 3D-printed from some 3D printing tech beyond what I've experienced buying some small 3D printed items that are temperature sensitive and kinda flexy?

inflatableDodo3• 7 years ago

Laser sintering with powdered metal, at a guess.

As an aside, if you get a basic jewellery casting setup, you can go from plastic printing to metal objects quite cheaply at home.

newaccoutnas• 7 years ago

Having never seen a basic jewellery casting setup, would that scale to the size of components needed for UAV?

WrtCdEvrydy• 7 years ago

Honestly, Filamet makes this happen... Print with it and it's 30% PLA, and just kelnel fire it.

Klathmon3• 7 years ago

There are so many different kinds of 3d printing!

While "FDM" or "FFF" 3d printing (the kind most people think of when they think 3d printing) is most common, there are tons of others. SLS can produce impossibly complex "solid" metal objects, SLA can use resins that have very unique properties (some extremely hard, others nearly perfectly transparent, etc...).

Even if you don't leave the FDM style of 3d printing, there are tons of different techniques and plastics or plastic-hybrids that you can use. Often they can even be used on hobbyist level machines. Different kinds of plastics including Nylon and Polycarbonate, carbon-fiber infused filaments that have incredible tensile strength, even some metal-powder infused plastics which are designed to print, and then "bake" to harden them.

It's a pretty awesome field with a lot of variation in what is possible even at the hobbyist level.

Just looking at the video, it looks like they are using fairly "traditional" FDM 3d printing, but most likely with some unique filaments/plastics. If I had to take a complete shot in the dark at what they are using, i'd guess PEEK. It's a bitch and a half to print with using hobbyist devices (it needs a pretty high temperature and the ambient air needs to be kept quite hot to avoid warping), but it's extremely strong and very consistent.

duxup2• 7 years ago

It seems like a super interesting field. The fact that it all gets labeled under "3D printed" is confusing, granted ... also not wrong.

I was at an exhibit about the space station and they had some tools they 3D printed to make completing some tasks easier. I was thinking "No way this could this go 'outside' of the space station if it is from the same material I've gotten that warns me not to expose it to high temps or high / low humidity, it probabbly would melt / crack instantly".

TecoAndJix2• 7 years ago

What made you put "solid" in quotes when referring to metal objects? I ask because i was looking at Markforged's "Metal X" printer and thought the final products looked fantastic!

zwieback• 7 years ago

The linked video shows them using an Ultimaker so it's pretty low-end tech they use for at least part of it. Unless those are non-functional models.

dogma113810• 7 years ago

The mechanical parts of the printer aren't that important pretty much all the printers can reach a good enough resolution for production.

The biggest thing in 3D printing now is high end composite filaments and multi material applications.

So for example if you print with PEEK (PolyEtherEtherKetone) or PEK/PEKK/PEKEKK you can print extremely strong parts which can be used for aerospace applications and even more.

The problem is that those materials are very expensive PEEK can easily get to $250-300 per lb. and even higher for the better known brands and composite PEEK filaments (e.g. fibre reinforced PEEK).

Beyond that you are limited by your print volume but many of the cheap printers especially the Chinese ones are pretty good in that regard.

My largest 3D printer (Anycubic Chiron) has a custom print head (E3D Volcano) and custom drivers my hotend can reach 420c> so I can print with PEEK I just can't afford it, not to mention w/e NASA has used for this which I'll assume is probably even more expensive.

That said I can print quadcopters and small drones with glass or carbon fibre reinforced nylon or PET easily and the 3D printed parts are usually the toughest part of those builds.

mdorazio• 7 years ago

Based on the size of most UAVs and the fact that it's NASA, they're almost certainly using a large format printer from Stratsys or 3D Systems in the $250K+ range.

ordinaryradical5• 7 years ago

The real problem with printing these materials is that the part isotropy is poor, so you get the expected strength on the x- and y- axes but the z- axis (where all of the layers are stacking up) is quite poor. Turns out that printing things in a layer-by-layer fashion has its own cost.

I'm quite involved in this area, happy to share more if anyone is interested.

adamweld4• 7 years ago

If anyone is looking for a good introduction to using (FDM) 3d printing for production, this is a great video of how super-car manufacturer Koenigsegg approaches them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw6cs7opvzA

The key to making FDM parts work for your use-case is generally not buying the most expensive printer - it comes down to material selection, print orientation (others have mentioned anisotropicity which is incredibly important to understand), and designing for manufacturability.

I've spent the last three years running a 3D printing / rapid prototyping lab and love to teach people about the subject, so if anyone is interested in getting into the subject please feel free to get in touch.

fsagx2• 7 years ago

Metal 3D printing technology is maturing rapidly. Many of the aerospace standard materials are available (aluminums and stainless steels, though titaniums seem to not quite be there yet). You won't find it in production much across the aerospace industry, except in trivial applications. ~Everyone~ is testing heavily, and trying to find the sweet spots where it makes sense. Probably a few more years before it flies on anything manned.

bdamm• 7 years ago

Not true. Boeing is already manufacturing 787s with 3D printed parts.

https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/making-3d-prin...

Robotbeat2• 7 years ago

I think these are polycarbonate made on Stratasys machines. It's really a replacement for the slightly more labor-intensive methods of making stuff out of balsa and styrofoam, sanding and painting, fiberglassing, etc. You still need to sand and paint, to be sure, but... fairly precise shapes can be made directly without needing forms and guides, etc, so that saves on labor.

Polycarbonate has a higher heat deflection temperature than the typical epoxies one might use in this sort of application. Stiffness is a little lower than epoxy, but not by much.

2muchcoffeeman2• 7 years ago

I watched the video and in one shot it clearly says Ultimaker 3. Looks like standard FDM. Maybe they can splurge and better filaments.

JackFr• 7 years ago

Step one for an eventual von Neumann probe. Go NASA!

aeternus• 7 years ago

Relativity Space is also working on this, but with rockets:

https://www.relativityspace.com/

tantalor2• 7 years ago

Mods: Nasa's -> NASA's

teraflop• 7 years ago

This is a stylistic and regional difference. The convention in the UK is to use title case for acronyms, and all-caps for initialisms.

0xffff2• 7 years ago

Why not go with the organization's preference (NASA in this case)?

tantalor2• 7 years ago

Irrelevant: the article uses "NASA"

rjsw• 7 years ago

Why would conventions in the UK matter ? It is an article about a US agency on a US website.

Just use the original title.

Solar19• 7 years ago

Anyone know what it's made out of, the specific materials?

Nasa’s New UAV Is 80% 3D-Printed

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