Siemens and E.ON have reached a significant milestone with what is said to be the world’s first 3D-printed burner for gas turbines.

The burner for an SGT-700 gas turbine has been in operation for a year at E.ON’s combined cycle power plant in Philippsthal in the German state of Hessen.

According to Siemens, the burner has been operating for more than 8,000 hours with no reported issues.

The company started printing gas turbine burners using selective laser melting technology, with each burner head manufactured in one piece compared to traditional methods that require 13 individual parts and 18 welds.

Niklas Lange, Project Manager at E.ON Energy Projects said: “As an energy service provider, precision and consistency are an absolute requirement for us. Additive manufacturing not only delivers this but in our experience, sit can even improve performance compared with older models.”