Aerospace & Defense Technology - June 2024 - 12

Aerospace Manufacturing
A flange wheel made in recycled injection-molded high-performance polymer on the left, a hybrid version
of the two in the middle, and a metal flange wheel on the right. (Image: Aitiip)
The trio of the 3D-printed flange wheel, hybrid
version and metal flange wheel. (Image: Aitiip)
Framing for the flange wheel made in recycled
injection-molded high-performance polymer is pictured
here. (Image: Aitiip)
* Recyclable materials
* Light-weighting - with a goal of reaching
a 40 percent weight reduction
* One-shot manufacturing
The collaboration was carried out
An exploded view of the framed 3D-printed flange
wheel. (Image: Aitiip)
within the framework of the INN-PAEK
project, which was funded by the Clean
Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European
Union's Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant
agreement Nº 101007865. According to
the European Commission, the INNPAEK
project ran from January 2021 to
June 2023 and had a goal of producing
a flange wheel based on a family of
thermoplastics called polyaryletherketone
(PAEK).
Integration of Additive
Manufacturing and Injection Molding
The part to be manufactured was a comAnother
view inside the flange wheel. (Image Aitiip)
12
plex flange wheel with a challenging load
case. To achieve the required part performance
and manufacturing speed, injection
molding was chosen as the manufacturing
method. However, the complexity
of the flange wheel would be impossible to
achieve with conventional metal tooling.
mobilityengineeringtech.com
In order to meet Liebherr requirements,
Aitiip decided to fully exploit
the capabilities of the NXE 400 system
in a highly innovative approach. Using
the NexaX Pro software, Aitiip created
a unique printer profile to enable the
printing of parts with superior surface
quality. The impeller body inner geometry
was realized with a single soluble
3D-printed FIM insert in the Nexa3D
xMOLD printed tooling resin. One particular
part feature was realized with
an insert printed in the Nexa3D xPEEK
material that was mounted in the soluble
insert before injection to enable its
full integration into the injection-molded
impeller part. The 3D-printed FIM
insert, with the xPEEK feature, was
mounted in a mold cavity. Subsequently,
the carbon reinforced PEEK material
was injected to fill the cavity, and the
3D-printed FIM insert was dissolved to
release the final PEEK part.
Freeform Injection Molding, combined
with high-performance xPEEK
inserts, enabled Aitiip to manufacture
a high-performance recycled injection-molded
metal replacement part.
Furthermore, Aitiip could verify the
performance of the part before investments
in metal tooling elements had to
be made.
Early Verification, Cost Savings and
Seamless Scalability
The use of 3D-printed xMOLD resin
tooling enabled Aitiip to manufacture
a number of test parts and to use these
parts to verify key design and performance
aspects. FIM has allowed Aitiip
weekly iterations, in consequence
reducing the project time frame, reaching
better and more advanced results in
comparison to traditional mold-making
processes. Also, the research cost
has been drastically reduced, making
more efficient the use of resources
(time, cost, material, and most importantly,
human resources) while increasing
freedom of design.
The first iterations were carried out
in smaller 3D-printed molds to ensure
the shortest possible iterations at the
lowest possible costs. Once the part
design had been validated and part
performance had been verified, Aitiip
proceeded to implement a metal cavity
Aerospace & Defense Technology, June 2024

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Aerospace & Defense Technology - June 2024

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