Boeing Co. will use 3D-printed titanium components for its 787 Dreamliner jet airliner, which could knock up to $3 million off manufacturing costs for each plane.

According to Reuters, Boeing’s Dreamliner jets cost an estimated $265 million each to produce, roughly $17 million of which comes from parts made from a titanium alloy. The alloy is both strong and light, but it is also quite expensive, costing seven times more than aluminum, and the Dreamliner requires more of this titanium alloy than other designs thanks to its carbon fiber wings and fuselage.

In an attempt to reduce costs and streamline production, Boeing has partnered with Norwegian industrial supplier Norsk Titanium AS to 3D print several of the Dreamliner’s titanium components. Norsk Titanium will initially produce only four components for Boeing’s Dreamliner, but the two companies hope to expand their partnership and 3D print more components by 2018.

Norsk Titanium said its components are the first 3D-printed structural titanium parts to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. The company uses a proprietary printing technique it calls Rapid Plasma Deposition, which involves melting titanium wire in a cloud of argon gas. The molten wire is then quickly deposited in layers, eventually building a component that is up to 80 percent complete. Norsk Titanium said its process results in parts that require very little additional machining, reducing the cost of production.

Chip Yates, Norsk Titanium’s vice president of marketing, told Reuters that Boeing could achieve “$2 million to $3 million in savings for each Dreamliner, at least” when it commits to 3D-printing more of the Dreamliner’s titanium parts next year. Yates is also looking forward to further approval from the FAA later this year, which he says will “open up the floodgates” to the production of other parts.

Norsk Titanium will show off the Dreamliner’s 3D-printed components at the International Paris Airshow June 19-25.

While high costs have prevented 3D printers from becoming common household items just yet, the technology has found widespread adoption in manufacturing thanks to its speed and ability to create complicated designs with fewer separate parts. A number of analysts have predicted that the 3D printing industry could reach revenues of roughly $20 billion by 2020.

Photo: Norsk Titanium AS