Materialise is joining the Aerospace Innovation Hub in Delft, the Netherlands, with its own aerospace competence centre.
The Hub connects startups, governments and industry professionals to academics and students at Delft University of Technology’s Aerospace Engineering Faculty.
Thanks to the university, Delft is a known aerospace centre in Europe, with Materialise being the first additive manufacturing company to join the hub.
Materialise will be collaborating with the university’s researchers on ‘advancing developments in sustainable aviation,’ alongside manufacturers including Airbus and Collins Aerospace.
It will contribute to existing processes for aerospace and will help companies develop new additive manufacturing applications.
Additive manufacturing for aircraft parts shortens lead times and reduces warehousing costs and time for repairs and maintenance. It also allows for rapid prototyping.
Materialise also maintains a data lake that contains performance data from several hundred aerospace builds, allowing researchers to study real-life components.
By joining the Hub, Materialise will expand its partnerships within the aerospace industry. Prior to joining, it has already printed more than half a million aerospace parts, spanning 4000 types of parts.
These parts span the entire aerospace value chain, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), airlines, maintenance, repair and operations.
It holds accreditations including Product Organisation Approval from EASA and EN 9100 certified manufacturing for flying parts.
“The arrival of Materialise at the Hub marks an exciting step toward deeper collaboration and new opportunities to drive additive manufacturing expertise to the growing aerospace community,” said Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft, Henri Werij.
