Metal plating retention on additively manufacture plastic parts for an aircraft

A method of additively manufacturing an aircraft part, comprising:

• forming a base, defining a shape of the aircraft part, out of first thermoplastic polymer;
• forming a lower support surface of the base onto discrete locations of the base by printing a mixture of a second thermoplastic polymer and a catalyst compound formed with metal onto the discrete locations, such that the lower support surface is formed with cavities;
• and
• forming an upper support surface of the base by depositing, via electrolysis deposition, a metal plating onto one side of the lower support surface along the discrete locations, to thereby form the aircraft part;
• forming a reinforcement structure of the base onto another side of the lower support surface, wherein the reinforcement structure defines a lattice structure having voids;
• wherein the base is formed by a mixture of materials having coefficients of thermal expansion that differ from each other;
• wherein:
• forming the base includes printing, layer by layer, the base so that it extends from a bottom to a first intermediate location;
• forming the lower support surface includes printing, layer by layer, the lower support surface, from the first intermediate location to a second intermediate location, so that the lower support surface defines the cavities that extend from the second intermediate location toward the first intermediate location;
• and
• forming the upper support surface includes filling the cavities with the metal plating to anchor the metal plating to the lower support surface,
• whereby the metal plating of the upper support surface resists separation from the base when expanding due to the differing coefficients of thermal expansion.