Eplus3D collaborates with LEAP71 on the world's largest metal-printed rocket engine

Eplus3D and LEAP71 have jointly developed and produced the world's largest single-piece 3D-printed rocket engine – a technological breakthrough in additive manufacturing.

The 200 kN engine is over 1.3 meters tall and was designed by LEAP71 using the Noyron Large Computational Engineering Model. Noyron combines engineering knowledge, logic, physics, and manufacturing constraints in an AI-powered environment for the design of complex machines.

This engine, powered by cryogenic liquid oxygen and kerosene, is a further development of the Noyron TKL-5 engine, which LEAP71 has already successfully tested – with a 40-fold increase in power. Its innovative design integrates previously separate components into a single, highly complex structure. It was printed from AlSi10Mg, an aluminum alloy, on an Eplus3D EP-M650-1600 Metal Powder Bed Fusion (MPBF) printer with six 500 W lasers. Thanks to the EP-M650H printer's enormous build volume of 650 x 650 x 1600 mm, LEAP71 was able to design a fully integrated engine geometry. The continuous printing process took 354 hours.

The engine is made of AlSi10Mg. Thanks to a dual thermal management strategy, cryogenic liquid oxygen provides regenerative cooling of the main combustion chamber, while kerosene cools the nozzle. The selected layer thickness of 60 µm minimizes wall roughness and reduces pressure loss due to friction.

This technological breakthrough demonstrates the potential of computational engineering for the development of highly integrated machines, which are only possible through additive manufacturing. The close integration of design and production accelerates the development of advanced aerospace components and creates new innovation opportunities in other industries.