Additive manufacturing optimization and simulation platform for repairing and re-manufacturing of aerospace components

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This research project is a Canada and European collaborative project. It focuses on several key Direct Energy Deposition (DED) Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes that have great potential to be used as cost-effective and efficient repairing and re-manufacturing processes for aerospace components such as turbine blades and landing gears. This project aims to conduct fundamental research to understand the material integrity through chosen DED AM processes, the accuracy and limitations of these deposition processes, effective defect geometry mapping and generation methods, and automated and hybrid DED and post-deposition machining strategies. This project intends to connect repair and re-manufacturing strategies with design through accurate DED process simulation and novel multi-disciplinary design optimisation (MDO) methods to ultimately reduce the weakness of aerospace component at design stage and prolong their the lifecycles. Both powder-based and wire-based DED systems will be investigated to establish an across-the-board comparative study. The data collected through this comprehensive comparative study will be extremely valuable for the OEMs of this project (i.e. GKN, PWC, and HDI) to understand the pros and cons of these DED systems and will help them to select suitable repair and re-manufacturing strategies. The tests conducted in this research are also extremely beneficial for the SMEs in this project (i.e. Liburdi, AV&R, DPS) to validate their existing repairing systems and techniques. Common DED processes are controlled either by a CNC controller or a robotic controller depending on the type of machine that carries the deposition nozzle system. In the proposed research, both CNC controlled and robotic controlled DED systems are going to be studied. There are three aerospace alloys to be investigated in this research: Ti-6Al-4V, Inconel 718, and 300M alloy steel. The research team is multidisciplinary and complementary in expertise and research facilities. The Canadian research team includes academics from McGill University and University of Ottawa. The European research team includes academics from Ecole Centrale de Nantes in France and University of Sheffield in UK.