It is definitely not just another hobby idea by a creative mind. It is one of the biggest milestones of the Airbus group, an aviation giant company situated in France. Airbus has been a pioneer in making use of the 3D print technology with their A350 XWB being a perfect example.
The company had announced the launch of Thor, for quite some time, expressing a desire to fabricate a fleet of 3D printed planes in future. Thor which stands for’ Test of Hi-tech Objectives in Reality’ would be employed for aerodynamic researches and risky operations have the following features-
• 50 3D printed components
• 2 electric motors
• A remote control
This unmanned vehicle is 46 pounds in weight and 13 feet in length. It can be easily manufactured in a months’ time and was recently launched at an air show in Berlin. This 3D printed plane could just pave the way for many more innovations in the aeronautics and aerospace industries in collaboration with the 3D print technology. In these applications safety and quality always find priority.
Airbus has collaborated with companies like Alcoa for producing their fleet of 3D print parts for drones. Boeing too, has not remained far behind and started using 3D printed tools for their air craft’s and is using innovative tools like 3D print ice for making the certification procedures easy.
How effective these innovations are for the future can be witnessed by the self-sustenance a company reaches on adopting this technology. The 3D print technology process gives the advantage of attaining better speed, superior quality, and cost effectiveness for developing a component by a company and gives it an edge over others in the competition.