Materialise 3D-Prints a Certified Titanium Latch Now Flying on Airbus Aircraft

A small latch with a big repair problem

Aircraft interiors are full of parts that break but cannot be bought separately. Lufthansa Technik ran into exactly that with the polymer latch inside roller shutter assemblies on Airbus A330, A340, and A380 aircraft. The latch was not strong enough to survive long service, yet the original equipment manufacturer would not sell it on its own. Maintenance crews had to replace the entire roller shutter assembly instead.

That is an expensive way to fix a small part. Lufthansa Technik decided to redesign the latch in titanium and manufacture it through metal 3D printing. The result is a Ti-6Al-4V component produced by Materialise under EN 9100 certification, and it is now flying on in-service aircraft.

Why titanium, and why 3D printing?

The original polymer latch could not handle the wear of daily operation. Switching to titanium Ti-6Al-4V gives the part much greater strength and a longer expected life. But titanium behaves differently from plastic. Engineers had to adjust the geometry, wall thickness, and elastic response so the new metal latch would still fit and function inside the existing assembly.

Lufthansa Technik holds EASA Part 21.G and 21.J approvals, so it can design, manufacture, and certify flight-ready parts in-house. For production, it turned to Materialise, which passed a supplier qualification audit and manufactures the latch at its EN 9100-certified Metal Competence Center in Bremen, Germany. The two companies coordinated closely on process stability, production controls, and quality documentation.

This kind of part is exactly where aerospace additive manufacturing is strongest right now. The batch size is small, the geometry is specific, and the traditional supply chain has a gap. 3D printing fills that gap without requiring tooling or minimum order quantities.

A practical win for maintenance

The new latch changes how the repair is done. Instead of scrapping a whole roller shutter because one small piece failed, technicians can now replace just the latch. That cuts both material cost and downtime. Lufthansa Technik says the titanium part's added strength should also extend the time between failures.

The project has gone further than a one-off part. Materialise has been named an official workbench for metal parts within Lufthansa Technik's supply chain, which means more 3D-printed metal components are likely to follow. The lesson here is not dramatic, but it is important: additive manufacturing is becoming a normal, certified option for keeping older aircraft flying when the original supply chain falls short.