Industrial additive manufacturing supplier Materialise has gained EN9100 certification for its metal processes, a key step in increasing the parts and components it can supply to aviation and space companies.
A sector-specific variant of ISO 9001, EN9100 certifies that an organization has implemented a quality management system that ensures product quality, process control, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement.
The company already holds EN9100 for its polymer additive manufacturing (AM) processes dedicated to aerospace, producing upwards of 500,000 flying parts each year for aircraft OEMs, suppliers, and MROs. The development, therefore, represents a major step forward in the adoption of metal 3D-printed parts for aviation and space.
With EN9100 for metal now in place, Belgium-based Materialise’s manufacturing capabilities open up opportunities for part design and improving supply chain efficiencies.
Materialise already provides of additive manufacturing processes certified to Airbus AIPI standards — recently achieving the highest possible grade on the Airbus Quality Maturity assessment. The AM-for-aviation company also holds a Production Organization Approval (POA) from EASA, enabling them to manufacture flight-ready parts to Form 1 accreditation.
The company said it can help aviation and space companies identify and source flight-ready metal or polymer 3D-printed parts — with low-criticality parts a particularly strong opportunity for the sector.
Erik de Zeeuw, market manager for aerospace at Materialise said, “Low-criticality parts that need to be light, strong, and durable, such as seat bezels, housings, interior trims, or ducts, are particularly strong candidates. They often need to be repaired or replaced, but in small quantities.
“These are requirements that align perfectly with key benefits of metal 3D printing, including the ability to have digital ‘on-demand’ stock for faster, more reliable sourcing, and cost-efficient production of small series parts.”
3D printing’s tooling-free technology makes small-series manufacturing considerably more affordable than conventional methods, where cost per part is much more dependent on volume. With no minimum feasible production run for metal 3D-printed parts, there are also no costs associated with wasted stock or warehousing of excess spare parts.
Erik de Zeeuw said, “Paying only for parts used is clearly beneficial. As is avoiding any potential supply chain disruptions that could delay part availability, which in turn can end up grounding flights for long periods of time. What’s more, it becomes less cost-prohibitive to review and adapt parts for continuous improvement.”
“The quality and process control system we have in place simplifies the digital thread necessary for qualifying 3D-printed metal parts. And that’s something we are incredibly excited about.
“We are ready to talk to and work with our extensive network of partners in space and aviation to identify, produce, and develop the perfect applications for metal AM. Together, we will definitely see a whole raft of new opportunities quite literally take flight.”
