VOA慢速英语:Airbus Adds Metal 3-D-Printed Parts to A350 XWB

European airplane maker Airbus plans to have new passenger airplanes by the end of the year. The new models will use some of the most modern technologies, including metal parts made in a 3-D printer.
欧洲飞机制造商空中客车公司计划在今年年底前推出新客机。新机型将采用一些最先进的技术，包括3D打印机制成的金属部件。

The high price of airline travel is largely the result of fuel cost. So airplane manufacturers want to build lighter planes with more fuel efficient engines. They also want their planes to to have more seats.
航空旅行的高价主要是由于燃油成本。因此，飞机制造商希望建造更轻、燃油效率更高的飞机。他们还希望自己的飞机能有更多的座位。

Modern airplanes like the large Boeing 787 Dreamliner are made from a mixture of plastic and carbon materials. The current Airbus A350 plane uses plastic parts created in a 3-D printer. But the model XWB plane will be the first with parts printed in the hard metal titanium. Peter Sander of Airbus says company technicians learned to print very complex shapes.
像大型的波音787梦想飞机之类的现代客机都是用塑料和碳材料复合物制成。目前，空客A350飞机采用了3D打印机制造的塑料部件。该XWB型号的A350飞机将首次拥有坚硬金属钛打印的部件。空客公司的Peter Sander称，公司技术人员已经学会打印非常复杂的形状。

"Normally this is a part of the fuel system, it's two pipes in one, and it's normally welded out of 10 parts. So in this case, with 3-D printing we have the chance to integrate the bracket of the pipe and two pipes at once and print it in one shot," Sander said.
Sander称，“通常这是燃油系统的一部分，它是两根管道相结合，通常是由十个部件焊接而成。所以在这种情况下，通过3D打印，我们有机会把管道支架同这两根管道整合后一次性打印出来。”

3-D printing also helps when parts are no longer available. Mr. Sander tells of a time Airbus engineers needed an extra part for airplane seats that was no longer made, he says it was easy to print perfect copies.
在部件不再可用的情况下3D打印也有帮助。Sander先生谈到有时空客公司工程师需要飞机座椅一个不再生产的额外部件，很容易就能打印出一个完美复制品。

"So we did a redesign in a week and printing in a week. So the redesign itself cost two hours, we took the manual drawing, redesigned it and put it on the desk one week later to the spare part guys," Sander said.
Sander说，“所以我们在一周内重新设计和打印。重新设计需要两个小时。我们取出手工设计图并重新设计，一周之后就能把它放到备件人员的桌上。”

The technology is developing quickly. Axel Krein is vice president of research and technology at Airbus. He says that the number of printed airplane parts will continue to increase overtime.
该技术正在迅速发展。Axel Krein是空客公司研究和技术部副总裁。他说， 3D打印的飞机零部件数量将继续增加。

"We are investing a lot of money in aerodynamic improvement, in material, in noise reduction, etc., but 3-D printing is probably the area with the highest gain over time," Krein said.
Krein称，“我们在空气动力学、材料和降噪等方面投入了大量资金。但随着时间推移3D打印可能是收益最高的领域。”

U.S. company General Electric says it is investing $50 million in a new 3-D printing factory. The factory will print fuel parts for airplane engines.
美国通用电气公司称，该公司在3D打印工厂上投资了5千万美元。该工厂将打印飞机发动机的燃料部件。