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Airbus Advances Circularity in Aerospace Materials
Airbus is boosting recycling and reuse of titanium and aluminium to cut waste and emissions in aircraft production.
Airbus is reshaping the lifecycle of materials used in aerospace manufacturing. With service lives upwards of 20 years, aircraft have always been designed for longevity and optimised resource use. Now, thanks to advances in key technologies, Airbus is improving its ability to reduce aluminium and titanium consumption during manufacturing, salvage parts from decommissioned aircraft, and recycle metals. It is a gamechanger for these two metals.
What is circularity?
Circularity is a model of production and consumption that seeks to optimise resource use and minimise waste. This is especially pertinent for metals, which for the most part are infinitely recyclable, without any deterioration in quality. However, while circularity and recycling efforts have led to an increase in the use of recycled materials, this growth continues to be outpaced by demand for virgin metals.
Airbus is dedicated to advancing materials circularity within the aerospace value chain, with a particular focus on two metals: titanium and aluminium. Titanium is one of the primary metals of structural aerospace manufacturing, with its alloys primarily used for pylons, engines and landing gear. Aluminium, for its part, is used extensively to form aircraft fuselages, wing structures and interiors. Both metals are lightweight, resistant to corrosion, and have a high strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium is also resistant to high temperatures and has good fatigue resistance.
Efforts at Airbus to increase the circularity of these two metals are present throughout the value chain. The goal is to increase circularity through the ten ‘Rs’, which are found in how products are designed (refuse, reduce, rethink), how their lifespans are extended (reuse, repair, refurbish, repurpose and remanufacture), and how the end-of-life process is dealt with (recycle and recover). Many people may already be familiar with a simplified version of this: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Exploring technologies to reduce metal consumption
While 3D printing is not a new manufacturing concept, Airbus has been taking steps to use a specific kind of 3D printing technology called additive layer manufacturing (ALM), to produce aircraft parts from titanium with minimal waste. Instead of forging a part from a larger amount of material or milling it down and ending up with scraps.
Indeed, ALM is a win-win situation: the process uses less raw material, which means lower production costs. Two primary forms of ALM are used in aerospace manufacturing, reducing raw material use in different ways. The first is powder bed fusion (PBF), which uses laser beams to melt powdered titanium into a desired shape. This allows a part to be constructed by creating layers as thin as 0.1mm on top of each other.
This technology is now being used by Airbus to create the 32 door latch shafts needed for each A350 aircraft. Before, the latch shaft of the A350 was made using ten separate parts that were assembled together. Now, with ALM, there is only one integrated part, which weighs 45% less compared to latch shafts made using a traditional forging process. In real terms, that amounts to a weight savings of just over four kilograms per aircraft, which is the equivalent of saving up to 126,000 kg of CO2 emissions over a 20-year aircraft lifespan.
The second ALM method is directed-energy deposition (DED), which is used to create large and regularly shaped parts by using a laser to melt a titanium wire and then deposit it in place. This technique results in a ‘near net shape’ part, meaning it is very close to its final shape but still must be fully machined before being ready for installation. This is an improvement over traditionally forged parts, where several centimetres of material usually need to be removed during machining.
Saving metal scraps from the junk pile
Although new manufacturing techniques can reduce metal consumption, there will always be some level of waste during production. To counter this, Airbus is investing in recycling titanium production floor scraps. Titanium scraps are critical to manufacturing new ingots because aerospace-grade titanium is not pure, it is made of a mix of virgin alloy (titanium sponge) and recycled titanium. Since 2024, a company called EcoTitanium* has been recycling titanium scraps gathered from engine pylon production at Airbus’ Saint-Eloi factory in Toulouse, France. As of January 2025, 460 tonnes of scrap had been collected from Airbus sites in France for processing by EcoTitanium, and the company has been working to establish the closed loop recycling of titanium scraps from Premium Aerotec sites in Germany.
Closing the loop: how far left to go?
Achieving a completely closed loop where 100% of all materials in an aircraft’s value chain are recycled or reused within the industry is an ambitious long-term vision. Progress towards this goal has been challenging for the aerospace industry due to the stringent safety and performance requirements of aerospace manufacturing.
Isabell Gradert, Vice-President of Central Research & Technology at Airbus says:
“Creating a circular economy for aerospace materials is a complex journey, but we are making significant progress. We are embracing innovative approaches to reducing waste and optimising resources across the value chain. Continued collaboration and dedication will be required to fulfill our long-term vision of closing the loop.”
Despite the breadth of the challenge, Airbus remains committed to increasing the circularity of different manufacturing materials as part of the Company’s broader ambition to pioneer sustainable aerospace. By focusing on intelligent design, efficient resource use and advanced recycling technology, Airbus is not only reducing emissions from its products but also enhancing the resilience and efficiency of its own operations.
*EcoTitanium is a joint venture by Aubert & Duval of France, French ecological transition agency ADEME and regional bank Crédit Agricole Auvergne. Airbus is a joint owner of Aubert & Duval along with Safran and Tikehau Capital.
Source: Airbus
