I wonder if just including the aluminum tube that was effectively acting as a heat break would have been enough... Really it seems like a problem of not understanding the environment, and testing (with margins) your replacement in it... 3D printing seems nearly entirely unrelated apart from enabling people to make parts. An injection molded part, for a close more traditional analogue, would presumably have failed the…
The difference is, injection molds are expensive. And the type of people who can afford them tend to cover their ass better - or do slightly less insanely dumb things.
3D printing (especially using filament) allows idiots to enter entirely new areas of endeavor.
This is the mechanical equivalent of vibe coding. 3D printing itself isn't exactly to blame but the negligence of the company that created and sold this part and omitted it's use from an inspection. Just because a part has the shape of an engineered part does not make it compatible, strong, safe, and fit for purpose. This part could have likely been fine if it used a different material such as Ultem.
In what way is this like vibe-coding -- or do you just mean both are bad? According to the report: > The aircraft owner who installed the modified fuel system stated that the 3D-printed induction elbow was purchased in the USA at an airshow, and he understood from the vendor that it was printed from CF-ABS (carbon fibre – acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) filament material, with a glass transition temperature3 of 105°…
Well how confident would you be that this part isn't exposed to temperatures above that glass transition temperature? It is installed near the engine.
This is the mechanical equivalent of vibe coding. 3D printing itself isn't exactly to blame but the negligence of the company that created and sold this part and omitted it's use from an inspection. Just because a part has the shape of an engineered part does not make it compatible, strong, safe, and fit for purpose. This part could have likely been fine if it used a different material such as Ultem.
In what way is this like vibe-coding -- or do you just mean both are bad? According to the report: > The aircraft owner who installed the modified fuel system stated that the 3D-printed induction elbow was purchased in the USA at an airshow, and he understood from the vendor that it was printed from CF-ABS (carbon fibre – acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) filament material, with a glass transition temperature3 of 105°…
If vibe coding is shipping code that you don't understand and can't ensure it's safety,
And if this part was simply 3d scanned and printed in whatever material seemed strongest,
This is the mechanical equivalent of vibe coding. 3D printing itself isn't exactly to blame but the negligence of the company that created and sold this part and omitted it's use from an inspection. Just because a part has the shape of an engineered part does not make it compatible, strong, safe, and fit for purpose. This part could have likely been fine if it used a different material such as Ultem.
In what way is this like vibe-coding -- or do you just mean both are bad? According to the report: > The aircraft owner who installed the modified fuel system stated that the 3D-printed induction elbow was purchased in the USA at an airshow, and he understood from the vendor that it was printed from CF-ABS (carbon fibre – acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) filament material, with a glass transition temperature3 of 105°…
I think by vibe coding he means taking these things at face value instead of rigorously looking if they are up to the standard. When coding you would rigorously look if the code is good / produces any bugs. With vibe coding, you give a prompt and just accept the output, which might be full of errors and blow up (or melt). The analogy is that, yes you can print airplane parts, but they were sloppy and just accepted them at face value instead of rigorously looking if they are up to the required (bug free) standard, ie they wont melt.
Isn't Tg a poorly defined metric? It seems like thermoplastics will lose their strength as temperature goes up and there's no abrupt transition where there's a near step-change in behavior
It kind of is, a better metric is HDT (Heat Deflection Temperature), and it is based on curve usually load over temp.
The part was a "plastic air induction elbow", i.e. this kind of thing: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=plastic+air+induction+elbow&ia=ima... so, if you were thinking "who would use a 3D-printed part", remember that it may otherwise also have been made with some liquid material, but using a mold, and perhaps two parts using a mold that are joined with re-heating etc. - and now it no longer sounds so outlandish.
The part was claimed to be ABS-CF. UK AAIB tested the part and found it to have a Tg of approximately 53C. The Tg of ABS is far higher, around 100C. I suspect that the part may have been accidentally printed with PLA-CF (which has a Tg of approximately 55C.) The original part was fiberglass/epoxy with the epoxy having a Tg of 84C.
The part was claimed to be ABS-CF. UK AAIB tested the part and found it to have a Tg of approximately 53C. The Tg of ABS is far higher, around 100C. I suspect that the part may have been accidentally printed with PLA-CF (which has a Tg of approximately 55C.) The original part was fiberglass/epoxy with the epoxy having a Tg of 84C.
The part was claimed to be ABS-CF. UK AAIB tested the part and found it to have a Tg of approximately 53C. The Tg of ABS is far higher, around 100C. I suspect that the part may have been accidentally printed with PLA-CF (which has a Tg of approximately 55C.) The original part was fiberglass/epoxy with the epoxy having a Tg of 84C.
Sounds plausible but I guess it's something that they would've confirmed, had it been true
Or it was ABS-CF but they forgot to dry the filament /s
The part was claimed to be ABS-CF. UK AAIB tested the part and found it to have a Tg of approximately 53C. The Tg of ABS is far higher, around 100C. I suspect that the part may have been accidentally printed with PLA-CF (which has a Tg of approximately 55C.) The original part was fiberglass/epoxy with the epoxy having a Tg of 84C.
