Airbus and Oerlikon AM have successfully industrialized the additive manufacturing (AM) process for complex serial production of 3D-printed aluminum components. These antenna clusters will be used in communication satellites, which will soon be orbiting the earth. This achievement has resulted in a €3.8 million contract to additively manufacture these satellite components.
Advanced technologies like additive manufacturing are key for space applications, as they are able deliver a number of benefits, such as weight reduction. Moreover, satellites must meet extremely challenging mass, reliability, and sustainability requirements. Thanks to AM, the production lead time for an antenna cluster could be reduced from six months to a few weeks compared to conventional manufacturing.
Airbus and Oerlikon have been collaborating in the field of 3D-printed metal parts for space for more than ten years. The companies have developed several components that are already in orbit. The newly developed 3D-printed aluminum antenna clusters measure approximately 400 x 400 x 400 mm and are manufactured using laser powder bed fusion technology. These antennas are part of next-generation communication satellites that will transmit and receive communication and/or data signals in K-band frequency.
“To create a final product of excellent quality, technical cooperation and understanding each other’s needs and requirements is fundamental for a well-coordinated design and manufacturing process — not only in rapid prototyping, but even more so in serial production,” said Michael Kilian, R&D manager for Additive Manufacturing of RF Space Components, Airbus.
Oerlikon AM is a division of Oerlikon Surface Solutions, which focuses on additive manufacturing technologies and services that improve and maximize performance, function, design, reliability and sustainability. These technologies are designed to be innovative, game-changing advantages for customers in the aviation, automotive, and other industries.
As an all-round service provider, Oerlikon offers Airbus a variety of services, including 3D printing, post processing, and surface finish optimization for the best possible radio frequency (RF) performance. In addition, the company provides precision CNC milling, quality assurance, ultrasonic cleaning, assembly, and wire integration, as well as customized logistics.
“The key success factor is the specific AM machine setup, which allows the family of geometries to be reproduced with the required accuracy and the process to be indefinitely repeated. Thus, we met the high accuracy and quality requirements of Airbus, and consequently the specified European Space Agency (ESA) standards for satellites,” noted Hendrik Alfter, managing director, Oerlikon AM. “We are pleased that the cooperation has resulted in a €3.8 million multi-year contract for the supply of antenna clusters.”
Oerlikon is a registered and qualified supplier to Airbus and passes audits annually.