First titanium 3D-printed part installed into serial production aircraft

Airbus to equip A350 XWB pylon with bracket

Airbus completed for the first time the installation of a titanium 3D-printed bracket on an in-series production A350 XWB. The bracket, built using additive-layer manufacturing (ALM) technologies (also known as 3D-printing), is part of the aircraft pylon, the junction section between wings and engines.

Additive-layer manufacturing “grows” products from a fine base material powder – such as aluminium, titanium, stainless steel and plastics – by adding thin layers of material in incremental stages, which enables complex components to be produced directly from computer-aided design (CAD) information.

3D-printed parts are already flying on some of Airbus A320neo and A350 XWB test aircraft. These include metal printed cabin brackets and bleed pipes.

3D printed bracket installed on A350 XWB pylon