Pratt & Whitney teams with industry leaders to test additively-manufactured rotating parts for engines

Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp., today announces its participation in an industry team developing and testing additively manufactured turbomachinery components, including the first additively manufactured rotating part for Pratt & Whitney development programs.

The team includes Norsk Titanium, the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory (NDTL) and TURBOCAM International.

"We are excited to collaborate on these manufacturing and testing efforts and applications for future engine development," said Dave Carter, senior vice president, Engineering, at Pratt & Whitney. "Pratt & Whitney is a 3D printing leader and has been steadily increasing the use of additive manufacturing techniques for the past 30 years. Working with Norsk, the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory and TURBOCAM will accelerate already successful efforts to incorporate additively manufactured parts into our production engines."

The jointly managed team is currently exploring the applicability of Norsk Titanium's Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) material to turbomachinery applications. As part of this effort, the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory will test an additively manufactured, integrally bladed rotor (IBR) produced to meet the applicable quality specifications used in Pratt & Whitney's current turbomachinery products. The initial test IBR will be machined by TURBOCAM International. Pratt & Whitney is expected to test the part at the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory in the second half of 2018.

Pratt & Whitney will also benefit from United Technologies Corp.'s recent establishment of a $75M Additive Manufacturing Center of Expertise near its East Hartford campus, where corporate resources and experience are accelerating additive manufacturing implementation across the UTC product line.