Thermoplastic Rapid Prototyping for Rotorcraft Components

Rapid prototyping offers many advantages that aid rotorcraft component design and manufacturing. One of the mostpromising thermoplastic rapid prototyping techniques, selective laser sintering (SLS®), has undergone recent advancements in equipment and materials that have enabled rapid prototyping to evolve into a technology capable of part manufacturing. This fabrication technique permits parts to be fabricated directly from a CAD solid model. As a result, selective laser sintering has shown tremendous promise for use in a wide array of applications including functional prototypes, tooling, iterative design, and flightworthy production parts. Several major benefits include schedule reduction, time/cost savings for tooling, and the ability to design for function instead of being designed for manufacturability. This paper provides a brief overview of selective laser sintering, discusses the benefits and limitations of this exciting new technology, examines what has been done to qualify selective laser sintering materials and processes for flightworthy rotorcraft applications, and defines the direction in which the aerospace industry seems to be proceeding regarding future applications and materials.