153122 20251017144627.0 doi 10.3390/ma18061296 sideral 143608 ART-2025-143608 eng Javierre, Carlos Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-8008-4819 Redesign of a flange wheel used in an airplane for composite manufacturing made with a mold with removable inserts manufactured by means of 3d printing: a comparison with the current conventional alternative, a turbine wheel machined out of aluminum 2025 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted This work presents the redesign of an aircraft aluminum turbine wheel into a thermoplastic composite flange wheel with the support of 3D printing technology, which increases the turbine efficiency thanks to the introduction of the flange geometry, not possible with the current machined aluminum part. This work seeks the reduction of the aircraft’s structural weight by replacing metallic components with thermoplastic alternatives and proves the feasibility of producing a complex geometry product through injection molding, paving the way for manufacturing intricate designs using removable inserts created via 3D printing. This work has been developed within the INN-PAEK project of the H2020-CLEAN SKY 2 program. The thermoplastic component is produced using an innovative process that employs removable inserts in the mold, and its development has followed following three steps: redesign of aluminum part according to functional and plastic materials requirements, design of the mold, and validation of real plastic parts by means of tomography. This paper highlights highly positive results for the project, influenced by the new plastic flange wheel’s ability to achieve both weight reduction and an overall efficiency enhancement that decreases the aircraft’s kerosene consumption, and proves that 3D printing is a highly potential technology for complex thermoplastic part tooling production. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T08-23R info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/HORIZON EUROPE/101007865/EU/INNovative thermoplastic transformation processes to produce a flange wheel in PAEK reinforced with short fibres/INN-PAEK info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Camañes, Víctor Universidad de Zaragoza Vidal, Julio Dieste, José Antonio Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-7178-4285 Fernández, Ángel Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-0544-0182 5004 545 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica Área Ingeniería Mecánica 5002 515 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri. Área Ing. Procesos Fabricación 18, 6 (2025), 1296 [19 pp.] Materials (Basel) Materials 1996-1944 696893 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/153122/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2712296 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/153122/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:153122 articulos driver 2025-10-17-14:24:39 ARTICLE