GE Aviation to grow better fuel nozzles using 3D Printing

GE Aviation working with Sigma Labs are advancing quality processes in the Additive Manufacturing of jet engine components such as fuel nozzles. 

A 3D Printed jet engine fuel nozzle can be 25 percent lighter and as much as five times more durable than the current nozzle made from 20 different parts, say GE. The nozzle can, for example, better resist carbon deposits and coking. 

The new "in-process inspection" technology can collect all the (big)data from production sensors and analyze the stability of the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (a.k.a. melting) "3D Printing" machines. The video tells the story:

By 2020, GE Aviation will "produce more than 100,000 additive manufactured components for the LEAP and GE9X engines, in development for Boeing's new 777X plane. GE will install 19 additive manufactured fuel nozzles on every LEAP engine, which has amassed more than 4,500 orders."