Launch at the Australian Embassy in Paris, France

Representatives from Monash and Amaero available for interview in Melbourne and Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday. Call Niall (in Paris) on +61 417 131 977 or Toni (in Melbourne) +61 401 763 130.

• Photos and video available
• Raw footage of the engine, printers and Amaero facilities
• Plus more about the technology in this backgrounder
• Read Safran’s media release in english and french

Amaero and Monash media release

The Monash University-led team who printed a jet engine last year have enabled a new venture for manufacturing aerospace components in France.

Melbourne-based Amaero Engineering—a spin out company from Monash University’s innovation cluster—has signed an agreement with the University and Safran Power Units to print turbojet components for Safran, the French-based global aerospace and defence company.

“Our new facility will be embedded within the Safran Power Units factory in Toulouse and will make components for Safran’s auxiliary power units and turbojet engines,” said Mr Barrie Finnin, CEO of Monash spin-out company Amaero.

Monash University’s Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure) Professor Ian Smith said that the Amaero-Safran agreement is an excellent example of the University’s exceptional research having commercial impact on a global scale.

“I am delighted that Monash is contributing to global innovation and attracting business investment with our world-class research. The Amaero-Safran collaboration is a fabulous example of how universities and industry can link together to translate research into real commercial outcomes,” Professor Smith said.

“The new venture is part of Monash University’s large-scale investment in innovation on our Clayton campus, which brings together a dynamic cluster of research, research infrastructure and industry partners. Collectively we and our industry collaborators are driving technological change and advancing manufacturing – delivering real social and economic impact.”

The world’s first 3D printed jet engine was revealed to the world at the 2015 Melbourne International Airshow. As part of a project supported by the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) Safran, Monash University and Amaero, in collaboration with Deakin University and the CSIRO, took a Safran gas turbine power unit from a Falcon executive jet, scanned it and created two copies using their customised 3D metal printers. This research is now being extended further through the support of Australian Research Council’s (ARC) strategic initiative “Industry Transformation Research Hub” and several industrial partners including Safran and Amaero.

“We proved that our team were world-leaders,” said Professor Xinhua Wu, Director of the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing. “I’m delighted to see our technology leap from the laboratory to a factory at the heart of Europe’s aerospace industry in Toulouse,” Professor Wu said.

Amaero will establish a new manufacturing facility on the Safran Power Units site in Toulouse using a 3D printing technology known as Selective Laser Melting. They will not only bring the know-how and intellectual property they’ve developed in partnership with Monash University, they will also relocate two of the large printers they have customised for this precise manufacturing task.

Safran Power Units will test and validate the components the team makes, and then the factory will enter serial production, producing components that Safran Power Units will post process, machine and assemble into auxiliary power units and turbojet engines for commercial and defence use. The project team expect that production will commence in the first quarter of 2017.

The collaborative agreement is between Safran Power Units, Amaero and Monash University.

“Over the past five years, Safran Power Units and Monash University have successfully worked on a demonstration phase. Innovations generated by research and joint collaboration lead us to a new milestone: introducing 3D printing into production stage for major engine parts. We are committed to add tangible value to our products for the benefit of our customers. The stakes are high: weight reduction, huge production cycles shortening and designs innovation.  Safran Group advances and our partner leading-edge expertise allow us to stay ahead and to supply the most sophisticated components. This is not just a matter of 3D printing, the 3P rule applies: setting the right parameter for the right part and the right expected performance,” declared François Tarel, CEO of Safran Power Units.

The development and commercialisation of this advanced 3D metal printing technology has been supported by Monash University; Safran; and the Australian Government through the Entrepreneur’s Programme;  the ARC; and other agencies. CSIRO and Deakin University are also participants in the original engine printing project supported by SIEF which continues to provide valuable data and software tools.

Further information including photographs and HD footage of printing, engines, and production lines visit http://www.amaero.com.au/

For interviews contact

• For Amaero: Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, +61 417 131-977
• For Safran Power Units: Angélique Brandan, angelique.brandan@safrangroup.com, T +33 561-37-78-56, M +33 6-75 68-59-97
• For Monash: Claire Bowers, claire.bowers@monash.edu, T +61 3 9905 4218, m: +61 438 971 837

Background

About Safran

Safran is a leading international high-technology group with three core businesses: Aerospace (propulsion and equipment), Defence and Security. Operating worldwide, the Group has 70,000 employees and generated sales of 17.4 billion euros in 2015. Safran is listed on Euronext Paris and is part of the CAC40 index, as well as the Euro Stoxx 50 European index.

Safran Power Units designs and manufactures auxiliary power units (APU) and starting systems for civil and military aircraft, as well as turbojet engines for missiles and target drones. It is a world leader in its market, with over 21,000 systems delivered worldwide, since its creation in 1961.

For more information: www.safran-group.com and www.safran-power-units.com

Follow @Safran on Twitter

Amaero

Amaero Additive Manufacturing was established by Monash University in 2013.

Amaero manufactures components for a range of global companies and SME’s in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.  Through its power partnership with Monash University Centre for Additive Manufacturing, Amaero offers great depth of technical knowledge and broad capability and has experience in dealing with sensitive projects including ITAR and classified defence projects.

Monash University

Monash University is named after the engineer, military leader and public administrator Sir John Monash, whose application of engineering on the Western Front in 1918 helped bring the war to an end.

From a single campus at Clayton in 1961 with fewer than 400 students, Monash has grown into a network of campuses, education centres and partnerships spanning the globe. With approximately 60,000 students (and 250,000 alumni) from over 170 countries, we are today Australia’s largest university.

The University now offers a broad selection of courses within 10 faculties: Art, Design and Architecture; Arts; Business and Economic; Education; Engineering; Information Technology; Law; Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Science.

Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing

The Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing takes fundamental research from a broad range of disciplines and applies them to manufacturing challenges. These disciplines include material science, alloy design and processing, surface engineering, corrosion and hybrid materials.

We work with partners to invent bespoke solutions to unique manufacturing challenges. Using our network with the research centres situated in the Clayton precinct and our broader Australian and international network, we are able to draw on a number of different cutting edge capabilities and expertise and apply them in novel and innovative ways to provide new opportunities for manufacturers.

Combining for strength

The Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing takes their most recent discoveries in alloy and metallurgical science and find ways to apply them in real world applications – working with partners who need stronger, lighter, more cost effective components. Our global aerospace industry partnerships are profiting from their relationship with us, as we:

• Provide bespoke solutions
• Create solutions to reduce the carbon footprint
• Manufacture new designs and complex geometries
• Produce new materials with improved balanced properties to achieve higher fuel efficiency and performance
• Increase their global competitiveness
• Design new processes to reduce manufacturing waste

Additive manufacturing (3D printing)

3D printing has been used since the 1980s by the aerospace industry, usually to produce prototypes. With more complex, expensive printing machines being built in recent years (such as those with lasers to melt metal powders – used by MCAM), more opportunities for different materials and therefore different applications are opening up. Printing in metals has its challenges, including the high temperatures required and safety issues that accompany them.

A SmarTech report (http://smartechpublishing.com/blog/white-paper-additive-manufacturing-in-aerospace-strategic-implications) suggested the main benefits to the aerospace industry are: reduction in lead time (the time between the beginning and completion of a project/process); reducing the weight of parts; reducing operational and production costs; and reducing impact on the environment from production processes – though the actualities may not meet some expectations.

Some designs that might require multiple parts to be created and then fused are able to be printed in one piece, and designs easily tweaked. Materials waste can reportedly be reduced by as much as 90 per cent – which means a significant saving when using expensive materials such as titanium. There is also the benefit of being able to print parts on an as-needed basis rather than stockpiling replacements, and cutting the need for moulds and tools.